Written by Kfir Kedem Source: The Economist European manufacturers are constantly looking for the best opportunities in terms of quality, reliability, and costs. These three pillars must be present at the heart of every long-term industrial partnership and must improve over time. In the past, this dynamic drove West European manufacturers to partner with tier suppliers in Eastern Europe and China. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent inflationary pressures contributed to risi

Written by Kfir Kedem Source: Financial Times After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine got its independence and with it, inherited an arsenal of nuclear weapons. The operational control was still in Moscow and under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agreed to transfer the nuclear warheads to Russia, a process that was completed by 1996. Over 25 years later, the two countries entered into full-scale warfare. Ukraine having had comparatively less capital and techno

Written by Kfir Kedem Source: Times Now China has become such a manufacturing superpower that the rest of the world now relies on it. This became evidently clear during the peak of the tariff wars in 2025 and was noticed by any procurement manager working at an American company across the globe. Such a strict reliance on one country puts any supply chain at a major risk as a simple shift in policy could jeopardize the entire production and/ or trade of a company. As a result,

Written by Kfir Kedem Source: War History Online As tensions increase around the world, defense spending is rising sharply year-on-year. Different allied regions and independent countries have their own advantages when it comes to manufacturing. For example, China has regional vertical integration, whereas the EU has high-quality and reliable cross-border manufacturing. The US, being as large and as rich in resources as it is, can exercise greater national control over its in