Future Frontlines

Public intelligence for next generation security & democratic resilience.

[New America @NewAmerica]

Today, New America relaunches our brand and website, strengthening how we advance independent research and bold solutions for a new America.

📍 https://t.co/D5VjveGkRF

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux unpacks for @FT the anticipated shortfalls of upcoming new sanctions against Russian paramilitaries, including #WagnerGroup successors.

What sort of approach to sanctions might find more success?

Read here: https://t.co/Lus4RctPvK #Russia #Kremlin #NationalSecurity

[Candace Rondeaux @CandaceRondeaux]

🚨 New in the @FT : Congress is finally moving beyond the “Wagner” label and confronting the broader paramilitary ecosystem sustaining Putin’s war. But an FTO designation alone won’t stop it.

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

As conflicts increasingly unfold in gray zones, understanding how proxy forces operate is essential for anticipating future security risks and governance failures.

Listen to the full discussion on #Booknotes by @cspan to hear from @CandaceRondeaux about her work on #Russia, irregular warfare, and global security. 3/3
🎧 https://t.co/MMx0kqUdTD

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux joined @cspan’s #Booknotes podcast to discuss Putin’s Sledgehammer, her deep dive into the #WagnerGroup and what its rise reveals about how modern states wield deniable force. 1/3
https://t.co/MMx0kqULJb

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

Private military companies like #WagnerGroup blur the line between state and non-state violence.

This creates legal, political, and strategic challenges that remain underappreciated in Western policy debates. 2/3

[New America @NewAmerica]

Digital sovereignty starts w/ infrastructure, not algorithms. When the US & China control every layer of AI infrastructure, where’s the agency for emerging economies?

Watch highlights from @PlanetaryPol's third annual Digital Futures Symposium.

🛰️ More: https://t.co/J8zflG896H

[Candace Rondeaux @CandaceRondeaux]

Late last year, I traveled to Cape Town just ahead of the #G20 summit to co-host our Digital Futures Symposium. 🌍✈️ The message from the room was blunt: Africa’s AI future won’t be decided by slogans about sovereignty, but by who controls infrastructure. ⚡🤖

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

The #EU just crossed a line it long avoided: designating #Iran’s #IRGC as a terrorist organization.

This a legal strike at the gray-zone networks funding autocracy & war. Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux digs into these closing loopholes for @WPReview.

🔗 https://t.co/mT9FIsN0gP

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux weighs in on the capture of Nicolás #Maduro: what does this risky geopolitical move mean for the shadow oil economy?

[Candace Rondeaux @CandaceRondeaux]

🧵When Donald #Trump ordered the capture of Nicolás #Maduro on Jan. 3, it was framed as a #Venezuela story. It is also, of course, a Russia story. I laid out the political side of it in .@WorldPoliticsRev: 👉 https://t.co/nbNmvC32KD

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

What does #USA intervention in #Venezuela mean for global security?

@RepKweisiMfume and Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux join @WEAA's Today With Dr. Kaye to unpack the geopolitical stakes and the risks of escalation.

Listen here: https://t.co/VOWswDEk2k

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

The #USA is turning shadow oil shipping into a new front line of great-power competition.

The question, argues Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux for @WPReview, is whether Washington has a strategy for what's next.

🔗 Read: https://t.co/goW3JTeMEw #Venezuela #Trump #Maduro #Putin

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

.#Ukraine needs money fast. #Europe hesitated for years on frozen Russian assets, creating a vacuum.

Now, von der Leyen is pushing a massive loan plan. Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux digs into what’s really driving the shift for @WPReview.

🔗 Read here: https://t.co/1WXvhlJBpf

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

Profit-seeking fixers are reshaping #Russia-#Ukraine diplomacy. It’s a danger to any lasting peace.

New must-read analysis from Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux in @FinancialTimes — read here 🔗 https://t.co/0PPKKFOGxD

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

Thrilled to see Putin’s Sledgehammer by @CandaceRondeaux named one of the Washington Independent Review of Books' favorites of 2025.

Read the full list here: https://t.co/iiJh9HcHlg

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

“Without social media like Twitter and Facebook,” argued @CandaceRondeaux at @NewAmericaISP's 2025 #FutureSecurityForum, “there would be no #WagnerGroup.”

Wagner’s power lies not only in arms but in narrative — the viral machinery of war in the digital age. 4/4

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

To understand the rise of the #WagnerGroup, @CandaceRondeaux argues, we must first understand the #Russia that #Putin inherited in 2000 — a state where power flows through personalities, not institutions. 🧵 1/4

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

For autocrats, power is performance. Mobilization becomes a marketing exercise as much as a military one.

#Prigozhin’s innovation: selling war as identity. A “special forces” aesthetic — regalia, symbols, myth — to recruit loyalty beyond pay. 3/4

[Future Frontlines @NewFrontlines]

Washington just sanctioned the "backbone" of the Russian economy.

Senior Director @CandaceRondeaux breaks down why that's a big deal.

https://t.co/Kqoww7VIw3

[Candace Rondeaux @CandaceRondeaux]

1/
This is Igor Sechin — CEO of Rosneft and one of Vladimir Putin’s oldest allies from their KGB-era St. Petersburg days. Yesterday, his company was hit with the U.S.’s toughest sanctions yet. And that’s a big deal. 🧵

[Candace Rondeaux @CandaceRondeaux]

1/
This is Igor Sechin — CEO of Rosneft and one of Vladimir Putin’s oldest allies from their KGB-era St. Petersburg days. Yesterday, his company was hit with the U.S.’s toughest sanctions yet. And that’s a big deal. 🧵