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Latest Articles
Lebanon’s Future Hinges on Ending Hezbollah
Europe Should Build a Monument to Vladimir Putin
Featured Book
Arabs, Turks and Persians: Geopolitics and Ideology in the Greater Middle East
For decades, the Greater Middle East has been a leading challenge to American foreign policy. This vast region - ranging from North Africa in the west to Afghanistan in the east, and from the borders of Central Asia down to the Horn of Africa in the south - has been a cauldron of turmoil that has affected not just American interests, but generated threats to the American homeland.
Latest Policy Paper
The Nine Gates of Power: China’s Passageways to the World Ocean
In December 2010, the Asahi Shimbun published a remarkable roadmap laying out the future trajectory of Chinese maritime expansion. In its analysis, the Shimbun outlined a geographically contingent thesis of Chinese geopolitical strategy—one on which the scholar Tetsuo Kotani elaborated further in a 2019 academic paper. Both publications argue that Chinese maritime access to the Pacific and Indian Oceans is effectively constrained through a series of islands and straits in the First Island Chain. These potential chokepoints constitute the “Nine Gates” through which Chinese maritime commerce and sea power must flow.
Latest Defense Dossier
Defending the Future: Space, Technology and Strategy
Latest In-House Bulletins
Africa Political Monitor No. 52
Another Step Forward For Morocco In The Western Sahara; Islamist Attacks Threaten Mozambique’s Energy Plans; Amid U.S. Retraction, China Mirrors American Strategy; Ethiopia, Iran Expand Security Ties; Wagner WIthdraws From Mali; U.S. Mulls Somaliland Recognition For Base Access;
China Policy Monitor No. 1636
China Is Recruiting Russians -- FSB;
PRC Hackers Exploit Google Calendar;
Taiwan-Based Group Hacks China's Sensitive Infrastructure;
Internet Censorship in Henan Is Even Tighter;
China Launces New Railway To Iran To Bypass U.S. Sanctions
Defense Technology Monitor No. 110
An Additive Boost for Sub Supply;
3D Printing That's Out Of This World;
Starlink in China's Crosshairs...;
...While Beijing Readies HPM Weapon;
Chainmail, Reinvented
Global Islamism Monitor No. 130
The Growing Threat of Syria's Islamic State;
The Expanding Houthi Footprint;
Another Step Forward For The Taliban
Indo-Pacific Monitor No. 45, June 13, 2025
Chinese Drones Menace The Region;
Bolstering Manila’s Maritime Posture;
Indonesia Tilts Toward China;
Deterrence By Drone On The Korean Peninsula;
A Warning From Wellington
Information Warfare Watch No. 46
New Tech And The Fight Against Disinfo;
Manila Investigates Chinese Influence Ops;
How African Militants Are Harnessing TikTok;
Meta Cleans House
Iran Democracy Monitor No. 242
Iran's Killer Regime;
Regime Proxies Face The Future;
Oil Boosts The IRGC Further;
Dividing Lines Deepen in The Caucasus;
Iran Abandons The Houthis
Resource Security Watch No. 60
In Trump's military, a more skeptical view of climate;
China's future energy source;
Africa searches for answers to food insecurity;
China accelerates stockpiling efforts
Russia Policy Monitor No. 2681
Medvedev’s War Spoils;
Russia Targets Even Pro-Government News;
A Familiar Sort of Repression
South Asia Strategy Monitor No. 23
Doha Deepens Its Stake in India;
Pakistan's Westward Push;
India, France Plan Small Modular Nuclear Reactors;
Afghanistan's Taliban Head East
Ukraine Reform Monitor No. 17
Military Necessity is The Mother of Invention;
Ukrainian Drones Take To The Seas;
A Grisly Business;
Leaning Into Defense Tech