Recently, ASML has been a lot in the news. In a new article, we explain why concerns about industrial espionage, reverse engineering and talent poaching miss the critical challenge that the production of lithography machines poses: systems integration. tinyurl.com/3u79rj7e

ASML's Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography and the Limits of Reverse Engineering in China

In June, the U.S. Department of Commerce informed the Dutch company ASML that it suspects one of its extreme ultraviolet lithography machines has reached

tinyurl.com

I’m shocked, shocked to learn that Trump maybe did not negotiate a perfect deal with Iran. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/u...

How Trump Failed to Secure the Strait of Hormuz in His Iran Deal (Gift Article)

President Trump signed an agreement that Iran said gave it control of the waterway — and global energy supplies. Now, Iran’s military is violently asserting authority.

nytimes.com

NATO leaders not accepting the gift of a customized revolver from Turkey at the NATO summit and leaving them in Ankara (UK and Germany) or handing them over to their police back home (Belgium and Canada) is impressively boring and lame. Modern officialdom can drain the romance out of anything.

Turns out the guy with the massive Nazi chest tattoo is a bad dude. If only there was some sort of sign.

Megan Greenwell@greenwell.bsky.social · 4w ago

I have edited a lot of sexual-assault-accusation articles, and this one easily clears every veracity check: contemporaneous emails with her therapist, a boyfriend who knew, a woman she warned—all before Platner ran for office. Good on Politico for nailing it, and on Jenny Racicot for speaking up.

There are those among you who explained away the Nazi tattoo, then explained away the past rhetoric like when he mocked a wounded soldier & blamed rapes on victims being drunk, and kept on explaining til we got to this. All you did was explain who *you* really are. www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

Don't miss this thoughtful article from a Catholic who is also a security scholar feeling through his obligations to his faith alongside AI military imperatives. warontherocks.com/a-catholic-s...

A Catholic Security Scholar’s Case for Responsible Military AI

What do you do when two identities that make up your deepest self find themselves on opposite sides of a moral and spiritual battlefield? I am Catholic. I

warontherocks.com

I am lucky I was born American and nothing has ever made me love my country less. To all my fellow Americans, no matter who you are -- from builder to banker, from teacher to trucker, from pauper to patron -- Happy Independence Day.

Yes, China still dominates a lot of supply chains for drone components, but American industry is working hard to catch up. Some analysis and infographics for your consideration from Cogs of War warontherocks.com/cogs-of-war/...

Mapping America's Domestic Drone Supply Chain

The extent of China's drone dominance — and how to decouple from it — has long been a source of debate and anxiety in Washington. Last month, the Wall

warontherocks.com

I devoured Lem's "His Master's Voice" last week. What a remarkable novel. I've never read anything like it

Joy at the suffering of others is one of the chief internal conditions leading to evil actions. Obviously Europe needs more air conditioning. As someone who has lived in three European capitals, including during heat waves, I get it and have made this point many times myself for years. (1/3)

Does anyone in the DC area want to adopt a very cute and well-behaved cat that is affectionate and sweet to humans but can't get along with other animals?

Does anyone in the DC area want to adopt a very cute and well-behaved cat that is affectionate and sweet to humans but can't get along with other animals?

New summer, new @warontherocks.bsky.social fiction list warontherocks.com/the-2026-war...

The 2026 War on the Rocks Summer Fiction Reading List

You can tell a lot about a person from what fiction they keep on their nightstand. Once a year, we make the staff, contributing editors, and show hosts of

warontherocks.com

Apropos of nothing, I was honored to have GEN Donahue on the show about a year ago warontherocks.com/gen-donahue-...

Gen. Donahue on Deterring Russia in Europe

Gen. Christopher Todd Donahue, who leads U.S. Army Europe and Africa as well as Allied Land Command, joined Ryan for a discussion at WOTR HQ. For the

warontherocks.com

Wrote a thing on how DoD, Congress, and industry can approach wargaming to address industrial base and supply chain issues. Thanks again to @warontherocks.bsky.social and Jonathan Panter for letting me tackle this topic. warontherocks.com/cogs-of-war/...

Wargaming for Improved Acquisition: What Does It Take?

A few months ago, I attended a panel discussion for a wargame simulating rapid industrial mobilization for armed conflict. Conducted by a leading

warontherocks.com

Interesting breakingdefense.com/2026/06/the-...

'The threat is there': Germany to pair P-8s with MQ-9 drones to keep an eye on Russian subs - Breaking Defense

“The MQ-9B will be the first [unmanned] system we operate with it — the idea is to have those working closely with the aircraft, but step by step,” said Capt. Broder Nielsen, head of the German Naval ...

breakingdefense.com

"For the farmer who considers his field to be everything, the field is an empire. For a Caesar whose empire is still not enough, the empire is a field. The poor man possesses an empire, the great man a field." -Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

A maritime strategy without sound and useful metrics is just a wish in a pea coat. Ander Heiles proposes the Mahan Ratio, which compares military seapower to the merchant shipping and shipbuilding capacity that underpin it. warontherocks.com/the-maritime...

The Maritime Action Plan Needs a Yardstick: Enter the Mahan Ratio

Washington is littered with the corpses of grand plans to restore the Merchant Marine. The Trump administration’s Maritime Action Plan is the latest

warontherocks.com

How failures of policy, service stagnation, and readiness challenges led to the end of an empire in the crucible of war. Apropos of nothing, of course warontherocks.com/cascading-fa...

Cascading Failure: The Spanish Navy’s Reserve Squadron and the Tragedy of Unpreparedness

It is in long periods of peace that victories and defeats are prepared. Peace is the period for men of government, just as war is for men of action.

warontherocks.com

"The greatest thing in the world is for a man to know that he is his own." -Montaigne hyperessays.net/essays/on-so...

On Solitude - The Essays of Michel de Montaigne

On Solitude. Chapter 38 of Book 1 of the Essays of Michel de Montaigne translated by Charles Cotton

hyperessays.net

There is so much wisdom on nuclear arsenals and use in this article by Jay Tilden warontherocks.com/contriving-i...

Contriving Imaginary Gaps in Nuclear Deterrence

Among some nuclear strategists, military officers, and lawmakers, a belief bordering on the canonical has taken root that the United States is on the

warontherocks.com

Credential inflation is really getting out of hand

This encyclical on AI might be the first w/ genuine geopolitical weight/importance since the 1991 encyclical issued by JP II, which sought to explain collapse of communism while warning the West not to mistake markets/consumption for a complete vision of freedom. And this one is far more ambitious.

All the turpitudinous hacks, brutish warmongers, well-fed chickenhawks & oily compradors who’ve spent their careers pushing for war w/ Iran & brought us to this ghastly wreck are already blaming everyone but themselves. Don't know what happens next but remember who built this coffin plank by plank

Marc Thiessen would find a way to add bombing Iran to a chocolate chip cookie recipe

Of note, the author of this piece was Lithuania's ambassador to NATO. I hope my European friends read it closely. warontherocks.com/europes-dang...

Europe’s Dangerous Hunger Games for American Troops

Every time reports emerge about a potential reduction of U.S. forces or capabilities in Europe, the old continent falls into the same cycle of anxiety and

warontherocks.com

I pity those who go prospecting for geopolitical insights from techbro podcasts like the All In Podcast. It's like learning seamanship from a guy who once rented a jet ski in Cabo.

I interviewed the new Cogs of War host and executive editor Jonathan Panter in this latest episode. Get to know Jonathan, scholar, former surface warfare officer, and keen observer of #defensetech pod.link/1818133762/e...

Travis makes some good points here. We should not have published an article that directly encouraged an award to a specific FFRDC

Travis Reese (Against war with NATO)@ctreese2.bsky.social · 3mo ago

About everything in this article is correct except for directly encouraging an award of a specific contract to a think tank and FFRDC when other organizations are actually doing work in this area. Also, it calls for a single macro game when many small games may do. warontherocks.com/cogs-of-war/...