The Art of Malacca
The Donroe Doctrine Goes Global Two developments landed on Monday, and the symmetry was no accident. While the U.S. Navy enforced a blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas in the Strait of Hormuz—targeting vessels entering or exiting Iranian-controlled waters after peace talks collapsed—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stood alongside Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin at the Pentagon and announced the elevation of bilateral ties to a Major Defense Cooperation Partnership (MDCP). This new framework establishes a guiding structure for defense modernization, joint training, operational collaboration, interoperability, and enhanced maritime domain awareness, subsurface and autonomous systems, and special forces cooperation—all while…