Articles
Why Russia covets hypersonic weapons
Russia’s ongoing development of hypersonic weapons proves nuclear weapons are in fact warfighting weapons — contrary to conventional wisdom in the West.
Russia Plans More Arctic UAVs
Moscow’s equivalent of DARPA wants a cold-weather drone that can stay aloft for four days.
40 years later, Iran needs another revolution
Iran’s threats to America’s global interests are mounting as the Islamic Republic celebrates its 40th anniversary, and these threats mock repeated U.S. efforts over the years to appease a dangerous regime.
Rabat’s Challenging Conscription Strategy
Morocco’s return to conscription shouldn’t be seen as a catch-all cure.
Information warfare threatens Western corporations
Since 2014, we have learned just how potent Russian information warfare can be when it targets foreign governments. But as a result, we have tended to overlook the no less disruptive proliferation of attacks against Western corporations.
4 Key Takeaways From Director Of National Intelligence Dan Coats Testimony About Iran
Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats' January 2019 "worldwide threat assessment" — provides an extensive overview of the risks that the U.S. will face in the near future, and a detailed snapshot of the challenge that America's spies and intelligence professionals see emanating from Iran.
Putin Orders Up a National AI Strategy
The Jan. 15 instruction follows a year of Russian efforts to better unify public and private AI research.
Second Trump-Kim summit risks US credibility
President Trump hopes to use a second summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in the coming weeks to jumpstart progress on dismantling the North’s nuclear program, but Kim’s recent statements and Pyongyang’s clandestine work on its program raise serious questions about the President’s approach.
Russia’s latest gambit is just another Middle East foray gone awry
[T]he recent public verbal tongue lashings by Moscow to Iran’s leaders are just that. They are part of a false narrative that Moscow can exert its will over Turkey, Iran and Syria, and that Israel has a reliable and concerned partner in the Kremlin.
Welcome to the Age of Local Jihad
President Trump's unexpected December announcement that America would pull its military forces out of Syria has reignited a debate over the future of U.S. counterterrorism policy in Washington.
China has nothing to fear from America’s Africa strategy, as it’s largely bluster
David H. Shinn and Joshua Eisenman say the bold proclamation of US intent to help African countries resist China’s ‘predatory practices’ carries little weight, given that the Trump administration has failed to allocate sufficient resources for it to succeed
Marking four decades of Iranian decline
Next month, Iran marks the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that catapulted the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers to power in Tehran. As that milestone approaches, the country’s leaders are working overtime to paint their clerical regime as a resounding success.
U.S. Strategy Towards Afghanistan And (The Rest Of) Central Asia
President Trump and his isolationist backers may think otherwise, but there is no real alternative to continued involvement.
Don’t forget the Black Sea and the Balkans
In February, NATO’s Defense Ministers will convene a ministerial conference and in April they will do so for Foreign Ministers. These meetings should reassess the importance of the Black Sea and the Balkans’ strategic importance, especially in light of recent events.
Welcome to the Hypersonic Arms Race
As the hypersonic weapons programs of America’s adversaries continue to mature, so too does their ability to hold the U.S. military and our allies at risk on a number of fronts.
China’s Uighur abuse augurs poorly for world
Apparently not satisfied with persecuting the Muslim Uighur community in its own Xinjiang province by, among other things, throwing an estimated million or more of them in torturous “re-education camps,” Beijing is targeting Uighurs who live outside China. In fact, The Atlantic reported late last year that many Uighurs in the United States say Chinese authorities are contacting and threatening them.
Israel’s Dangerous Dalliance With China
The Jewish state needs an agency to review foreign investments in sensitive areas of its economy.
Russia: Expect a National AI Roadmap by Midyear
Moscow is starting to put financial and logistical muscle behind its efforts to develop artificial intelligence.
Russia Building Out Nuclear Capabilities in Its Fleet
During the Cold War two of Russia’s four fleets were nuclear ones, the Northern Fleet based out of Murmansk in the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic, and the Pacific Fleet based out of Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk.
Most analysts have maintained that this disposition has remained the case until now.
But can we be certain of that?
Trump’s Latest Moves Make Officials Jumpy In Jerusalem
...[T}he Administration's unexpected December decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria has left Israeli policymakers on edge, and for good reason.
Russia’s New Venezuelan Base: The Evolving Strategic Context
There was a time when the mere mention of a projected Russian (or Soviet) air or naval base in Latin America would have immediately generated a firestorm in Washington. Those times are now long gone.
Germany power plan would be a gift to Putin
European energy security isn’t a pressing concern for most Americans — but it should be. If Europe, the West’s frontline against Russian aggression, falls under de facto Kremlin control through energy domination, America will be left vulnerable.
Making U.S. Media Great Again
The United States would be best served not by the creation of a wholly new global media network, but by real reform of the existing one.
A Year Into Iran’s Quiet Counterrevolution
A year on, Iran's protests continue - and represent a real challenge to the country's clerical regim
The Persistence of the Islamic State
Has ISIS truly been defeated? More and more signs suggest that the answer is “no.”
Russia pays no price for piracy in Kerch Strait
Giving Russia a pass in the Kerch Strait equates to giving Putin a veto over where you can and cannot sail; in effect daring you to take him on. Seizing vessels and kidnapping sailors are actions more akin to the 18th century than the 21st, it is piracy plain and simple.
Russia is trying to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty
Russia’s latest act of aggression is neither extraordinary nor unexpected.
Airbnb unfairly sides with Palestinians in West Bank
Its [Airbnb] policy for the West Bank subjects Israel to a singular global standard and reflects an all-too-common narrative about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By empowering one-sided Israel-haters, it also makes peace less likely, not more.
How to Rebalance US Global Security Cheaply and Easily
Russia is already building missiles outside the INF treaty, according to an October 29, 2018 report from the Congressional Research Service.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine is an act of war
By any standard, Russia’s attack upon Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea is an act of war.
How The United States And Europe Can Punish Russia For Ukraine Ship Attack
NATO's new mission should be robust, visible and built around two key goals: safeguarding the free flow of maritime traffic in the region (something that Russia's actions have threatened), and bolstering Ukrainian sovereignty by augmenting the military assistance already being provided to the country by the U.S. and Europe.
The West Has an Opportunity, Yet Again, to Push Back Against Russia
In August of 2008, Russia used separatist proxies in South Ossetia to attack Georgian villages near the city of Tskhinvali.
Sea of Azov Showdown: The Reasons Behind Russia’s Renewed Aggression
As officials in Kyiv have consistently warned, an intensification of the on-again, off-again shooting war between the two countries was only a matter of time.
The Perilous State of America’s Defense Industry
Two grim words — ‘hollowed out’ — routinely surface when we speak about America’s once formidable industrial and manufacturing prowess.
Russia’s Provocations in the Sea of Azov: What Should Be Done?
On November 25 Russian vessels blocked Ukrainian ones from entering the Sea of Azov, fired on Ukrainian ships in the Black Sea, rammed some of those ships, seized three Ukrainian ships, and wounded six in these exchanges.
Rethinking The Russo-Iranian Entente
Just how solid is the strategic partnership between Russia and Iran?
What we really know about China’s Reform and Opening Up
China is now in full celebration mode, commemorating four decades since it turned away from Mao Zedong Thought and toward Reform and Opening Up — the blend of market and socialist policies initiated in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping that the Communist Party credits for “giving the Chinese people growth and prosperity.”
Market Meltdown: How OPEC Is Projected to Change
The U.S.-Saudi relationship is growing paradoxically both more contentious and more collaborative. What does that mean for the oil industry?
Russia’s Peace Conference on Afghanistan: What Does It Mean?
Last week (November 9), Russia finally convened its long-heralded peace conference on Afghanistan.
China’s Investments In Israel Are A Double-Edged Sword
These days, the consensus among connected venture capitalists and savvy entrepreneurs is unanimous: Israel's hi-tech sector is thriving.
Why are Chinese investments in Israeli hi-tech making Washington nervous?
In fact, China’s stake in Israeli hi-tech has become so significant that it now runs the risk of impacting the longstanding special relationship between Jerusalem and Washington.
Why Is the Sea of Azov So Important?
Having illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, Moscow lost no time in seizing Ukrainian energy assets in and around the region.
Why Jordan Is Next For ISIS
The Islamic State may be receding in Iraq and Syria, but its militants may soon find safe harbor nearby — in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Testing Trump’s Iran Strategy
On Nov. 6, Americans will go to the polls in midterm elections that are likely to reshape the complexion of national politics. But even before they do, U.S. foreign policy will face a crucial test of resolve vis-a-vis the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.
High-Tech Power-Couple: Israel & South Korea
As Korean policymakers, aid workers and scientists look to solve challenges, they should turn to Israel to find existing innovations that can make a difference, or create new ones together.
Khashoggi’s Killing Was Despicable, But US Needs Saudi’s Help In Keeping Mideast Peace
Let's be clear: the Saudi murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was a despicable act by a regime that, even after enacting modest reforms recently, still tolerates virtually no domestic dissent...The United States needs Saudi support to rein in the America-hating, terror-sponsoring, nuclear weapons-pursuing, regional destabilizing and human rights-abusing regime in Iran.
India’s Arctic energy partnership with Russia
When people discuss Indo-Russian relations, they generally focus on Russia’s arms sales to India. However, India’s energy relations with Moscow also possess considerable and, arguably, growing significance.
Exercise Trident Juncture is a response to Russian aggression
Forty thousand participants; 130 aircraft; 70 vessels; 30 participating countries: Exercise “Trident Juncture 18” already has been labeled as one of the “most complex exercises” to be executed by NATO in the past 30 years and, in terms of countries participating, is the largest military exercise of 2018
Ankara And The Khashoggi Affair
The strange (and almost certainly tragic) case of Jamal Khashoggi – the Saudi civic activist turned American newspaper columnist – continues to profoundly roil U.S.-Saudi relations.