occupation

en-noun

occupation (countable and uncountable, plural occupations)

/ˌɒkjʊˈpeɪʃən/

/ˌɒkjəˈpeɪʃən/

/ˌɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/

/ˌɑkjəˈpeɪʃən/

From Middle English occupacioun, borrowed from Middle French occupation, from Latin occupātio, from occupō (“occupy, seize”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to seize, grab”).

der

The early years of Norman occupation saw a frenzy of castle building.

1999, Linda Flavell, Roger Flavell, “1066[:] The Normans Begin to Erect Castles”, in dictionary of english down through the ages[:] words & phrases born out of historical events great & small, 2005 edition, London: Kyle Cathie Limited, →ISBN, page 17:

The lawyer and twice-divorced mother of three had presented herself as the modern face of her party, trying to strip it of unsavoury overtones after her father's convictions for saying the Nazi occupation of France was not "particularly inhumane".

2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian:

(geopolitics, military) The control of a nation or region by a hostile military or paramilitary force.

okupacion

control of a country or region by a hostile army


Middle East

desc

الشَّرْق الْأَوْسَط

→ Arabic: الشَّرْق الْأَوْسَط (aš-šarq al-ʔawsaṭ) (calque)

→ Azerbaijani: Orta Şərq (calque)

Сярэ́дні Усхо́д

→ Belarusian: Сярэ́дні Усхо́д (Sjarédni Usxód) (calque)

→ Catalan: Orient Mitjà (calque)

→ Czech: Střední východ (calque)

→ Dutch: Midden-Oosten (calque)

→ French: Moyen-Orient (calque)

→ German: Mittlerer Osten (calque)

Μέση Ανατολή

→ Greek: Μέση Ανατολή (Mési Anatolí) (calque)

→ Italian: Medio Oriente (calque)

→ Kazakh: Орта Шығыс (Orta Şyğys) (calque)

Среден Исток

→ Macedonian: Среден Исток (Sreden Istok) (calque)

→ Norwegian: Midtøsten (calque)

→ Persian: خاورمیانه (xâvar-e-miyâne) (calque)

→ Polish: Środkowy Wschód (calque)

→ Portuguese: Oriente Médio (calque)

→ Romanian: Orientul Mijlociu (calque)

Сре́дний Восто́к

→ Russian: Сре́дний Восто́к (Srédnij Vostók) (calque)

→ Spanish: Medio Oriente (calque)

→ Swedish: Mellanöstern (calque)

→ Turkish: Orta Doğu (calque)

→ Turkmen: Orta Gündogar (calque)

مَشْرِقِ وُسْطیٰ

→ Urdu: مَشْرِقِ وُسْطیٰ (maśriq-e vustā) (calque)

ئوتتۇرا شەرق

→ Uyghur: ئوتتۇرا شەرق (ottura sherq) (calque)

→ Uzbek: Oʻrta Sharq (calque)

Compound of middle + east formed in English, modeled on Far East and Near East. Attested from the latter 19th century.

Well, what may happen in the Middle East? I agree there are uncertainties, but when he was condemning the policy of the Government with regard to the Turkish peace, had he thought for a moment of the financial effect of the policy which he advocated?

1920 April 21, House of Commons, quoting Austen Chamberlain, “Budget proposals, Committee of Ways and Means”, in The Parliamentary Debates, volume 128, page 455:

(geopolitics, dated) The region between the Near East and the Far East.

(geopolitics) The region comprising West Asia without the South Caucasus and additionally including all of Egypt (not just the Sinai) and all of Turkey (not just Asian Turkey).

Midde-Ooste

region comprising Western Asia without the South Caucasus and additionally including all of Egypt and all of Turkey

ܡܲܕ݂ܢܚܵܐ ܡܸܨܥܵܝܵܐ

maḏnḥā miṣˁāyā

Урта Көнчыгыш

Urta Könçığış


Caucasus

Via Latin Caucasus, from Ancient Greek Καύκασος (Kaúkasos).

(geopolitics) A geopolitical region in Eastern Europe and Western Asia, deriving its name from the aforementioned mountains.


little green man

en-noun

little green man (plural little green men)

[ˌlɪ.ɾɫ̩ ˈɡɹɪ̃i̯m ˌmɛ̃ə̯n̆]

[ˌlɪ.t͡ʔɫ̩ ˈɡɹɪ̃i̯m ˌmãn̆]

[ˌlɘ.ɾɯ ˈɡɹɘ̯ĩm ˌmɛ̞̃n̆]

կանաչ մարդուկ

humorous: space alien, Martian — see also alien

These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains. In this way they provided a measure of deniability—however superficial or implausible—for Moscow.⁴⁰

2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 43:

The “little green men”—faces covered, wearing unmarked olive uniforms, speaking Russian and using Russian weapons—have played a significant role in both the occupation of Crimea and the civil war in eastern Ukraine.¹⁹⁶

2015, Shane R. Reeves, David Wallace, “The Combatant Status of the “Little Green Men” and Other Participants in the Ukraine Conflict”, in International Law Studies, US Naval War College, volume 91, number 361, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, page 393:

The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.

2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution, The Center for International Security and Cooperation:

(geopolitics, euphemistic, usually in the plural) A soldier lacking identification as to create uncertainty around their allegiance (most notably seen with affiliation to the Russian Federation following associated campaigns 2014 in Ukraine).


globalist

"Globalists" tend to view international issues in terms of US-Soviet rivalry, while "regionalists" see them more often as manifestations of local rivalries and problems.

1986, Galia Golan, The Soviet Union and the PLO since the War in Lebanon, page 285:

The authors suggest that the globalist emphasis among policymakers has increased during the Reagan administration.

1986, Eric Stromayer, African Crisis Areas and U.S. Foreign Policy (review), page 240:

(geopolitics, dated) One who believes international events are primarily caused by conflicts between great powers.


green line

(geopolitics) A demarcation line, separating Israeli and Palestinian or other Arab territories according to a armistice in 1949.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

(geopolitics) A demarcation line, separating the Republic of Cyprus from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.


neocolonial

en-adj

neocolonial (comparative more neocolonial, superlative most neocolonial)

more neocolonial (comparative)
most neocolonial (superlative)

One of the things that was a sin of ours, and the neocolonial arrangement we tried to produce, was that we had all the answers and they had none.

1988 January 29, Michael Miner, “Art of Our Arrogance/Rethinking Vietnam”, in Chicago Reader:

This is a racist, neocolonial construct.

2009 January 18, Haroon Siddiqui, “Obama cannot walk on water but he can disperse dark clouds”, in Toronto Star:

(geopolitics) Of or pertaining to, or based on, neocolonialism

neocolonial

of or pertaining to, or based on, neocolonialism


unsanctionable

(economics, geopolitics) That cannot be subjected to economic sanctions.


sanctionable

(economics, geopolitics) That can be subjected to economic sanctions.


antisoviet

antisoviet (comparative more antisoviet, superlative most antisoviet)

more antisoviet (comparative)
most antisoviet (superlative)

(geopolitics) Opposing the Soviet Union.


first island chain

Calque from Chinese 第一島鏈／第一岛链 (Dìyī dǎoliàn).

zh-l

第一島鏈／第一岛链 (Dìyī dǎoliàn)

Japanese Archipelago
Japanese Archipelago

(geopolitics) The first chain of major archipelagos out from the East Asian continental mainland coast. Principally composed of the Kuril Islands, Japanese Archipelago, Ryu Kyu Islands, Taiwan, the northern Philippines, and Borneo; from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the Malay Peninsula.


Eastern Bloc

Coordinate term: Western Bloc

(geopolitics, historical) The largely Communist countries of the eastern world, usually Eastern Europe and especially in the Cold War era.

اَلْكُتْلَة الشَّرْقِيَّة

the communist countries of the eastern world


BRICS

As shown by the BRICS expansion and the long waiting list to join, Xi’s offer of an alternative world order is finding receptive ears in the Global South, where many countries feel themselves marginalized in an international system they see as dominated by the US and its wealthy allies.

2023 August 28, “BRICS expansion is a big win for China. But can it really work as a counterweight to the West?”, in CNN:

(geopolitics, economics) Acronym of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa: an international economic organization comprising these fast-growing economies.


Apartheid Wall

(derogatory, geopolitics) A separation barrier built by the Israeli government in the West Bank

Muro do Apartheid

a separation barrier built by the Israeli government in the West Bank


North Atlantic Terrorist Organization

A backronym of NATO, substituting the T word to affirm a negative point, implying that the organization is inherently belligerent.

Canada is a member of a megamurder club, a North Atlantic Terrorist Organization.

1970 December 8, James Eayrs, “Morality and Violence: The Insane Strategy of Peace Through “Megamurder””, in The Kingston Whig-Standard, year 45, number 7, Kingston, Ont., page six:

They are the North Atlantic Terrorist Organization.

1999 March 29, Milutin Tamasijevic, “South Florida Serbs unite in fear, frustration, anger”, in The Miami Herald, 97th year, number 196, page 1B:

The arsonists left notes at two of the sites, one of which denounced the “North Atlantic Terrorist Organization” and asserted that “the fake Albanian refugee crisis was manufactured by the International Jewsmedia to justify the terrorizing, the bestial bombing of our Yugoslavia back into the dark ages.”

2000, Lawrence Grossman, David Singer, editors, American Jewish Year Book 2000, →ISBN, page 163:

(geopolitics, derogatory) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization.


powerism

(geopolitics) A disposition in geopolitical relations that supports hegemonic influence


Global South

First used in a political sense in 1969.

Where and what is the Global South? If you ask people on the street, many would probably not have the faintest idea. In everyday parlance and mass media, Global South has hardly become a household term. In academic and (global) policy circles, though, the term is used with much more gusto.

2015, Andrea Hollington, Oliver Tappe, Tijo Salverda, Tobias Schwarz, Concepts of the Global South. Voices from around the world., Global South Studies Center Cologne, archived from the original on 2016-09-04:

Countries from the global south, including Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – mega-diverse countries home to the world’s three largest rainforests – wanted governments to agree to the creation of a new biodiversity fund as part of the Montreal pact to pay for new conservation targets.

2022 December 19, Patrick Greenfield, Phoebe Weston, “Cop15: historic deal struck to halt biodiversity loss by 2030”, in The Guardian:

A paragon from the Global South, as no one I know who lives there calls it, would be very 21st century, very au courant.

2023 February 11, Janan Ganesh, “After Germany's fall, which is the paragon nation?”, in FT Weekend, page 22:

(geopolitics) A region predominantly composed of the developing countries of Africa, Latin America, and Asia excluding Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Israel, regarded as half of a socioeconomic and political divide opposite to the Global North.


buffer state

(geopolitics) A nation lying between potentially hostile nations.


Eurasianism

neo-Eurasianism

specifically the ideology by Aleksandr Dugin and the like

Ruscism

a movement supporting Vladimir Putin and militarism

The third intellectual context important for civilizationism in post-Soviet intellectual production is Eurasianism—both the classical Russian émigré movement of the 1920s and the late Soviet and early post-Soviet “neo-Eurasianism” of such thinkers as Lev Gumilev, Aleksandr Dugin, and Aleksandr Panarin.

2020, Kåre Johan Mjør, Sanna Turoma, editors, Russia as Civilization, Routledge, →ISBN, page 1983:

(geopolitics) A Russian political movement focused on the Russian geopolitical interests in Eurasia.

eurasianismi

Russian political movement focused on the geopolitical concept of Eurasia


tellurocracy

en-noun

tellurocracy (countable and uncountable, plural tellurocracies)

Coordinate term: thalassocracy

Probably the United States has realized, a bit too late, that its stake on a pro-Pakistan regime in Afghanistan had been a mistake. Obviously, this was done not for the sake of stake itself: the strategic aim was to penetrate the Heartland. From the point of view of the tellurocracy versus thalassocracy opposition a maritime power (the US) may entrench itself in the IRAFPAK zone.

2000, Farhad Tolipov, “Geopolitical Stalemate in Afghanistan”, in Central Asia and the Caucasus:

Historically, Russians did not immediately realize the significance of their location and only accepted the baton of tellurocracy after the Mongolian conquests of Ghengis Khan, whose empire was a model of tellurocracy.

2015, Alexander Dugin, Last War of the World-Island: The Geopolitics of Contemporary Russia, →ISBN:

A union of Russia and several different Asian countries would represent the cultural values of tellurocracy, in opposing the movement toward neo-liberal globalization that is at the center of the constellation of maritime powers that is guided by the United States.

2015, Patricia Anne Simpson, Helga Druxes, Digital Media Strategies of the Far Right in Europe and the United States, →ISBN:

(geopolitics, military) Dominance or supremacy due to military or commercial power on land.

The "thalassocracy" here is the United States and its allies; the "tellurocracy" is Eurasia.

2001, Rénéo Lukic, Michael Brint, Culture, politics, and nationalism in the age of globalization, →ISBN, page 103:

In his works Dugin draws the picture of an ancient confrontation between the Atlantic oceanic powers ("talassocracies"), whose roots go back to the drowned continent of Atlantis and which are headed today by the mondialist United States, and the Eurasian continental powers ("tellurocracies"), whose roots lie in the mythical country of "Hyperborea," the most important of which today is Russia.

2008, Russian Politics and Law - Volume 46, page 15:

If thalassocracies are defined as democratic, commercial and pragmatic, tellurocracies are ideocratic, with a hierarchical organization and guided by a religious ideal.

2014, D Cristea, L Dumitrescu, “The Conservative Vector of Russia's Geopolitics at the Start of the New Millennium”, in Political Science & International Relations, volume 11, number 2:

(geopolitics) A state whose power derives from landbased military or commercial supremacy.


government-in-exile

government-in-exile (plural governments in exile)

(geopolitics) An independent polity that claims to be the legitimate government of a country, but is forced to operate from another country.


Global North

EU member states, the UK and other countries from the global north pushed for ambitious conservation targets in the final text, with co-hosts Canada saying that the success of the summit depended on the headline target to protect 30% of Earth by the end of the decade for nature, known as 30 by 30.

“In the global north, when you don’t factor in emissions inequality, you can end up with ‘yellow vests’ protest situations,” Chancel said, referring to tax rises on diesel in France in 2018 that prompted mass demonstrations of the “gilets jaunes”.

2023 November 20, Damian Carrington, “Revealed: the huge climate impact of the middle classes”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council

(geopolitics) The regions of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union member states, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and four of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, excluding China, regarded as half of a socioeconomic and political divide opposite to the Global South.

全球北方

(geopolitics) the regions of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union member states, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and four of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, excluding China


ANZUS

Blend of AUS (“Australia”) + NZ (“New Zealand”) + US (“United States”).

blend

(geopolitics) A security treaty between Australia, New Zealand, and America for the Pacific region; particularly in naval affairs.


AUKUS

Blend of AU + UK + US; Acronym of Australia + United Kingdom + United States of America.; Coined in 2021

acronym of

And so, friends, AUKUS is born — a new enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. AUKUS: a partnership where our technology, our scientists, our industry, our defense forces are all working together to deliver a safer and more secure region that ultimately benefits all.
AUKUS will also enhance our contribution to our growing network of partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region: ANZUS; our ASEAN friends; our bilateral strategic partners, the Quad; Five Eyes countries; and, of course, our dear Pacific family.
The first major initiative of AUKUS will be to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia.

2021 September 15, Scott Morrison, “Remarks by President Biden, Prime Minister Morrison of Australia, and Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom Announcing the Creation of AUKUS”, in White House:

Although Australia, the UK, and US partnership, AUKUS, sounds strange with all these acronyms but it's a good one, AUKUS, our nations will update and enhance our shared ability to take on the threats of the 21st century just as we did in the 20th century: together. Our nations and our brave fighting forces have stood shoulder to shoulder for literally more than one hundred years. Through the trench fighting in World War I, the island hopping of World War II, during the frigid winters of Korea and the scorching heat of the Persian Gulf, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have long been faithful and capable partners, and are even closer today. Today we take another historic step to deepen and formalize cooperation among all three of our nations, because we all recognize the imperative of insuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific over the long term.

2021 September 17, Joe Biden, Australia's decades-long balancing act between the US and China is over. It chose Washington, CNN:

On Sept. 15, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia unveiled a new security partnership, with the less-than-euphonious acronym AUKUS. The three states are close allies of long standing, but the headline item in the new arrangement is a joint effort to equip Australia with a fleet of advanced nuclear-powered submarines. U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also announced plans for more extensive cooperation on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.
Those basic facts about AUKUS are pretty straightforward. But why it came together—and what it means—is more complicated and far more revealing about where the world is heading.

2021 September 18, Stephen M. Walt, “The AUKUS Dominoes Are Just Starting to Fall”, in Foreign Policy:

AUKUS envisages a wide range of diplomatic and technological collaboration, from cybersecurity to artificial intelligence, but at its core is an agreement to start consultations to help Australia acquire a fleet of nuclear-propelled (though not nuclear-armed) submarines. One consequence of this is Australia cancelling a contract, worth tens of billions of dollars, signed in 2016 with France for diesel-electric submarines. In announcing AUKUS on September 15th with the prime ministers of Australia and Britain, Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson, President Joe Biden stressed that it was about “investing in our greatest source of strength—our alliances”.

2021 September 19, “The strategic reverberations of the AUKUS deal will be big and lasting”, in The Economist:

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in the US to help announce the landmark AUKUS pact in San Diego this morning.

2023 March 14, “AUKUS deal: Jim Chalmers announces $8 billion HMAS Stirling naval base expansion”, in ABC Premium News (wire feed), Sydney:

(geopolitics, neologism) A security treaty between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; for the construction of nuclear submarines in Australia, and cooperation on cybersecurity and espionage technology; to contain the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific region.


power projection

en-noun

power projection (countable and uncountable, plural power projections)

international relations
international relations

(political science, geopolitics) In international relations, the capacity of a state to deploy and sustain forces outside its territory.


nation-builder

Coordinate term: nation wrecker

(political science, geopolitics) A person who takes part in nation-building; a member of a state who takes the initiative in developing the national community through government programs.


state within a state

state within a state (plural states within a state or states within states)

states within a state (plural)
states within states (plural)

(politics, geopolitics) A powerful entity that is only partially controlled by the government, especially one that is nominally governmental itself; a deep state.


Russophrenia

This is classic Russophrenia, believing that Russia is about to threaten the world while on fiscal life-support.

2015 June 30, Bryan MacDonald, “Russophrenia - an illness in need of a cure”, in RT:

In one astute observation, Western media exhibit a “Russophrenia” – “a condition where the sufferer believes Russia is both about to collapse, and take over the world.”

2018 July 18, Mikhail Molchanov, quoting Bryan MacDonald, “The Trump-Putin summit: Russophrenia explained”, in Asia Times:

In some psychiatric sense it is very close to the more specific Russophrenia phenomenon, where Russia is simultaneously about to collapse and about to overtake the US, and the combined West.

2019 April 9, Bill Totten, “Has the US Lost Its Military Supremacy Over Russia?”, in BillTottenWeblog (Google Groups):

The Russian FIMI ecosystem produced and distributed satirical videos attacking Western values and exposing the purported reasons why Russia is superior to Western democracies. The European External Action Service (EEAS) Data team detected this new trend, including a video highlighting the Western “Russophrenia” and supposed attempts to cancel Russian culture, an advertisement inviting EU citizens to move to Russia, and commercial videos mocking EU citizens on the energy crisis.

2022, Global Affairs Canada, G7 Rapid Response Mechanism Annual Report 2022, page 10:

(neologism, political science, geopolitics, derogatory) The belief or idea that Russia is simultaneously about to collapse, and also take over the world.


NAFO

North Atlantic Fella Organization
w:North Atlantic Fella Organization

(Internet, geopolitics) Initialism of North Atlantic Fella Organization.


nation wrecker

nation + wrecker. First use appears c. 1920. See cite below.

Coordinate term: nation-builder

On the one side I see the builders of this country on foundations tried and true. On the other side are those engaged in the cheerful exercise of tearing down. I put the question to you: Are you going to be a nation-builder or a nation-wrecker?

1920, Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company, The Saskatchewan Co-operative News, Volumes 5-7, page 4:

The nation-wrecker Olympius was a fanatic "Catholic", as the followers of the dictatorial Church of Rome were called--one of his actions had been to dismiss all non-catholics from all services of the state

1959, Reuven Ben Arje-Lev, Halicha Ladror - The History of All the Great Liberation Movements, of the Jewish Spirit which Created Them, of Modern Civilization and of the New Israel, page 113:

The years 1949-55 thus gradually revealed Sukarno not just as the nation builder, but as the nation-wrecker.

1964, Willard Anderson Hanna, Eight Nation Makers, page 60:

He was called a saboteur, a nation-wrecker, and many other Party words, and then in the end, since he would not stop his talk of justice, he was taken by the police to Accra.

1968, Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born - A Novel, page 112:

and many more of their disreputable ilk, why isn't his visa lifted and this nation-wrecker sent back to where he came from and post haste?

1972, Pennsylvania State University (publisher), Grain & Feed Journals/Farm Service Centers - Volume 129, page 2:

You are a lawyer, a Reverend minister, and a nation wrecker.

1989, Adu Otutei, The Cross & The Beast of The South, page 190:

Self-determination for indigenous peoples is seen as a potential "nation-wrecker" with the ability to violate a state's claims to absolute sovereignty and political unity.

1994, Pennsylvania State University (publisher), Voices of the Earth - Indigenous Peoples, New Partners & the Right to Self-determination in Practice : Proceedings of the Conference, page 22:

"I was born and bred in Kumasi. I have lived with the Zongo people over the years and know a lot of them very well. We are one people," the President said, and added that anybody who wanted to separate the two groups was a nation-wrecker who should be shunned.

2006, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh (editor), Daily Graphic, Issue 1,49878, October 24 2006, page 3:

Genuine education is the surest antidote to ignorance, that proverbial mind-killer and nation-wrecker.

2014, Amos Dele Dada, To the Rescue, page 33:

Blind imitation is wrecking the nation. Which are you deciding for? Would you be a nation builder or a nation wrecker?

2017, Ephraim Amu, Philip T. Laryea (editor and contributor), Patriotism and Nation Building, Perspectives from the Life and Utterances of Ephraim Amu, page 277:

(informal, derogatory, geopolitics) A malicious agent or other influence that destabilizes or destroys a nation or civilization.


axis of resistance

Calque of Arabic محور المقاومة. First used in 2002 in Libya in response to George W. Bush's "axis of evil".

calque

محور المقاومة

The news agency said Assad and Jalili discussed their two countries' "strategic cooperation relationship" and "attempts by some Western countries and their allies to strike at the axis of resistance by targeting Syria and supporting terrorism there."

2012 August 7, “Iran: We're in "axis of resistance" with Syria”, in CBS:

Oddly, the Islamic Republic claims that Israel “lost five wars with the Axis of Resistance since the July 2006 war with the Lebanese resistance.”

2021 August 7, Seth J. Frantzman, “Iran claims Israel afraid of conflict with its 'axis of resistance'”, in the Jerusalem Post:

Iran’s axis of resistance consists of a network of political parties and armed groups that span Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

2022 July 14, Nancy Ezzeddine, Hamidreza Azizi, “Iran's Increasingly Decentralzed Axis of Resistance”, in War on the Rocks:

The Houthis have fought and largely won a nine-year civil war against Yemen’s government — which is supported by Riyadh. They are thought to be one of the members of the axis of resistance most closely controlled by Iran.

2024 January 14, Jason Burke, “Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’ is a potent coalition but a risky strategy”, in the Guardian:

(geopolitics) An Iranian-led, anti-American, anti-Zionist, Shiite Islamist coalition in the Middle East whose significant participants include the IRGC, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.


CIVETS

(geopolitics, economics) Acronym of Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa: an international economic organization comprising these fast-growing economies.


nuclear deterrence

(geopolitics) The discouraging of nuclear attack through the threat of nuclear retaliation.


Zionist occupation government

en-noun

Zionist occupation government (plural Zionist occupation governments)

(politics, geopolitics, derogatory) According to conspiracy theorists, a government of a Western state secretly or openly controlled by Zionists or Zionist interests such as AIPAC.

(politics, geopolitics, derogatory) Any government in the world that is perceived or regarded as aligned with Israel, the United States or the West.


little blue man

little blue man (plural little blue men)

desc

→ Mandarin: (Taiwan) 小藍人／小蓝人 (xiǎolánrén) (calque)

From little + blue + man. Coined by Andrew S. Erickson of the Naval War College by analogy with little green man, the term used to refer to covert soldiers used by Russia during the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China

(geopolitics, chiefly in the plural) A member of the Maritime Militia of the People's Republic of China, primarily composed of fishing and motorboats, who aid in the pursuit of its maritime interests in disputed waters (and especially those relating to the territorial disputes in the South China Sea); chiefly when viewed as a covert projection of power, intended to encroach on the sovereignty of other countries.

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation


Hezbollahzation

(geopolitics) The process of reinforcing the connections of the military bloc between Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah, and projecting the influence of Hezbollah across the Levant.


collective West

(geopolitics) The United States and its allies.


Western Bloc

Coordinate term: Eastern Bloc

(geopolitics, historical) The noncommunist nations of Europe and America.


colonial empire

en-noun

colonial empire (plural colonial empires)

(historical, geopolitics) A collective of territories that are either contiguous with the imperial center or located overseas, and settled by the population of a certain state and governed by that state.


global empire

(geopolitics) An empire that extends its territory or influence on a wide or global scale.


rules-based order

(politics, geopolitics) A set of global, rule-based, structured relationships based on political liberalism, economic liberalism and liberal internationalism since the late 1940s.


Greater Israel

(geopolitics, sometimes derogatory) The historic or the desired future borders of the State of Israel.


international crisis

international crisis (plural international crises)

(politics, geopolitics) A sequence of interactions between the governments of two or more sovereign states in severe conflict, short of actual war, but involving the perception of a dangerously high probability of war.