The Ladder: press kit

This reading in four facts

1. Highest rung: Russia–Ukraine and Iran–Israel–US, on rung 5 of 8 (Open war).
2. Most pressure: Russia–NATO and Iran–Israel–US, at 13 of 16.
3. Russia–NATO sits on rung 3, but carries 13 of 16 in pressure: the lowest rung of the six with the joint-highest pressure.
4. Climbing this month: Russia–NATO, Iran–Israel–US and Korea.

One-page brief (PDF) → · CSV · JSON

About the project

The Ladder is a monthly reading of the six conflicts where a war between great powers could begin: Russia and NATO, Russia and Ukraine, Iran, Israel and the United States, China and Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and India and Pakistan. Each is placed on an eight-rung escalation ladder, adapted from Herman Kahn, and scored on eight warning signs, drawn largely from historian Sarah C. M. Paine’s way of reading wars. Every score is shown with its sources, and it takes no side.

Chart for publication

All six flashpoints on one chart, 2000 × 1125 PNG, free to publish with the credit line below.

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Images

Free to use with credit. Each card is 1200 × 630.

Main share image ↓Russia and NATO ↓Russia and Ukraine ↓Iran, Israel and the United States ↓China and Taiwan ↓The Korean Peninsula ↓India and Pakistan ↓

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