This photograph shows a Dassault Rafale aircraft parked on the tarmac of the French Air and Space Force Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, France, on March 18, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)
Ethiopian Republican Guards await the arrival of the French president and Ethiopian prime minister, who visited the National Palace in Addis Ababa on December 21, 2024. (Ludovic Marin via Getty Images)
A South Korean Army K1E1 tank crosses a pontoon bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river- crossing exercise as part of the Freedom Shield military drills with US and ROK forces in the border town of Yeoncheon, South Korea, on March 20, 2025. (Getty Images)
Gunners from the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire at Russian position with a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer 2C22 in the Kharkiv region on April 21, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)
Chinese sailors stand next to a submarine rescue ship Hongzehu from the PLA Navy as it is docked on April 23, 2024, in Qingdao, China.(Kevin Frayer via Getty Images)
The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald fires the first Naval Strike Missile from a US destroyer on July 18, 2024, in the Pacific Ocean. (US Navy photo)
Mike Watson is the associate director of Hudson Institute’s Center for the Future of Liberal Society. He holds a BA in history from the University of Virginia and an MA in security policy studies from George Washington University. He writes weekly for the Washington Free Beacon about foreign affairs, and his written work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, Tablet, and National Affairs. His research focuses on America’s competitive advantages against foreign adversaries and the historical roots of American foreign policy and strategic thought.
Javelin anti-tank missiles are seen at the Lockheed Martins Pike County Operations facility in Troy, Alabama, on May 3, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the fourth plenary session of the National People's Congress on March 11, 2023, in Beijing, China. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Ukrainian servicemen fire a Caesar self-propelled howitzer toward Russian positions at a front line in Donbas, Ukraine, on June 15, 2022. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)
A journalist takes a photo of a live feed of Xi Jinping speaking at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, on May 14, 2017. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)
Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force disembark from a US Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey as part of joint military drill Operation Keen Sword in Kumamoto, Japan, on November 16, 2022. (Marine Corps photo by Justin Marty)
Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Hyūga launches an MH-60J Seahawk helicopter during training in the Philippine Sea on January 21, 2022. (DVIDS photo by Jeremy Faller)
An election campaign banner showing Benjamin Netanyahu shaking hands with Narendra Modi on September 11, 2019, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)