This report from UK think tank RUSI outlines proliferation finance activity tied to the casino and gaming sector that authorities should analyse as part of their national risk assessment process. Criminal actors exploit under-regulated aspects of the casino and gaming sector to launder and move illicit assets across jurisdictions. This threat is further compounded by...

This report from UK think tank RUSI assesses whether the updated Financial Action Task Force recommendations address weaknesses in asset recovery responses. This Policy Brief assesses the question of whether the updated Financial Action Task Force Recommendations 4 and 38 address weaknesses in asset recovery responses. Asset recovery is the process by which the proceeds...

This report from UK think tank the Adam Smith Institute looks at market-based reforms to the UK's economic sanctions regime. The UK’s current sanctions regime is dysfunctional, as exemplified by the failure to place meaningful pressure on Russia to abandon its invasion of Ukraine. The intent of these sanctions was to damage the Russian economy...

This report from UK think tank the Adam Smith Institute considers potential next steps for the UK’s sanctions strategy. This paper considers potential next steps for the UK’s sanctions strategy, drawing on the academic literature and the growing evidence base to suggest what an “Economic Sanctions Strategy 2.0” might look like. In doing so, it...

This report from UK think tank RUSI draws on underexploited source material to offer an overview of North Korea’s procurement networks over the past five years. This paper analyses North Korea’s procurement networks, particularly in view of North Korea’s programmatic successes and recent geopolitical shifts in Russia’s relationship with North Korea as a result of...

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society explores strategies for Five Eyes Alliance countries to diversify away from China for the importing of rare earth elements. This report explores strategies for Five Eyes Alliance countries (the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to diversify away from China for...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at how the movement of people from Edo State fuels the Libyan conflict economy. Despite being thousands of miles apart, Libya and Edo State in southern Nigeria are connected by a centuries-old route for trade and the movement of people. Since the outbreak of conflict in...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines how the US’s hardening China policy is seen in Beijing. The China–US relationship has no doubt deteriorated in recent years. Washington’s policy of containing China through the application of restrictions on certain goods and markets, as well as China’s own economic downturn, has increased the tension...

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines the causes of the failure of the Ukrainian offensive in 2023 to avoid the repetition of such errors in the future. The purpose of this report is to examine the causes of the failure of the Ukrainian offensive in 2023 to avoid the repetition of such errors...

This report from UK think tank RUSI argues that a wider understanding of the services and support that space can offer is needed across defence. Space is ubiquitous in modern defence: space capabilities are essential in areas such as gathering intelligence, enabling navigation and precision firepower via GPS, and communicating beyond the line of sight....

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society examines Western support for the Russian diaspora. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has understandably focused the Western response on supporting Ukraine. However, the ‘as long as it takes’ rhetoric should have been relegated to the dustbin of slogan history and replaced with...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform sets out the risks of a second Trump presidency for the UK and the EU. As Donald Trump eyes a return to the White House, UK and EU policy-makers are bracing for disruption. A second Trump presidency would lead to extensive transatlantic turbulence. Trump’s...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House assesses the challenges Russia faces in upgrading each of the main armed services and in reforming or developing its command structures. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now into its third year, has confounded many assumptions – both in Moscow and in the West – about the effectiveness...

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines whether virtual assets can be used to facilitate donations to Ukraine’s urgent reconstruction efforts. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left much of the country in ruins. Rallying international support for the nation’s swift recovery has therefore become a necessity. From the beginning of the full-scale invasion,...

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines a methodology for degrading the arms of the Russian federation. Ukraine’s international partners have been seeking to curtail Russian defence production through the sanctioning of Russian-affiliated individuals and entities and the disruption of Russian sanctions circumvention and covert procurement of military components on the international market since...

President Biden arrives in office with a full foreign policy in-tray, albeit one that will have to compete for attention with myriad domestic priorities from tackling run-away virus to repairing the foundations of its own democracy. Most of America’s traditional allies will let out a huge sigh of relief that his predecessor has left the...

The Taiwan Straits maybe the most volatile point in the Asia-Pacific. Even if this thin strip of water, separating Taiwan and China, is not the site of a great power collision this year it nevertheless will be a source of tension between Beijing and Washington. The Communist Party of China claims Taiwan as “an inalienable”...