RUSI - Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies

In the latest Suspicious Transaction Report episode, Tom Keatinge is joined by Kathryn Westmore and Teddy Nicholson to discuss how Chinese money laundering organisations exploit capital controls, criminal cash and informal value transfer systems to move illicit wealth across borders.

Listen to the episode: https://bit.ly/4vCqGJe

'The second Trump administration adopted a broadly functional intelligence community. He then set about capturing it, "abusing it" – to adopt Doctorow’s words – "to make things better for their business customers", namely himself.' writes Huw Dylan in the latest RUSI Newsbrief.

The Loyalty Trap: Trump and the Undermining of US Intelligence Power The Trump administration’s approach to intelligence shoots the messenger, undermining the community’s role of telling the President things he does not want to hear.

While Europe celebrates Pashinyan’s win, the Kremlin is focused on his weakened mandate, accusations of Western intervention and the long game in the South Caucasus.

Read the latest RUSI Commentary from Callum Fraser, Natia Seskuria and Sophie Williams-Dunning.

Special thanks to VANTAGE by LetsData for sharing narrative intelligence to inform this article.

Armenia’s Election: A Win for Pashinyan, Yet the Kremlin Long Game Persists While Europe celebrates Pashinyan’s win, the Kremlin is focused on his weakened mandate, accusations of Western intervention and the long game in the South Caucasus.

'For Bosnia and Herzegovina, Orban’s defeat offers a rare opportunity to weaken one of the most important external pillars sustaining secessionist politics and institutional destabilisation in the Western Balkans', writes Ismet Fatih Čančar in the latest RUSI Commentary.

The End of Orbánism? Bosnia, Magyar and Europe’s Strategic Credibility Viktor Orbán’s electoral defeat removes one of the most important European patrons of secessionist and illiberal actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Will Peter Magyar’s government change course?

Our new research paper by Henry Sanderson says China's unprecedented control over the supply chain for rare earths poses a significant and growing risk to UK national security, defence, clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

The paper urges the creation of a UK strategic stockpile, state support for sovereign rare earth suppliers and the curbing of China’s ability to gather intelligence of UK defence dependencies through its export licensing regime.

China and Rare Earth Supply Chains China’s rare earth export controls sustain magnet exports, restrict key elements and reshape global supply chains, impacting UK and allied industries.

'The significance in the UK’s Defence Investment Plan is therefore that it is vital to actually determining both the pace and prioritisation for change in the Armed Forces. Without it, the Strategic Defence Review is a list of ambitions and a rational for change, but expressed as a shopping list, and not a sequenced plan.' writes Matthew Savill in the latest RUSICommentary.

The Curious Case of the Delayed Investment Plan Delays to the UK’s Defence Investment Plan do not bode well for the UK’s Armed Forces transformation, or confidence the government is prioritising defence spending.

'The digital sovereignty package is the clearest signal to date that Europe views cloud and AI as strategically necessary and worth incurring costs', writes Joseph Jarnecki in the latest RUSI Commentary.

Europe Means Business on Cloud and AI Sovereignty For Europe, technology dependence is a strategic liability. The European Commission’s Tech Sovereignty Package offers solutions, but can it hold its resolve?

'The big geopolitical question is this: by the end of summer, the EU and Asia will be running out of oil. The US will be facing its own cliff. President Trump has sound reasons to send oil reserves to Japan for strategic reasons and to South Korea because it supplies the US with aircraft kerosene. But to the EU?' writes David Roche in the latest RUSI Commentary.

The Energy Supply Cliff is Alarmingly Near With the Strait of Hormuz closed, national oil reserves have been steadily depleting, and will empty by the end of the summer, halting most economic activity, globally.

'The American policies that we had grown accustomed to were an artefact of a particular set of historical circumstances that are now past, will never return, and cannot be recreated', writes Bilahari Kausikan in the latest RUSI Commentary.

No-Rules Based Order: The World As It Really Is A veteran Singaporean diplomat and scholar reflects on today’s strategic uncertainties and enduring myths, appealing for calmer and more sober perspectives on the challenges.

'A workable response cannot rest on national autarky. No European state can reconstruct alone, at sustainable cost, the full spectrum of critical supply chains, satellite infrastructure and undersea resilience capability', writes Jonathan Thébaud in the latest member exclusive RUSI Newsbrief.

Power Under Dependency: Vulnerabilities in France’s Strategic Posture Beyond holding assets, France’s resilience depends on establishing credible access, prioritisation, and substitution mechanisms for critical materials.