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The recent floods in Nepal exposed the growing vulnerability of Himalayan communities and the widening gap between the scale of climate losses and international support. The devastating Himalayan disaster of August 26, 2026, has left Nepal facing enormous reconstruction costs. The critical question for the global community is whether climate finance will be treated as a matter of justice, instead of charity. The high-altitude glacier collapse in the northern part of Langtang/Lirung Mountain caused a Himalayan tsunami that killed more than 1,451 people as of September 19, 2026, left 5,786 missing, and affected about 1.6 million people in five districts…

Taiwan’s National Disaster Medical Assistance Team (NDMAT) discuss triage in a tent with Ministry of National Defense field medical response team members in Taitung, Taiwan. Photo by Katie Sizemore. In the seaside town of Taitung, four hours from Taipei by train, Taiwan’s premier national disaster preparedness exercise simulated a response to a 7.3 magnitude earthquake – layered with variables Taiwan could face in a conflict contingency. This year’s drill marked a critical operational shift, moving past standard disaster response to stress-test Taiwan against cascading, multisystem failures alongside expanded participation from regional and international partners.  The base scenario estimated damage to…

Hypersonic munitions have become a baseline requirement for major militaries. The United States, for example, plans to procure at least 10,000 of Castelion’s Blackbeard hypersonic missiles over the next three years, while Russia, Iran, and Pakistan have all claimed that they used “hypersonic” missiles in recent conflicts. However, the term ‘hypersonic’ is loaded and vague when left unqualified. If left to the most basic standard, it could refer to a munition that flies faster than Mach 5, which, in turn, places very different types of munitions under one label and treats them equally. In practice, however, most ‘hypersonic’ adoption currently…

The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Dr. Stephen J. Blank – non-resident senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program and author of numerous publications on Soviet/Russian, U.S., Asian, and European military and foreign policies – is the 527th in “The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series.” How is China-Russia cooperation supporting Iran’s resistance against U.S. military actions? Sino-Russian cooperation supports Iran in many ways. Russia is transmitting satellite intelligence about the location and movement of American troops, ships, and aircraft. Iran used…

Chinese media have confirmed that Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Washington from September 23 to 25 for a much-anticipated summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The announcement followed talks between their economic chiefs in New York on September 20.  Although the two sides have framed those discussions differently, it is clear that trade and AI will be on the summit agenda. Trump could leave with more orders, Xi with fewer constraints on China’s technological development, and both declare success. For Canberra, the question is what their bargain would mean for Australian investments and security arrangements built around…

Amid his 20-minute remarks before the United Nations General Assembly this week, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov took time to complain about sanctions and thank U.S. President Donald Trump for ceasing support to NGOs. “…[T]oday sanctions are, in some cases, used by individual countries as an instrument of interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states,” Japarov said. “The negative consequences of unjustified unilateral sanctions also affect small countries such as ours, which are at the stage of formation and development, and this raises concern among other small states as well.” Japarov went on to claim that “some major states, in…

What look like indications of U.S. abandonment of Taiwan are relatively superficial, while substantive investment in capabilities that could deter China continues apace. Source link

If you read The Diplomat, you probably follow Asia-Pacific affairs – and thus you probably already know that Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to arrive in Washington, D.C. today for a much-anticipated summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. According to the White House’s itinerary, Xi will land at Andrews Air Force Base on September 23, where he will be personally received by Trump himself. The next day, he’ll receive a formal welcome ceremony at the White House, followed by the actual summit and a state dinner. On September 25, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will host Xi and…

BEIRUT — Syria is looking to no longer “have any foreign military bases,” President Ahmad al-Sharaa said at an Atlantic Council event, allowing the country to have “complete and pure sovereignty of the Syrian state.” Prior to al-Sharaa coming into power in December 2024, Russia operated from dozens of military bases in Syria, which it used to help keep the Assad regime in power. Since the regime was overthrown, the number of Russian military bases has shrank considerably, he said. “They had around 170 military bases, and now there are only two bases,” al-Sharaa said Tuesday. “And after long discussions…

We came to Geneva for the 63rd Human Rights Council from different points in our advocacy journeys and different parts of the world, but with a shared commitment to the people of Myanmar. One of us has spent years walking the corridors of the United Nations, meeting diplomats, and pressing governments to act on the crisis in Myanmar. The other was attending the Human Rights Council for the first time, after years of documenting human rights violations in the country. We were there for the same reason: to ask governments what they are prepared to do about Myanmar. After years…