The catastrophic flooding in Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan has exposed the limits of Russian state capacity on its southern periphery at a moment when Moscow's grip on the wider Caucasus is already loosening.
Recent weeks have made clear that the alliance doesn’t just have a Turkey problem. It has a Spanish one as well, and the latter is likely to emerge as a real headache for U.S.-NATO relations when the dust from the current Iran conflict finally clears.
The strengthening shekel stands as a powerful testament to how both foreign investors and Israelis themselves view the country’s long-term prospects.
Iran’s economy is already crippled, but still resilient. The US economy is less threatened, but its political system is less tolerant of short-term economic pain.