Category Dossiers

Minsk II – Findings, Not Reflexes

"Russia violated Minsk II." For years, this claim has been repeated as an established fact. But what does the February 12, 2015, agreement actually say? Who signed it, who were the parties to the conflict, and who was responsible for implementing its provisions? An examination of the agreement's 13 points reveals a striking gap between the prevailing narrative and the document's wording. The prescribed sequence of constitutional reform, local elections, and restoration of border control raises particularly important questions. Documented Western military deployments and subsequent statements by Angela Merkel and François Hollande add another dimension. This dossier examines Minsk II through its original documents, including the complete agreement for readers to examine themselves.

The Hamas

Hamas is usually explained with a single label: terrorist organization. But that label does not explain its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, its social welfare networks, its role as an election party, de facto government, armed movement, and Iran-supported yet independent Palestinian actor. This dossier places the contradictions side by side: real dispossession and social support, political mobilization and authoritarian rule, resistance narrative and attacks on civilians. The result is not an exoneration, but a precise mapping of an organization that can only be understood if its simultaneous identities are taken seriously.

The Houthis

Iranian terrorist organisation, Yemeni liberation movement or de facto state? None of these labels fully captures the Houthis. What began as a Zaydi educational and protest movement in Yemen’s neglected north developed into an armed rebellion and eventually an authoritarian power structure that governs millions of people, collects taxes and projects force far beyond Yemen through missiles, drones and attacks in the Red Sea. This dossier examines their rise, social roots and relationship with Iran - without distorting their origins or overlooking repression, violence and responsibility.

The Hezbollah

Political party, militia, welfare system, resistance movement, or Iranian proxy? None of these labels fully captures Hezbollah. Born from Shiite marginalisation, civil war, and Israeli occupation, it developed with Iranian support into an armed parallel power that continues to shape Lebanon’s politics, society, and security. This dossier examines Hezbollah’s origins, social foundations, and structures of power - without demonising the movement, but also without ignoring its violence, dependencies, and responsibility.

The No-Strike List That Failed Four Times

Four strikes, four decades, four civilian targets: an air-raid shelter in Baghdad, the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, a hospital in Kunduz and a girls’ school in Minab. This dossier shows that behind the official explanations of “outdated data,” “wrong maps” and “human error” lies a recurring structural failure: protective mechanisms designed to shield civilian sites from attack collapse precisely when they are needed most. The No-Strike List becomes a symbol of modern warfare in which technical precision increases, while accountability disappears.

ZIRCON

The 3M22 Zircon is Russia’s most technologically ambitious sea-launched hypersonic cruise missile: not a ballistic weapon reaching hypersonic speed during re-entry, but a system designed to sustain hypersonic flight in the atmosphere through a booster-and-scramjet propulsion concept. Militarily, the Zircon is aimed primarily at high-value naval targets and the vulnerability of Western carrier strike groups; politically, it serves as Moscow’s signal that NATO naval forces can be threatened at extended range. Its real-world effectiveness, however, remains difficult to assess, as range, production numbers, accuracy and combat performance are still only partially documented in public sources.

ORESHNIK

The Oreshnik is not a technological myth, but a strategic signal: a Russian ground-launched intermediate-range ballistic missile with MIRV capability, whose real significance lies less in its conventional destructive power than in its range, possible nuclear payload, and deployment in Belarus. The system demonstrates Russia’s ability to reach European targets with fast, difficult-to-intercept intermediate-range technology – reshaping the military risk calculus across the continent.

KINSHAL

The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is Russia’s air-launched sister system to the Iskander: not an entirely new class of weapon, but a ballistic missile whose launch from fast aircraft such as the MiG-31K, Tu-22M3M or Su-34 extends its operational reach and shortens the defender’s warning time. Its significance lies less in the label “hypersonic” than in the combination of high speed, an erratic flight profile, possible conventional or nuclear payloads, and flexible carrier platforms. At the same time, documented Patriot PAC-3 interception claims show that the Kinzhal is not an unstoppable weapon, but a serious system that must be assessed in technical and tactical terms.

ISKANDER

The 9K720 Iskander is not a single missile, but a mobile Russian short-range ballistic missile system designed for operational deep strikes against high-value targets such as airfields, ammunition depots, command centers, air-defense sites and transport nodes. Its military relevance lies in the combination of mobility, a depressed quasi-ballistic trajectory, high terminal speed, in-flight maneuverability and a flexible range of warheads. Strategically, the Iskander also represents the shift from a battlefield missile system to a political pressure instrument on Europe’s eastern flank – particularly through deployments such as Kaliningrad and its connection to the collapse of the INF Treaty.