Tuesday 10 February 2026 The mercenary—once denounced as a barbaric vestige of pre-modern warfare—has re-emerged not only as a battlefield phenomenon, but as a geopolitical instrument wielded with precision and cynicism. Nowhere has this development become more visible, or more strategically consequential, than in Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. The reintroduction of hired guns into the heart of Europe has reshaped the moral boundaries of war, the architec

Tuesday 10 February 2026 The recent Russian attacks on Odesa form part of a grim and increasingly familiar pattern. As winter tightens its grip on southern Ukraine, Russia has once again intensified its campaign against civilian infrastructure — energy networks, residential buildings, transport links and public institutions — with the deliberate effect of amplifying human suffering at a time of maximum vulnerability. The explosions that have torn through Odesa’s neighbourhood

Monday 9 February 2026 The Munich Security Report is never merely a scene-setter for the conference’s panel discussions. It is rather an annual attempt to define the emotional weather of Euro-Atlantic security: what is feared, what is assumed, what is newly doubted. The 2026 edition, published as Europe heads towards Munich in mid-February, does something more pointed. It treats the United States not simply as the indispensable ally whose attention occasionally wanders, but a

Monday 9 February 2026 The promises attached to artificial intelligence have begun to sound like the closing chapter of industrial history. Work will become optional. Incomes will be universal. Human beings will be liberated for art, care, discovery and play. The old injustices of class and geography will melt away in a warm bath of abundance. It is an alluring story, and it is not wholly fantasy. Artificial intelligence is a general-purpose capability — like electricity or t

Monday 9 February 2026 In early February 2026 Ukraine’s authorities said that Starlink terminals being used illicitly by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine were suddenly deactivated—after a co-ordinated effort with SpaceX to move to a “white list” model in which only verified terminals continue to function. That shift matters because it hints strongly at the underlying technology: Starlink is not simply a satellite signal that anyone can “listen to” if they possess the right

Monday 9 February 2026 The security, military and political situation in Kherson remains one of the most acute and complex facets of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Situated on the right (north) bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, Kherson city and the wider oblast occupy a vital strategic position, linking the south of the country with the Black Sea and providing a logistical gateway between Ukraine’s interior and littoral regions. Since her liberation from Russian