US, Allies Kick Off Unpredictable but Critical 2026

In our first episode of 2026, we couldn’t have asked for a stronger panel – three experts who’ve spent their careers wrestling with the grey-zone threats reshaping global security.

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, I bring together Major General Andrew Sharpe (Director of CHACR), Colonel Mietta Groeneveld (Director of the NATO Command & Control Centre of Excellence), and Professor Nikolas Gvosdev (U.S. Naval War College) for a look at hybrid warfare today: Russia’s evolving playbook, China’s patient influence ops, and why the West’s responses still feel one step behind.

We dig into disinformation, cyber disruption, economic coercion, and the quiet power shifts happening far from any battlefield.

What We Explore

- Russia’s Hybrid Evolution: How Moscow blends kinetic force with info ops and disruption and why NATO’s coordination still struggles to keep pace.

- China’s Long Game: The subtler, multi-domain strategy Beijing uses to reshape perceptions and alliances without ever firing a shot.

- Grey-Zone Deterrence: What it really takes to rebuild credibility when adversaries probe limits every day.

This conversation is a sharp reminder: the next big conflict won’t start with tanks rolling – it’s already underway in the spaces between war and peace.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.