The contributions in the current issue of SIRIUS offer in-depth insights into global lines of conflict, technological developments and strategic debates. Various issues are addressed, including ideological and geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East, China's maritime armament and the significance of secret intelligence services for the security of raw materials.

• Herbert Landolin Müller analyses in his essay "Sources of Middle Eastern Anti-Semitism" The historical and ideological origins of anti-Semitism in the Muslim world, refutes widespread explanations such as the influence of the founding of the Israeli state or European influences as the main causes and shows the deep-rooted tradition of anti-Semitism, which is reinforced and instrumentalised by the Middle East conflict.
  
• Sara Bazoobandi analyses in her article "Iran's information war" Iranian information warfare, which goes far beyond religious propaganda and pursues targeted influence operations by controlling digital spaces, media and the diaspora in order to manipulate global narratives, restrict the flow of information and combat political dissent through emotional deterrence strategies.
  
• In her essay "China's capabilities in the field of underwater naval warfare: technological aspects" analysed Sarah Kirchberger China's dynamic maritime rearmament with a focus on underwater warfare. It analyses technological advances, industrial capabilities and research areas and shows China's ambition to replace the USA as the leading naval power, despite existing qualitative differences.
  
• Jakob Kullik and Sophia Hoffmann analyse in their contribution "Critical commodity dependencies and supply chain resilience - a case for the secret intelligence services?"whether the surveillance of critical commodity supply chains by state intelligence services is justified given their growing importance, discussing both the potential benefits and risks of such use as an impetus for a broader debate.
  
• The brief analysis "Proposals for a new NATO strategy on Russia", from Gerlinde Niehusdraws a critical conclusion on NATO support for Ukraine, criticises the lack of a political-military strategy and proposes approaches for its development based on existing NATO terminology.

These contributions are supplemented by the presentation of the results of various international strategic studies on the topics "Middle East", "Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine" and "Military rivalry between the USA and China" as well as through several Book reviews.

As usual, the entire current issue is available online under the Open Access licence via the publisher De Gruyter Brill HERE freely available.