Ukraine's systematic drone campaign against Russian oil refineries and fuel depots is now forcing export bans, rationing and spreading shortages on the Russian dide. Meanwhile a new military-industrial dynamic, joint Ukrainian-European arms production based on Ukrainian designs, is shifting the balance of supply on the Ukrainian side. Against this backdrop, Mikael Hertoft surveys the state of the war as of early June 2026, examines Russia's collapsing territorial gains despite undiminished (…)

THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATED on Sunday against the KMT's cuts to defense spending, which reduced spending from 1.25 trillion NT to 780 billion NT. The main organizer of the demonstration was the Economic Democracy Union, the politically progressive social movement organization that played a key role in the 2014 Sunflower Movement and 2024 Bluebird Movement. Organizers claimed that 8,000 attended. The protest began at the SOGO outside of the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT and progressed eastward through (…)

TAIWANESE CIVIL SOCIETY groups called for the release of Hong Kong activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung on June 1st outside of Taipei's Ximending shopping district. Lee and Chow were respectively the chair and vice chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The group was the primary organizer of the rallies held in Victoria Park annually to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre each year on June 4th. Such rallies (…)