Articles
How To Make Russia Pay Over Ukraine: Deploy Every Financial Weapon Possible
In their continuing reluctance to impose all possible sanctions on Russia, the United States and its allies were sending a dangerous signal not only to Moscow, but to autocratic leaders in Beijing, Tehran, and elsewhere.
Instead of Transcending Tyranny, the “New Right” Wants to Learn from It
Few things unite the political Right in America as strongly as concern over the malign activities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
War In Ukraine Will Echo Through The Middle East
Ask any Middle Eastern observer about the current conflict between Russia and the West over Ukraine, and you're liable to get a quizzical look. T
Stick with sanctions in Iran
“Society is in a state of explosion,” an official from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned in a leaked seven-page state document that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty recently reported on, and “social discontent has risen by 300 percent in the past year.”
ISIS 2.0: The Islamic State Is Making a Comeback
The Islamic State (ISIS) is once again gaining momentum.
The Biden Administration is Failing on Its Top Priority: Climate
Some of President Joe Biden's failures, from the Afghanistan surrender to skyrocketing inflation, have gotten extensive—and well-deserved—press attention. But there is another fiasco that has as yet gone largely unnoticed: climate.
Putin’s War Plans Are Far From Popular
At least some of the Russian president's supporters have come to believe the costs of his planned adventurism would outweigh any possible benefits.
Outside Of Washington, Morocco Is Winning
These are trying times in the U.S.-Moroccan relationship
The Pacific Shouldn’t Be a ‘Strategic Surprise’
Why aren’t Beijing’s ambitions in the region obvious to Washington?
Russia’s War On The Media Is Very Real
Over the past twelve months, the government of President Vladimir Putin has carried out an unprecedented assault on information within the Russian Federation.
Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot
A decisive shift has taken place in Kazakhstan.
How Prosperity Through Connectivity Battles Russia in the Borderlands
The struggle to limit Russian influence in Central and Eastern Europe requires better infrastructure and development to ensure economic progress and increasing wealth.
Inflation Gives Biden an Incentive for a Bad Iran Deal
Instead of the ‘longer and stronger’ pact promised a year ago, the White House is likely to roll out concessions.
Democracy ‘crisis’ is not within the ranks
Our democracy may be threatened by the U.S. military, but not in the way you might think.
Why Joe Biden Should Leverage The Abraham Accords To Bring Stability To The Middle East
The Abraham Accords have the potential to reshape the region’s politics, economics, diplomacy, and military relationships.
China Immortalizes ‘Pillar of Shame’
The destruction of a sculpture will serve only to further the cause it stood for.
Putin Has Painted Himself Into A Corner
This history begs the question: What level of risk on the part of current Russian President Vladimir Putin is acceptable to the elites whose collective support is central to his continued rule?
Space: One important thing that might retain bipartisan focus
These days, despite the hyper-partisan atmosphere in Washington, there still seem to be two issues that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. One is the pervasive threat posed by the People’s Republic of China. The other is the overarching importance of space.
Propaganda enables Putin’s aggression
[T]he Russian government’s current mobilization is designed with some clear goals in mind: to advance its standing at home and improve its strategic posture abroad. It’s an approach that’s succeeding on both fronts — and the reasons have everything to do with propaganda.
The Solomon Islands Crisis Shows America Needs a New Pacific Strategy
The Solomon Islands Crisis Shows America Needs a New Pacific Strategy.
Iran has good reasons to hang tough in nuke talks
Why won’t Iran cut a deal? Its regime has taken an uncompromising line in renewed talks over its nuclear program. Although that has left the United States and its allies bewildered and frustrated, the regime has solid reasons for doing so.
Biden’s Ukraine Policy is Provocatively Weak
The developing crisis in Ukraine is an important test case for President Joe Biden and his national security team. The fact that the crisis is still building shows that they have yet to find a recipe for blunting Russian President Vladimir Putin's imperial designs.
Bosnia: The Next Hotspot Russia Creates Trouble In?
Last month marked the 26th anniversary of the Dayton Accords, a monumental and controversial peace agreement that ended one of the most violent wars in Southeastern Europe’s history. On November 21, 1995, the United States brokered the agreement that ended three years of ethnic violence and genocide in Bosnia & Herzegovina, which had broken out in the wake of Yugoslavia’s dissolution. The Dayton Accords, signed by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, laid out new terms for the people of Bosnia, including a tripartite presidency that would represent each of the three major ethnicities: Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats. The accords resulted in an uneasy, but relatively stable peace.
ISIS has Uganda, and Central Africa, in its sights
The world’s most notorious terrorist group is making another worrying expansion in Africa. It poses massive implications for the international community.
How Washington Can Flip the Script on Iran
As talks resume over reviving the 2015 global nuclear agreement with Iran, the United States needs to alter the dynamics of its relationship with Tehran if it hopes to secure a deal that will serve American interests.
China’s Environmental Threat to Antarctica
While much of the world was focused on the recent climate summit in Scotland, China had its eye on a very different environmental issue. For the fifth year in a row, China, with Russian assistance, used an international forum to prevent the establishment of new marine protected areas along the coast of Antarctica. Beijing is increasingly interested in the southern continent, and for all the wrong reasons.
Tehran sets the table in Vienna
What precisely does the Biden administration want to accomplish in its diplomacy with Iran? With new talks over Iran's nuclear program now underway in Vienna, it’s a question worth asking.
Iran, Like China, Isn’t a Responsible Stakeholder
In a much-publicized address in 2005, then-Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick laid out the prevailing wisdom in Washington regarding the proper way to approach the People's Republic of China (PRC). "Chinese leaders have decided that their success depends on being networked with the modern world," Zoellick argued before the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. As a result, he contended, the U.S. needed to make every effort to turn the PRC into a "responsible stakeholder" on the world stage.
Don’t Let China Overshadow the Russia Threat
China may well be America’s biggest global threat. Nevertheless, U.S. policymakers must remain prepared to confront a hostile leader in Moscow who, too, is committed to challenging America and the West whenever and however he can.
Egypt’s Biggest Worry Is Its Population
Today, the Egyptian state faces no shortage of strategic threats, ranging from instability emanating from the ongoing crisis next door in Libya to an escalating conflict with nearby Ethiopia over access to the Nile. Yet its biggest long-term challenge is a distinctly domestic one: the quickening pace of its own population.
America Has a Credibility Problem in Southeast Asia
How countries weigh the trade-off between economic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and military protection from the United States will determine much of the 21st Century’s geopolitics.
Is a sanctions rethink in the works?
The Biden administration’s announcement that it will limit economic sanctions as a tool of foreign policy could prove significant, since it follows two decades in which policymakers of both parties dramatically increased the use of sanctions against governments, individuals, and entities that they considered bad actors.
Biden Is Backtracking On Syria
Whatever happened to America's Syria policy?
The West Faces A Big Human Rights Test with The Taliban
The West faces a key test of its commitment to human rights as the Taliban cements its rigid rule in Kabul.
Why an Israeli Military Option against Iran Is Back on the Table
The message from Israel’s top leadership could not be any clearer: It is prepared to act to prevent a nuclear Iran.
Iran’s SCO Entry Could Complicate U.S.-Israeli Strategic Options
Iran's impending entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Eurasian bloc that China and Russia lead, has great potential to limit U.S., Israeli and Western leeway in confronting Tehran's nuclear and hegemonic aspirations, sponsorship of international terrorism and efforts at regional de-stabilization.
What Morocco’s Elections Mean
When Moroccans went to the polls earlier this month to elect a new parliament, the result was a massive repudiation of Islamism – and a resounding affirmation of the North African nation's current geopolitical trajectory.
Afghanistan is the Graveyard of Great Power Competition
As the Taliban resurrects its Islamic Emirate, the United States is once again facing the likelihood of terrorist groups operating at will within Afghanistan.
Biden is losing Latin America
[T]here’s another, less-recognized setback happening for the United States far south of the Rio Grande or the Sonora Desert: crumbling relationships with Latin American countries.
Stay Engaged in Afghanistan or Face a Terrorist Resurgence
Despite the Biden administration’s desire to be rid of Afghanistan, now is not the time to disengage.
How to Deter China From Invading Taiwan
To change Beijing’s calculus, arm Taipei with missiles and turn the island into a ‘porcupine.’
Joe Biden’s Afghan Failure Will Echo For Ages
...if America is not loyal to our friends, chances are that we will soon find ourselves without any.
Riyadh Turns East
It's official: Saudi Arabia has begun to seek other suitors.
Germans Are Demanding a New China Policy. Will the Next Chancellor Deliver?
No matter who wins, public opinion and the possibility of having to partner in a coalition government make it likely that the victor will take a more hawkish line.
China’s Climate Promises Aren’t Worth the Paper They’re Written On
Could the Communist Party be more clear that it does not keep its word?
Is ISIS Making a Comeback in Libya?
In July, a U.N. panel of experts released a new report on global terrorism, with some alarming conclusions. In it, they noted that East and West Africa have been the world regions hardest hit by terrorism over the past year, and that terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria are fast becoming "an entrenched insurgency."
U.S. Institutions Must Get Smarter About Chinese Communist Party Money
Beijing is trying to shape the academic and political conversation.
Mao’s Revolution Threatens Xi’s ‘China Dream’
Beijing has been quick to throw its weight around on the world stage in recent years.
Why America’s Environmental Record Creates a Challenge for China
It is crucial that Washington seize every opportunity to trumpet U.S. leadership on the global stage and remind the world of China’s failure to behave as a “responsible stakeholder.”