Hot Takes Archives - Network for Strategic Analysis (NSA)

Hot Takes

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda at NATO in Light of the War in Ukraine

Stéfanie von Hlatky
September 4, 2023

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) finally updated its Strategic Concept in 2022, a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Although this document reaffirms the importance of collective defence and…

Hot Takes

The Russian Navy and the Arctic: A New Reality, Old Challenges

Igor Delanoë
August 23, 2023
Time to Read: 15 min

While the Baltic Sea is becoming a “NATO lake” with Finland’s entry into NATO and Sweden’s upcoming integration, the Alliance seeks to increase its involvement in its Arctic flank. The…

Hot Takes

Lethal Autonomous Weapons: Between Myths and Confusion

Léa Pérémarty
July 26, 2023
Time to Read: 11 min

In May 2023, press reports stated that an artificial intelligence (AI)-controlled drone had killed its own instructor during a test conducted by the US military. Although it was a virtual…

Hot Takes

Chad’s Unlikely Transition

Alexandra Lamarche
May 10, 2023
Time to Read: 10 min

Last year’s peace talks between Chadian authorities armed groups and the National Dialogue may have appeared to usher in a new dawn for the central African country after the death…

Hot Takes

The Proliferation of Militarized Civilian Drones in Ukraine: a Lesson from the War for Western Military Staffs

Tancrède Jankowski
May 1, 2023
Time to Read: 16 min

The media scene hastily portrayed the Bayraktar TB-2 drone as "Kyiv's aerial asset" to fight incursions by the Russian invader, overestimating its military effectiveness in a high-intensity conflict. However, the…

Hot Takes

MINUSMA “à la carte” or Geopolitical End Game in Mali

Arthur Boutellis
March 27, 2023
Time to Read: 17 min

Ten years after establishing the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the future of the mission and its 15,000 military and police officers is more uncertain than…

Hot Takes

Russia’s ‘Low-Tech’ War on Ukraine Discredited Its Military Modernization Narrative

Anna Nadibaidze
March 3, 2023
Time to Read: 13 min

On 29 January 2023, Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Russian space agency and now head of the “Tsar’s Wolves” group of military advisers, claimed that four Marker robotic ground…

Hot Takes

Targeting Ayman Al-Zawahiri: A Just Elimination or Just an Elimination?

Marie Robin
February 27, 2023

On August 1st, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the elimination of the leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, on the day before in the Afghan capital, Kabul. In…

Hot Takes

Who will be NATO’s next secretary general?

Laurent Borzillo
February 22, 2023
Time to Read: 15 min

February 2023: Nearly twelve months after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, and while Kyiv’s allies continue, for some, quibble over the type of heavy weaponry that can or cannot be…

Hot Takes

Strategic Blackmail And Great Power Competition: Why Did The Philippines And Turkey Threaten To Break Up With The West?

Jonathan Paquin
February 10, 2023

In the face of Beijing’s aggressive behavior in the South and East China Seas and Moscow’s in Eastern Europe, balance of threat argues that U.S. allies should automatically counterbalance these…