Geraint Hughes, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Over a month has passed since Vladimir Putin launched his ‘special military operation’ to subjugate Ukraine. Russia’s blatant and unprovoked invasion of its neighbour has caused a major international crisis, with Britain and other NATO powers being presented with the hard task of helping the Ukrainians to defend… Read More The Russo-Ukraine war: Implications for UK Defence

Chris Tuck, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Ukrainian and Russian officials are, at the time of writing, meeting in Turkey to seek a breakthrough that would lead to an end to the fighting in Ukraine. This is the latest in a succession of negotiations that so far has failed to lead to any decisive… Read More The Ukraine conflict and the problems of conflict termination

Professor Greg Kennedy, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Discussions of the spread of the war in the Ukraine into greater Europe creating a Third World War miss the point of the nature of modern warfare in the post-globalisation age: the war already encompasses the world in terms of the global economic system. Warnings of… Read More World War Three?

Dr James Bosbotinis, associate member of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies at the Defence Studies Department of Kings College London. The Russian Navy has and continues to provide an important supporting role in Russia’s operations against Ukraine. This has included undertaking highly visible deployments in the pre-invasion phase and maintaining a presence in the… Read More The role of naval forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine and its implications

Dr Rod Thornton, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Is Vladimir Putin safe in his position as president of Russia? It seems obvious that the invasion is not going to plan; can this lead to his removal?  In but one example of a plan that is going definitively awry, the accidental release (and then removal)… Read More What are the chances of a “palace coup” in Moscow?

Dr Rod Thornton and Dr Marina Miron, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London It seems that the Putin’s war in Ukraine was supposed to last just two days. The fact that it is still dragging on has created, in just the last few days, increasing opposition within Russia. In terms of examining this opposition and… Read More What happens when the Russians’ “two-day” war drags on?

Andrew Corbett, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London On 7 February 2020, French President Macron made a speech at the Ecole De Guerre on French deterrence strategy.  This continued a tradition started by President de Gaulle in 1959 and sustained by every incoming French president since.  Every French president makes a keynote speech on nuclear deterrence and its… Read More ‘Supreme emergency’: How Britain lives with the bomb

Deborah Sanders, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London  The decision by President Putin to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine marks an effective return to a Cold War relationship with Russia. Notwithstanding the recent fashion for hybrid warfare, in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and in terms of the wider regional political and strategic ramifications,… Read More Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Maritime implications in the Black Sea

Mark Hilborne (Defence Studies Department, King’s College London), Pawel Bernat (Military University of Aviation, Dęblin, Poland) and Graeme P. Herd (George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies) This piece is a summary of the discussion at the latest workshop of the current series of online Great Power Competition Seminar Series (GPCSS) webinars held on… Read More The Sino-Russian military nexus in outer space: strategic implications?

Christopher Kinsey, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London and Col. Christopher Mayer (U.S. Army Retd) Changes to the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers: legitimising mercenary-like activity and organisational failure. Ever since the French Revolution and the rise of the levée en masse, the role of mercenaries in war has been delegitimised. The mercenary… Read More A step too far: how the ICoCA actions could unintentionally help to privatise war (Part Two)