IW Weekly - 30 August 2026

Arctic contestation dominates the week: NATO's "kill web" tests above the GIUK Gap, Russia's fishing-fleet push for Arctic maritime power, the "Ground Station Gap," and renewed warnings on lagging U.S. Arctic readiness all point to a fifth theater opening faster than doctrine can follow.

China's gray zone widens in parallel. Over 200 vessels mass near a Philippine-held shoal, Beijing presses a "problematic advance" in Uruguay, and criminal networks serve as proxies, while an AI-guided drone killing three Ukrainians marks autonomous warfare's quiet crossing from concept to combat record.

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Introducing APEX 2026 - IPA — September 8-9; Reston, VA

NATO Annual CIMIC Foresight Conference — September 14-18; The Hague

SAVE THE DATE: 25 Years After, Lessons From America's Post-9/11 War — September 15; DC

Modern War Conference 2026: Deterrence in the Pacific — September 24-25; West Point

SAVE THE DATE: Inaugural Narrative Strategy Symposium — September 30; DC

Global SOF in Europe Conference — October 6-8; Rome

Future of War Conference — October 26-28; Netherlands

Tactical Trauma 2026 — November 2-4; Sweden

Int'l Conference of the Society for Terrorism Research — December 9-11; Sydney, Australia

Medicine In the Mediterranean 2027 — January 29-31, 2027; Malta

Phoenix Challenge London 2027 — March 9-11, 2027; London

Have an event to highlight? Send details to mick@stratagemconsultingllc.com.

How Close Are We to World War III? A UK General on Iran, Ukraine, and the Changing Character of War

Sweden's Cold War Stay-Behind Operations

Russia's Classrooms Face Putin's Propaganda Machine

Russian Intelligence, Europe, and Putin's Secret War

Why Should We Care About a Couple of Average Guys Targeted by Beijing's Propaganda Machine?

In Moscow's Shadows 260: Digging (Relics) For Victory

Africa on the Move: Migration, Labor Mobility, and Integration

The Longest War (documentary film)

A New Organizational Paradigm for Economic Statecraft at the U.S. State Department

Beyond 'blood gold': understanding the spectrum of illicit gold conflict

Conference Report - Critical Minerals and Strategic Competition

SOF Weekly Brief - August 24, 2026

Why U.S. Military Arctic Readiness Is (Still) Lagging and What the Pentagon Can Do about It

Non-Great Power Conflict and AI Risk

Mapping Risk and Resilience in the Global Illicit Gold Economy

Decision Advantage in Cognitive Warfare, Part 2

Foreign actors, familiar faces: Globalization of organized crime is driven by cartels you know

From Hormuz to the Caucasus: The New Geography of Energy Security

State Partnership Program Links Global Partnership to Defense Priorities

What Have We Learned from the 9/11 Wars? Not Nearly Enough

In Iceland, Air Force special ops crews test gliders for resupply

Overcoming China's Supply Chain Leverage

Robotic telesurgery in an austere setting | Innovative Surgical Trends

Dutch foundation plans Ukraine's largest underground hospital near front lines

MHS recognizes investigator for research on bleed control, warfighter medical readiness

Fresh Whole Blood is Not The Answer: It's Still a Question

Do Antibiotics Really Reduce Mortality in Trauma? Wound Care in Prolonged Field Care

One year in, America's counter-drone task force still has 'a ton of work to do'

A Drone Killed Three Ukrainians. It Was Guided Entirely by A.I.

Building the Army's Advantage: A Vision of Readiness for the Future of Autonomous Warfare

Building Bridges through Medicine - U.S. and Libyan Military Teams Strengthen Ties

AI and autonomy on the modern battlefield

What's Behind China's Problematic Advance in Uruguay?

Special Forces soldiers conducting joint operations in Ecuador

A Jungle Heist: Shielding the Amazon from Organised Crime

The Survival of the Islamic State in East Africa, and Its Emerging Global Significance

From Spoke to Hub: The Houthis in Africa

Nigeria will need more than a bigger army to tackle security challenges

Climate, Conflict, and Strategic Competition in the Central Sahel

The Cost of India's Calibrated Neutrality in the Iran War

The UAE's Calibrated Response to Iran

Yemen's Return to War: What is the Endgame?

Iran's affordable terror-for-hire network built to outlast the war

In The Propaganda War, Iran Came Prepared, Leveraged The Media Space

NATO tests Arctic kill web above GIUK Gap as Marines deploy HIMARS

Store water and tinned food to prepare for emergencies, UK citizens to be told

Romania destroys marine drone near Neptun Deep gas project

The Ground Station Gap

Fishing for trouble: The fishery and Russia's quest for Arctic maritime power

The Great Nordic Convergence

Analysis: Why China Keeps Building Military Installations in the South China Sea

More than 200 Chinese ships mass near Philippine-held shoal

A Pacific conflict may not look like conventional war, SOCPAC commander

Taiwan Strait tensions come home to Thailand

China, Criminal Networks, and Gray Zone Competition

The Arctic China Sea?

Review: Jack Watling's State Craft

Papers: "Civil Affairs: Securing the Victory in New Environments" (due September 11)

Papers: "Polar Research Diplomacy as a Catalyst for Geopolitical Stability" (due September 15)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 101 (IW Basics)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 201 (IW Advanced)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 301 (IW Campaigning)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 401 (IW Campaign Design)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 110 (IW approaches for Homeland Security and Homeland Defense)

Ed - Center for Homeland and Defense Studies Self-Study Courses

Strategic Competition | George C. Marshall European Center For Security Studies

USAJOBS – Program Analyst, SO/LIC (due August 31)

USAJOBS – Supervisory Intel Specialist, SOCCENT (due September 1)

The IW Weekly is made possible through the generous support of Stratagem Consulting. We're especially grateful to Mick Crnkovich, Founder and CEO of Stratagem, for championing thoughtful, practitioner-oriented resources in the national security space.

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