Hot Takes Archives - Network for Strategic Analysis (NSA)

Hot Takes

China’s Best Friend in the West? The Rising Threat of Chinese Involvement with New Zealand’s Quantum Research

Bailee Dobson
September 9, 2024

The development of quantum technology is at the forefront of international security concerns. Unsurprisingly, with quantum computers expected to break current cryptographic standards, many countries consider the research and development…

Hot Takes

Israel/Hamas: Strategic Surprise and the October 7th Attack

Antonin Blanchard
September 6, 2024
Time to Read: 12 min

“... surprise therefore becomes the means of acquiring superiority... When it succeeds, it sows confusion and breaks the enemy's courage” - Carl von Clausewitz October 7, 2023 is a day…

Hot Takes

Building a safer North: Climate security risks, gaps, and opportunities of the Canadian Arctic

Pauline Baudu
July 26, 2024

“What happens in the North impacts the world, and when you look at security issues and climate change, the world is paying attention more than ever,” recently noted Canadian Governor-General Mary…

Hot Takes

Don’t Count on Us: Canada’s Military Unreadiness

Philippe Lagassé, Justin Massie
May 30, 2024

[This piece was originally published by War on the Rocks and is accessible in full here.] Canada’s military is in a “death spiral.” This is how Minister of National Defense…

Hot Takes

Back to the Basics of the “Shadow War”: 6 Months of Escalation Between Iran and Israel and the Aftermath

Pierre Pahlavi
May 6, 2024

Following the recent clashes between Iran and Israel, and with the situation tending towards a return to calm, it is time for an initial assessment. A six-month period of unprecedented…

Hot Takes

Towards Russian Recognition of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”?

Eliott Le Gall
April 5, 2024

Cyprus, a divided island "Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a will to benevolence, to trust, to justice." This quotation from…

Hot Takes

Donald Trump and the Coming Disintegration of the West

Kim Richard Nossal
April 5, 2024

In many respects, Donald Trump’s 100-minute rally held in Conway, South Carolina, on February 10, 2024, was just like his previous rallies. It began with Trump giving shout-outs to local…

Hot Takes

What Strategy for the West in Ukraine? Renunciation after Default

Olivier Sueur
February 29, 2024
Time to Read: 51 min

One year ago, Le Rubicon honoured me by publishing an article entitled “Ukraine-Russie : une guerre de 20 ans” (Ukraine-Russia: a 20-year war), developing the idea that we were then halfway…

Hot Takes

The “Ins and Outs” of the Rapprochement Between Iran and Sudan

Pierre Pahlavi
February 29, 2024
Time to Read: 12 min

In early February 2024, Sudan's acting Foreign Minister, Ali Al Sadiq, traveled to Tehran to meet his counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi. Intervening in the midst of…

Hot Takes

With Waning Media Attention, External Monitor Keeps Focus on Military Culture Change

Marie-Pier Allard-Caron, Cindy Cruz, Stéfanie von Hlatky
February 29, 2024
Time to Read: 12 min

In the wake of the 2021 sexual harassment and assault crisis involving allegations against high-ranking officers, including two Chiefs of the Defence Staff, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have promised…