Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Promaka
London/Global
Joined April 2010
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I wish to thank the many contributors and all the IISS editorial, design, and publications staff, as well as the office of the DG and CEO, who stylishly and stealthily produced this volume. Its surprise presentation to me on my departure moved me deeply. To all and sundry @IISS_org my warmest wishes. Onwards and Upwards! 🙏🙏🙏
This Adelphi book is a tribute to Sir John Chipman KCMG (@chipmanj) and his work at the IISS over the course of four decades.
It highlights three areas of intellectual leadership through his writings, spanning broadly the decades he worked at the IISS: strategic studies after the end of the Cold War; regionalism and regional security; and corporate foreign policy. Selected writings by Sir John in these three areas are reprinted here in their original form. They are paired with commentaries by a number of notable friends of the IISS, written specially for this book.
➡️Find out more: go.iiss.org/4g1THK4
NATO routinely pronounces that it will defend ‘every inch of NATO territory’; yet breaches of sovereign maritime territory (see Bulgaria and Romania in recent days) seem to inspire less public resolve.
Brilliant … thinking out loud; well.
David Garrick (1716-1779) was criticised and celebrated for exactly Andrew Scott’s style of Shakespeare delivery in exactly the same way 250 years ago. See Lawrence Sterne. “—And how did Garrick² speak the soliloquy last night?—Oh, against all rule, my Lord,—most ungrammatically! betwixt the substantive and the adjective, which should agree together in number, case and gender, he made a breach thus,—stopping, as if the point wanted settling;——and betwixt the nominative case, which your lordship knows should govern the verb, he suspended his voice in the epilogue a dozen times, three seconds and three fifths by a stop-watch, my Lord, each time. ——Admirable grammarian!——But in suspending his voice——was the sense suspended likewise? Did no expression of attitude or countenance fill up the chasm?—Was the eye silent? Did you narrowly look?—I look’d only at the stop-watch, my Lord.——Excellent observer!
Sir John Chipman retweeted
For the first time in its history, Russia cannot wage war without reinforcements from North Korea. It is now preparing to deploy an additional North Korean contingent on its territory. It has also received additional ballistic missiles from North Korea. Everyone around the world must understand what this means.
This is not only about the lives of people in Ukraine, and not only about the threats we face. North Korea’s ballistic missiles and other weapons are being improved through its collaboration with Russia. The more North Korean strikes there are here in Ukraine, in Europe, the more their missiles and soldiers are used, the more they correct their shortcomings and blind spots, the greater the danger will later be for Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and other countries in the region.
That is why, when we speak about the need for joint action, for coordination and mutual support, when we speak about the need to help us strengthen our air defense, we are also, in fact, speaking about taking away North Korea’s appetite and any interest in coming here – to our land and into our skies – with its weapons in order to learn how to wage war. Everyone across the globe who respects human life must stand together in taking action to protect people.
From the evening address.
Ben — you know there is a third and much better option to fund defence other than more borrowing and higher taxes: a cut to welfare expenditure. We can have gold plated welfare or basic national security, but we can’t have both.
Really what we’ve seen with the Defence Investment Plan is a failure to make a choice. This is why. The UK is committed to four major defence projects:
• Renewing our nuclear force
• Meeting our NATO commitments
• The AUKUS submarine project with 🇺🇸🇦🇺
• The new GCAP fighter jet with 🇯🇵🇮🇹
You cannot afford that at current spend. You either need to drop one or move up to 2.5% GDP rapidly to keep up. It you don’t want to drop one — with all the diplomatic pain and security exposure that comes with it — you have to decide how to fund it and there are only two options:
• Borrowing hitting future taxpayers
• New taxes hitting current taxpayers
But 2.5% of GDP is not even the sum necessary for war readiness rearmament — all those drone, AI, equipment and manpower upgrades — which is at a minimum 3% and probably closer yo 3.5%.
What went wrong is the Strategic Defence Review said yes to all four projects, the government then adopted the rhetoric and diplomatic posture of war readiness rearmament but failed to make a decision on how to pay for all this — costing us merely one Defence Secretary, one Armed Forces Minister and the government’s credibility when it comes to defence.
And that’s before a serious attempt has even been made to build a totally new procurement and delivery process to confront the fact the MoD is the Ministry of Armed HS2s, highly unlikely to deliver rearmament without insane overspend.
This was a very well crafted Raffles Lecture; and some of the lines delivered are deservedly memorable. 👇
‘The international order no longer resembles a fixed constellation: it is an expanding universe where centres of gravity multiply and older hierarchies gradually lose their gravitational pull,’ said @HakanFidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, as he addressed the IISS in Singapore on 2 June | Watch the lecture: go.iiss.org/49Pyu1U
Sir John Chipman retweeted
Two heads of state, 39 government ministers, over 550 delegates, 40 Young Leaders and over 1,500 supporting officials from nearly 80 countries translated into three packed days of defence diplomacy at #IISS_SLD26 | go.iiss.org/SLD26
Important GUIDE issued at the 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue today!
The Guiding Principles for Underwater Infrastructure Defence Exchanges (GUIDE) was launched on the sidelines of the 23rd SLD today, by 17 countries across the Europe, Middle East, Oceania and Southeast Asia regions. More: go.gov.sg/mindef-sld26nr13
A vibrant Q and A session!
Following his speech at #IISS_SLD26, United States @SecWar Pete Hegseth fielded a broad range of questions from the audience in an animated question-and-answer session @DeptofWar | Here are a few highlights, you can watch the full session here: go.iiss.org/SLD26
Delighted to meet BATLUT Damba, Minister of Defense of Mongolia at #IISS_SLD26
All of us @IISS_org look forward to hearing Koizumi Shinjiro, defence minister of Japan, speak next weekend at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. ##IISS_SLD26
Takaichi Sanae recently announced an update to Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) framework.
This focuses on increasing economic security and supply-chain resilience within the Indo-Pacific and on developing cooperation with ASEAN countries.
➡️Read the latest analysis from Takahiro Kamisuna and Jumpei Ishimaru (@IshimaruJu71422): go.iiss.org/4utsDYw
Sir John Chipman retweeted
We’re looking forward to hosting this year’s IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, which kicks off next week in Singapore. To get an idea of what’s in store at Asia’s premier defence summit, here’s a recap of last year’s event | #IISS_SLD26 go.iiss.org/SLD26
This is a very important subject 👇
Russia’s war in Ukraine faces a growing crisis on the home front. Russia is reaching the limits of its industrial capacity and struggles to replace huge manpower losses.
To sustain its war, Moscow will have to mobilise its economy and society far more deeply and coercively. This will require command-like controls that would be greatly disruptive and unpopular. There are signs the Kremlin has begun to prepare for this. It will be a decisive moment for Russian and European security.
🌐Online
📅Tuesday 19 May 2026
⏰10:00–11:15 BST
🗨️ Nigel Gould-Davies (@Nigelgd1), John Raine (@JohnARaine1)
Register now: go.iiss.org/3P4T5IF
This is an example of how, in a fast-changing world, it is necessary that international law keeps pace. Europeans need to engage in more ‘international legal diplomacy.’ International law can become dated, just as can domestic law. Modernising international law is vital to ensure its continued legitimacy.
La Dichiarazione di Chisinau, adottata dai 46 Stati membri del Consiglio d’Europa, riconosce la legittimità per le Nazioni di soluzioni innovative nella gestione dei flussi migratori, come gli hub di rimpatrio in Paesi terzi, sul modello avviato dall’Italia in Albania.
È un risultato importante, frutto di un percorso che l’Italia ha contribuito ad aprire con coraggio e determinazione insieme al Primo Ministro danese Frederiksen.
Quello che solo un anno fa faceva discutere, oggi è diventato un principio condiviso tra i 46 Stati membri del Consiglio d’Europa e dimostra, ancora una volta, che l’approccio italiano ad una gestione ordinata dei flussi migratori, portato avanti con serietà e coerenza dal nostro Governo, è ormai diventato anche l’approccio dell’Europa.
Sir John Chipman retweeted
The war is not winnable for Russia, and it's turning into a demographic catastrophe.
Russia suffered 352,000 dead at the end of 2025. By now we are easily at 400,000 dead. That is 1% of the male Russian fighting age population of roughly 40 million. Another 2% are crippled and traumatized beyond repair. 1 out of every 30 Russian men between 18 and 60 has been killed or maimed by this war.
Progress on the battlefield keeps slowing. At the current pace, taking the average casualty rate per square kilometer over the last 12 and the last 6 months, Russia will need anything between 5 million and 25 million men to throw into the meat grinder just (!) to take the rest of the Donbass, Zaporizhia and Kherson.
This war is not sustainable, and it's certainly not winnable. Putin will literally run out of cattle to send to the slaughter before he can achieve even his minimum objectives.
"For the first time this year, Mediazona and Meduza have updated the overall estimate of the actual number of Russia’s losses in its war against Ukraine. It is based on the Probate Registry and reflects the number of male Russian citizens aged 18 to 59 who died since the start of the full-scale invasion to the end of 2025: 352,000."
@mediazzzona @meduza_en
en.zona.media/article/2026/0…
It was a delight to chat today with my good friend His Excellency Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Adviser to His Majesty the King of Bahrain for Diplomatic Affairs. Having worked from the beginning with him on the @IISS_org Manama Dialogue, it was so helpful to hear his views on regional and international geopolitics.
It was a delight to chat yesterday with HE Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Bahrain’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, who is working hard on trade and revival of the manufacturing and industrial base in challenging circumstances.
It was a delight and an honour to be received today by His Royal Highness Salman bin Hamad al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Over the years, @IISS_org has established an enduring partnership with Manama. As a new chapter opens in my professional life on 1 June, I intend to be in regular and ‘strategic’ touch with the many friends made here.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, #Salman_bin_Hamad Al Khalifa, receives Sir John Chipman @chipmanj, on the occasion of the end of his tenure as Executive Chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
