Articles

Israel-Iran War: 3 Things To Watch As The Conflict Unfolds

June 17, 2025 Ilan I. Berman National Security Journal

Over the past several days, all eyes have been on the Middle East. Last week, Israel initiated "Operation Rising Lion," its unilateral military campaign to roll back Iran's nuclear program. The effort marks the end of a quarter-century during which Israeli policymakers desperately urged Western governments to take the threat of the Iranian atomic effort more seriously – and to take concrete steps to mitigate it.

From France, A Fresh Warning About Islamism

June 3, 2025 Ilan I. Berman Newsweek

Not all that long ago, warnings about a creeping Islamist infiltration in Europe were widely ridiculed as conspiracy theories or, worse, "Islamophobia." In previous years, when politicians like Geert Wilders of the Netherlands and Britain's Michael Gove, or authors like France's Michel Houellebecq raised alarms about the growing prevalence of political Islam on the Continent, they were routinely dismissed as cranks, alarmists, or simply as racists.

These days, though, such concerns are getting harder to refute. Just ask the French.

How Student Visa Crackdowns Undercut US Soft Power

June 2, 2025 Lawrence J. Haas The National Interest

With the State Department’s new vows to halt visa interviews for all foreign students until it beefs up its social media screening and to “aggressively revoke” the visas of Chinese students, the United States is heading down a precarious path. By doing so, it risks ceding its longstanding global advantages in terms of “soft power.”

The Winning Formula For Talks With Iran

April 21, 2025 Ilan I. Berman 19FortyFive

As every tourist who has strayed into a bazaar or souk knows, Middle Easterners drive a hard bargain. And the Iranians, with their long history of strategy and commerce, are among the region's most savvy negotiators. President Trump's pointman for the region, Steve Witkoff, is finding this out the hard way.

An American Strategy for Greater Central Asia

April 21, 2025 S. Frederick StarrS. Enders Wimbush Svante E. CornellMamuka TsereteliLaura Linderman Central Asia-Caucasus Institute

America needs to design and implement an effective strategy for Greater Central Asia to enhance the United States's competitive position in a region that will affect the Russia-China relationship, the geopolitical competition in Asia, and key resource markets, particularly uranium, oil, and natural gas.

Kadyrov’s Chechnya: The State Within Putin’s State

April 17, 2025 Laura Linderman CACI Analyst

Kadyrov's Chechnya presents a deepening dilemma for Russia's federal state. Putin relies on Kadyrov for stability in exchange for unprecedented autonomy—a system where "personalized loyalty substitutes for institutional coherence." This arrangement has created a parallel power structure where Kadyrov implements religious legal codes, commands his independent Kadyrovtsy militia, and pursues contradictory foreign policies.

The paradox is clear: Moscow's strategy to suppress separatism has created a regional actor whose "loyalty is conditional and whose power increasingly transcends the bounds of federation." This precedent could inspire other republics like Tatarstan and Bashkortostan to seek similar arrangements. With Russia facing pressure from sanctions and war costs, Moscow's options are limited if Kadyrov's loyalty wavers.

The Middle East As Informational Battlefield

April 11, 2025 Ilan I. Berman The Jerusalem Strategy Tribune

Once upon a time, the Middle Eastern media environment was predictable and staid, dominated by a few prominent outlets that in Arab countries were often owned and operated by the governments’ information ministries.  No longer.

Why the UN Human Rights Council Keeps Failing on Israel

April 4, 2025 Lawrence J. Haas 19FortyFive

UN’s Human Rights Council set to mock itself – The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to reappoint its special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, to a second three-year term on Friday, mocking its own mandate to fairly and seriously investigate human rights problems around the world.

A Grim Message For Iranians

April 1, 2025 Ilan I. Berman Newsweek

On March 20, Iranians in Iran and in the diaspora commemorated Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Typically, U.S. administrations have used the occasion to practice some soft power diplomacy. In the past, America's Nowruz greetings have taken pains to highlight Iran's proud pre-Islamic heritage, underscore its immense civilizational potential, and draw a distinction between the country's historic greatness and its current repressive clerical regime.