Lima Charlie World

The balance of power in Lebanon may be shifting. In a few days, I will again be involved in discussions with a Middle Eastern client on regional developments. Without disclosing anything sensitive, it is possible to outline the core analytical framework that underpins my advisory work in this case. Clients rarely pay for history lectures. They pay for interpretation, and ulti...

Russia’s hybrid war in the Western Balkans in 2026 reflects a mature strategy. Rather than seeking escalation, Moscow seeks position. It is a case study in a long‑term, managed, condition. And, for Moscow, a favourable one. Western Easter is approaching, which in Sweden serves as a reliable signal that spring has finally arrived. At long last. Spring, in turn, marks...

U.S. strikes on Iranian infrastructure are unlikely to achieve compliance goals. The more probable response is indirect escalation through asymmetric means, calibrated to impose cost without inviting immediate, decisive retaliation. This is a working hypothesis informed by conversations with clients over the past two weeks. It does not rely on privileged insight, but on a rea...

Donald Trump and his administration’s haphazard approach to alliance discipline, strategic continuity, and the maintenance of American primacy supplied the final lesson: Europe can no longer rely on the American security order. Sweden, and Europe more broadly, may yet create something beautiful out of the Ukrainian war: a client state worth keeping, and a cornerston...

Slavko Aleksić (Војвода Славко Алексић), a Bosnian Serb Chetnik commander (vojvoda) who commanded the New Sarajevo Chetnik Detachment of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War, died December 18, 2025, at the age of 69. Lima Charlie’s John Sjoholm pays tribute. “The Duke” was a fun guy. Among the first things Aleksić explained to me, in some detail, was that he wa...