No. 2
28/10/2026 · 6 pieces
6 picks from 465 pieces reviewed in 11 publications across 5 regions.
You have read everything here.
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01 ★★★★☆
Thailand's air war on the Cambodian border, sortie by sortie
What did Thailand's air force actually do when border clashes with Cambodia escalated in July and December 2025? Olli Pekka Suorsa reconstructs both campaigns from open sources: which wings flew, how targets were found and struck, and which munitions were dropped and where they came from. Read it for a rare operational account of a Southeast Asian air war, the kind usually written only about Western forces. We picked it for the detail Suorsa assembles from scattered public evidence; the sources are mostly Thai, and the Cambodian side is barely heard. The text we read gives no biography; we found no stake.
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02 ★★★★☆
Why China built a fleet of hospital ships, and what it says about its navy
Why does China's navy now operate a dozen hospital ships when it had none before 1991? Jonathan Robinson traces the fleet back to a short clash with South Vietnam over the Paracel Islands in 1974, and follows each generation of vessel since. Read it to see how medical logistics, rarely discussed, reveal a navy's real ambitions, including its plans for a war close to home. We picked it as this issue's wildcard: a careful history of an overlooked capability. Robinson is an assistant professor at the US Naval War College and has supported US Navy hospital-ship missions; we found no stake in the argument.
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03 ★★★★☆
How insurers, not warships, could cut Taiwan off
Could China cut Taiwan's sea trade without firing a shot? Tang Meng Kit argues that a quarantine would start with underwriters rather than warships: once war-risk cover narrows, contracts and lenders push ships away on their own. Read it for a clear account of how marine insurance, charter parties and loan covenants can turn a legal grey zone into a blockade. We picked it for explaining a mechanism most naval writing skips; it argues for a US-led backstop and tests the idea against its own limits. Tang is a Singaporean freelance analyst and aerospace engineer who graduated from Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies; we found no stake.
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04 ★★★☆☆
Undersea cables that listen, and the rules nobody has written
What happens when the internet cables on the seabed can also hear what passes over them? Samuel Bashfield and Oscar Youlten explain how fibre-optic sensing turns ordinary submarine cables into listening arrays, and why the signal that warns of a dragged anchor can also track a warship. Read it for a plain account of a technology few people know exists, and of how thin the rules are across the Indo-Pacific. We picked it for explaining the mechanism before the policy fight begins. Bashfield is a research fellow at La Trobe University and Youlten works for a Canberra defence consultancy; the piece comes from a project supported by Australia's Department of Defence, a stake in the subject.
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05 ★★★☆☆
Drones in the hands of Southeast Asia's smugglers and militants
How are criminal gangs and militant cells in Southeast Asia using cheap commercial drones? Rueben Dass builds a small dataset of incidents across the region, from prison drug drops in Malaysia and Indonesia to drone parts trafficked towards Myanmar and Syria, drawing in part on Indonesian court documents. Read it for the patterns behind incidents that are usually reported one at a time. We picked it for original data from a region that rarely gets this kind of analysis, though Dass notes that press reports may undercount. The text we read gives no biography for Dass; we found no stake.
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06 ★★★☆☆
Kaliningrad as a burden rather than a fortress
Is Kaliningrad, Russia's armed exclave on the Baltic, a dagger pointed at NATO or a burden Moscow can no longer carry? Daniel Peris argues the second, reading the territory through centuries of rulers who governed it from afar and a Russia that Peris sees as an empire in retreat. Read it for the long view that daily coverage of the Suwałki Gap leaves out. We picked it as a counterweight to the usual threat framing; the thesis is stated openly, though the case for near-term danger gets less attention. Peris trained as a historian of modern Russia and manages dividend portfolios for a US asset manager; we found no stake.
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