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Berlin, August 31, 2026. Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, who has decisively shaped and developed DGAP since he became Otto Wolff Director of the organization in 2024, is stepping down from this role for health reasons. He will remain with DGAP as a senior fellow in the Karl Kaiser Forum for Strategic Challenges where his writing will focus on transatlantic relations.

Berlin, 31. August 2026. Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, seit 2024 Otto Wolff-Direktor der DGAP, der in dieser Zeit das Haus entscheidend geprägt und weiterentwickelt hat, zieht sich aus gesundheitlichen Gründen von dieser Aufgabe zurück. Er soll als Senior Fellow im Karl Kaiser Forum für strategische Fragen der DGAP erhalten bleiben; ein publizistischer Themenfokus wird das transatlantische Verhältnis sein.

In this Morning Briefing, we examine the implications of the armed drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport. We discuss the operational challenges of drone attacks and anti-drone technology, as well as the broader questions of hybrid warfare and protecting critical infrastructure. We also explore the intelligence capabilities needed to deter hybrid threats, including the BND reform bill passed by the Federal Cabinet on August 12.

China’s global compute exports rose by 43.5 percent to EUR 206.5 billion in 2025 from 2021. Compute imports have also risen, but only by 15.8 percent – amounting to a 6.3 percent reduction in its compute trade deficit to EUR 133.8 billion over 2021. In 2025, Beijing’s compute trade surplus with Germany was EUR 350 million. While China exported all kinds of computer hardware and chips to Germany, it mainly imported processor chips from Germany.

Das Völkerrecht bleibt der zentrale Maßstab für die Bewertung staatlichen Handelns, stößt in internationalen Konflikten jedoch immer wieder an strukturelle Grenzen. Die Beispiele Kosovo, Libyen, Ukraine, Iran, Mali und Zentralafrikanische Republik zeigen, wie völkerrechtliche Normen politisch ausgelegt, institutionell blockiert oder trotz formaler Geltung praktisch ausgehöhlt werden.

German and European rearmament is largely framed as a means of achieving greater European sovereignty, particularly in light of waning American commitments to European defense and growing Russian threats against NATO’s European members. US trade restrictions and policies that openly aim to make European states dependent on American technology and the recent closure of a major shipping chokepoint in the Strait of Hormuz have only reinforced the perceived need for greater European self-reliance.

„Ich danke der DGAP für die Ehrung, die sie mir mit diesem Forum zuteilwerden lässt, dessen Zielsetzung meinen eigenen jahrelang vertretenen Vorstellungen entspricht, und ich danke allen Persönlichkeiten, die zu seiner Erschaffung beitrugen. Ich gratuliere den Mitgliedern zu ihrem ersten beeindruckenden Arbeitsergebnis. Was geht jemandem durch den Kopf, der Jahrzehnte lang am außenpolitischen Diskurs in Deutschland teilnahm und nun von Amerika aus den Blick auf die deutsche Entwicklung wirft?

The US–Israel war on Iran, which erupted at the end of February, triggered a global energy crisis. More than a hundred days in, the parties signed an interim deal and markets have reacted positively, with oil and gas prices falling sharply.

Technological spheres of influence have existed since the emergence of the internet in the latter half of the 20th century. The internet allows for instant access to a system on the other side of the planet and for the ability to change code remotely. This was not possible during previous ages, such as the time when the telegraph was the major mode of communication. The telegraph was used to communicate but not to directly control technology far away.

We seek the participation of mid-career researchers and policy professionals from think tanks in the countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and EU member states who are actively engaged in research on the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood and trends related to democracy, governance, and authoritarianism.