European states should take a finance-led approach to addressing hybrid threats, organised crime and terrorism. Introduction and Background In April 2025, the EU published its updated internal security strategy, ProtectEU, underlining the reality that the lives of European citizens ‘have become less secure’. Hybrid threats, organised crime networks and terrorist …

Iraq’s elections make ponderous a status quo Washington and Tehran seek to preserve; manoeuvring politicians make work for external powers contesting the fate of Iraq’s Iran-backed militia groups. Iraq’s November national elections positioned incumbent Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition (RDC) as the leading party in federal …

Russia has reportedly modified its Iskander 9M723 ballistic missiles making them harder to intercept. The causes are unclear, but the impact on Ukraine is not. Recently, there have been a series of reports that Ukraine’s ability to intercept the Russian 9M723 Iskander-M ballistic missile with Patriot interceptors is deteriorating. Given …