Our World

10/13/2026

LIBYA/RUSSIA:
Sabina Henneberg

Sabina Henneberg is a Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of its Junior Research Program.
Brief Analysis
If U.S. officials continue to let Moscow keep Libyan factions divided while deepening the Russian military footprint, the result will be growing security threats to NATO and Africa.

As international attention remains focused elsewhere, Russia is quietly expanding its presence in Libya—a highly strategic location that offers access to oil resources, military bases, and a deep-water naval port in the East Mediterranean. If Moscow succeeds in consolidating its position there, it would gain a critical hub from which to project power in the Middle East and across NATO’s southern flank, potentially interfering with the alliance’s naval operations, overflights, and military readiness. Such a boost to Russia’s Mediterranean infrastructure, capabilities, and presence could potentially constrain NATO air and maritime freedom of maneuver in the event of a NATO-Russia conflict. Moreover, Moscow’s expansion in Libya may undermine U.S. efforts to stabilize and unify the fractured country, reversing years of international efforts to keep terrorists and strategic competitors out (Washington Institute for Near East Policy).

If U.S. officials continue to let Moscow keep Libyan factions divided while deepening the Russian military footprint, the result will be growing security threats to NATO and Africa.

10/13/2026

THE QUAD: This report provides an analysis of the background, challenges, and potential of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) involving the United States, Japan, India, and Australia. Through broad consultations with key regional experts, the narrative describes how South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands perceive the Quad and the prospects for productive engagement (Asia Society Policy Institute).

This report provides an analysis of the background, challenges, and potential of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) involving the United States, Japan, India, and Australia.

10/13/2026

NATO: NATO has made significant progress in advancing emerging technologies, including cloud-enabled infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and other digital capabilities. Initiatives such as the NATO Innovation Fund, the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, the Alliance’s digital transformation agenda, and emerging cloud-and-edge efforts such as Allied Software for Cloud and Edge Services reflect a clear recognition that technological advantage will be central to future deterrence and defense (Atlantic Council).

NATO faces persistent challenges in translating technological potential into operational capability. Recent analysis of NATO innovation efforts suggests that the limiting factor is often the ability of organizations and operators to adopt, experiment with, and implement new capabilities effectively.

10/11/2026

MIDDLE EAST: Social media platforms can double as repositories of global events, allowing for inquisition into the unfolding of critically impactful events. Three years ago to the day, the Middle East woke to the news of a devastating Hamas assault on Israeli towns and a music festival, during which hundreds of civilians were killed, with later investigations exposing the further, tragic toll of the Israeli military’s own restrictive Hannibal Directive (Cairo Review of Global Affairs).

Social media platforms can double as repositories of global events, allowing for inquisition into the unfolding of critically impactful events. Three years ago to the day, the Middle East woke to the news of a devastating Hamas assault on Israeli towns and a music festival, during which hundreds of....

10/11/2026

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE: "Today’s Nobel Peace Prize award to Navi Pillay is a solid and timely choice by the Nobel Committee. It highlights how a stable and legal world order is necessary to promote peace, and puts accountability at the centre of peace processes (Peace Research Institute Oslo).

"Today’s Nobel Peace Prize award to Navi Pillay is a solid and timely choice by the Nobel Committee. It highlights how a stable and legal world order i ...

10/11/2026

FRANCE: Many will associate that line with the classic musical “Les Misérables” set during the French Revolution. But today, it encapsulates the feeling of millions of students across France: miserable – and enraged (GZERO Media).

What began last month as anger over teacher shortages, crumbling buildings, and a university admissions process students see as unfair has caught like wildfire.

10/11/2026

SUDAN: The Ikhwan al-Muslimin, known as the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), has passed through three broad phases of development in Sudan. The first centred on the formative phase of the MB as a social and religious organization; the second on the pursuit of political power; and the third, visible in the present conflict, on the continuing influence of Islamist networks within and alongside Sudan’s military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) (Middle East and North Africa Forum).

Sudan’s war is reviving Muslim Brotherhood-linked networks, exposing their influence in the military and the risks of renewed Islamist extremism.

10/11/2026

RED SEA: As the United States and Iran remain locked in a struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz, concerns continue to mount about the security of another regional maritime chokepoint: the Red Sea. Since the start of the Iran war, the Houthis have made a concerted effort to restrict oil and gas flows through the vital Mideast waterway. In September 2026, two months after the group declared a complete naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, which relies on the Red Sea to access global oil markets, the Houthis seized control of Yemen’s strategic port city of Mokha and several islands near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—expanding their control over Yemen’s Red Sea coastline. Now, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has launched a major offensive against the Houthis, retaking critical areas around the strait (Council on Foreign Relations).

The Yemen-based Houthis’ naval blockade against Saudi shipping and their battle with Saudi-backed Yemeni forces for control of the Red Sea’s critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait add a new dimension to the Iran war, with potentially major consequences for the region and the global economy.

10/11/2026

EUROPE/CANADA: As the EU rethinks its geostrategy for a new, turbulent era, the appeal of so-called middle-power diplomacy is gaining ground. Since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s repeatedly-cited January 2026 speech, many European governments have enthused that deeper coordination between middle powers could help in their pursuit of strategic independence (Carnegie Europe).

While the EU and European governments are embracing the much-lauded middle-power moment, this entails three difficult conundrums.

10/11/2026

TAIWAN/CHINA: The proliferation of Chinese actors in the waters east of Taiwan is a significant development in Beijing’s grey-zone strategy, seemingly aimed at establishing a more complex governance system around the island (International Institute for Strategic Studies). (Link: ▶️
https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/online-analysis/2026/10/china-muddies-the-waters-east-of-taiwan/.)