Articles

Just how sick is Iran, really? As the coronavirus swept across the world throughout the month of March, the Islamic Republic quickly emerged as one of the key global hotspots for the disease

The coronavirus has come to Syria.

Slowly but surely, Riyadh is beginning to look west. After years of comparatively modest engagement with the countries of East Africa, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is today putting in motion and ambitious strategy for engagement with the continent.

The coronavirus pandemic has helped to loosen China’s grip on international opinion.

The CCP is trying to escape blame for COVID-19 and take advantage of recovery. Don’t let it.

With the coronavirus forcing Iran to dig mass graves for its victims, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected U.S. aid offers of recent days and suggested that America “specifically built” the virus “for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians which they have obtained through different means.”

The New York Times’ decision of recent days to make a “clarification” to one sentence in the lead essay of its “1619 Project” won’t do much to quell a growing fight over the meaning of America’s founding — a fight with profound implications for the nation’s continuing influence around the world.

The Islamic Republic is profoundly sick – and getting sicker. Since the global outbreak of coronavirus in recent weeks, Iran has emerged as one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic.

Why, exactly, has Iran been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus?

ith the advent of COVID-19, matters have become much, much worse for the Iranian regime -- so much so that it isn't unreasonable to think that the Iranian regime could buckle under the weight of its own internal contradictions.

The ongoing Saudi social and cultural transformation discourages religious extremism and encourages deradicalization as the Kingdom attempts a “course correction” toward moderation.

U.S. Central Asia policy has room to improve, but the Trump administration is steering things on the right track.

This week, the city of Prague will commemorate the fifth anniversary of the slaying of Russia’s freedom-promoting opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov, by renaming for him the square where Russia’s embassy is located.

The most important takeaway from the killing of Qassem Suleimani doesn’t just have to do with Iran.

What if you held a national election and no one turned out? That’s the situation currently confronting Iranian officials, who are grappling with the aftermath of a truly disastrous outcome in last week’s parliamentary elections.

Iran’s clerical army could decide that an internal transition is the best answer, and move to remove (or at least subordinate) the country’s current clerical elite. Such a step, after all, would allow the IRGC to preserve its current, extensive grip on national power while simultaneously working to alleviate economic pressure from the U.S. and reintegrate into the international community.

What does Riyadh really think about China? It was one of the questions on my mind last week, when I led a research delegation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This month, the Trump administration released its strategy for Central Asia.