Column
Pieces

COLUMN: The 5% of GDP Goal, a Number That Says a Lot About Our Priorities
Nine years. That is the gap between the collective 5% of GDP defense spending goal confirmed at the Ankara summit for 2035, and the…

COLUMN: why Ankara matters more than it seems
Ankara does not usually top the list of cities discussed when Western commentators talk about NATO's most consequential summits, yet the July 2026 gathering…

COLUMN: $90 billion more, the real price of fear
Since 2024, NATO's European allies have raised their defense spending by roughly $90 billion in constant 2021 prices, an increase that reaches $139 billion…

COLUMN: Kerosene still nowhere to be found, a month after Russia's ban
A month has passed since Russia banned its kerosene exports until November 30, 2026, a measure announced by Moscow and documented by the Moscow…

COLUMN: Putin faces his own price cap, between rhetoric and reality
Vladimir Putin signed, on June 26, 2026, a decree extending until the end of 2027 a Russian mechanism presented as a response to Western…

COLUMN: Novak and the Import Gamble, What This Power Shift Reveals
When an oil-exporting country publicly announces it is considering importing fuel, something important has just shifted in a balance of power it thought it…

COLUMN: The War Ruble, a Cold Read One Month Later
One month after Washington tightened sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, the moment seems right to look coldly at what these numbers actually say, without…

COLUMN: Pyongyang, Moscow's secret arsenal
Twenty-nine thousand four hundred and eighty-eight containers: the figure sounds abstract, almost bureaucratic, until you remember it describes one of the largest clandestine arms…

COLUMN: Ukraine and the Battle of the Numbers, in Five Figures
General Oleksandr Syrsky claimed, according to Euronews on July 10, 2026, 697 successful strikes on Russian targets in six months, an impressive figure that…