Articles

Just how widespread is domestic support for Russia's war on Ukraine, really?

The peripheral, energy-rich areas of Russia are bearing the brunt of the human and economic costs of the Ukraine War.

Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity will link Turkey and the West

The tense clash in opinions over Bagram has left Central Asian countries, Afghanistan’s northern neighbors, in a complex position. The five states initially hinted at opposition to Trump’s efforts, shown in a joint statement of the Moscow Format of Consultations on Afghanistan.

Yet the real challenge facing Kinmen isn’t military—it’s a matter of political economy. Administratively tied to Taiwan, Kinmen illustrates the complex dynamics of geopolitical influence and economic integration.

Almost four years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, and more than a decade after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the U.S. is faced with a dilemma. On the one hand is the urge to continue to support Ukraine diplomatically and militarily. On the other is the push to stop a war that neither side can win.

In October 2025, the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) convened a pivotal summit in Gabala, Azerbaijan, demonstrating its emergence as a significant geopolitical entity on the Eurasian landscape.

Late last week, without public fanfare, the Trump administration released its long-awaited National Security Strategy. 

China is no longer focused only on low-Earth orbit. Beijing now treats the Moon as strategic terrain, pushing toward a permanent base by the mid-2030s and space dominance by 2045

Military readiness isn't simply about money. It also depends on mobility. Put another way, even if it is produced in greater quantities than before, European battlefield equipment won't do the Ukrainians—or anyone else—much good if it can't be transported to the frontlines.

As the Gaza war comes to a fragile (and possibly temporary) end, it’s prudent to take stock of the geostrategic environment Israel will have to face in the foreseeable future. 

History rarely announces its turning points. More often, we wake up to find that the world we assumed was fixed has begun to shift beneath our feet. That is happening now.

Sometimes, it is said, in order to make a problem smaller, you need to make it bigger first. So it is with the Ukraine war, which is now fast approaching its grim fourth anniversary.

Sometimes, it is said, in order to make a problem smaller, you need to make it bigger first. So it is with the Ukraine war, which is now fast approaching its grim fourth anniversary

Today’s Central Asian reformers are picking up and reviving neglected approaches to politics and society that Islam’s Golden Age turned its back on a millennium ago. They do so as Muslim believers or at least as officials respectful of Islam. 

Over the past several years, China's information warfare capabilities have grown by leaps and bounds as Beijing has tapped into the disinformation expertise of its longstanding strategic partner, Russia.
But the most immediate target of Chinese messaging remains Taiwan. As officials and experts there made clear on a recent trip, the People's Republic of China's informational assault is changing—and intensifying.

Let us build new alliances between scientists, sages, and storytellers — between Bengaluru and Be’er Sheva, between Jerusalem and New Delhi — to ensure our tools reflect our deepest values.

The Trump administration’s success in brokering the Armenia-Azerbaijan deal demonstrates what’s possible when the United States engages seriously in the region. As the TRIPP corridor begins development, American policymakers would do well to look beyond immediate economic opportunities to the strategic landscape taking shape around them. The Caucasus is no longer Russia’s exclusive domain. The South has transformed. The North may follow, with consequences extending far beyond Russia’s borders.

The taps are running dry in Tehran. Iran's capital is now experiencing a massive and deepening water shortage. After months of drought and scorching heat, the five reservoirs feeding the city of more than 10 million are mostly empty.

In a quiet room high in the Himalayas, I sat with a monarch attempting something almost unseen in our time: the peaceful reinvention of a nation. For hours, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck guided me through maps, water tables, demographic curves, and the architectural outlines of a city not yet built but already alive in his imagination.

A recent week of meetings in Vietnam with Communist Party leaders, government officials, and other influential figures reveals how Hanoi views today’s economic and geopolitical challenges, as well as how Washington might reassure the country about its commitment to a deeper U.S.-Vietnam relationship after months of unhelpful friction between the two.

On October 10, 2025, the CIS heads of state summit was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Multiple packages of documents were signed, targeting trade, crime, and most importantly, security. Security challenges from Afghanistan, including extremism and border conflicts, have continued since the Taliban takeover, and these recent agreements make up another component of Central Asia’s lengthy efforts to reduce the recurring concerns that can potentially spill over into their territories.

Big changes are afoot in the South Caucasus. Back in August, in a move that passed largely unnoticed in the American press, the Trump administration pulled off a major diplomatic coup when it brought together Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to ink a joint declaration formally ending decades of hostility between the two regional rivals. 

The Middle East is no longer asking whether it should develop domestic space capabilities; it’s deciding with whom it will develop them. If the United States wants to be the country of choice ahead of China, it must create a joint space partnership agreement framework to align American and partner nations’ industry, government and financial goals.

A regime stalwart who has long carried Putin’s water (and boosted his neo-imperial agenda), Lavrov has been conspicuously absent in recent days from a number of high-profile functions. The Foreign Minister, usually a fixture, failed to attend a meeting of Russia’s National Security Council on November 5th – purportedly “by agreement” (presumably with Putin). He was also cut out of Russia’s delegation to the upcoming G20 meeting in South Africa later this month, with a much more junior official, Deputy Chief of Staff Maxim Oreshkin, tapped to lead the Russian team instead. 

For decades, the Kremlin has sought to intimidate foreign powers by threatening to use nuclear weapons. In the current Ukraine war, nuclear threats have been a key way by which Russia’s government has sought to restrain Western aid to Kyiv. The efficacy of Moscow’s nuclear brinksmanship, however, seems to be waning.

As rivals flood the world with propaganda, Washington is dismantling its best tools to respond.

These days in Europe, there is a near-unanimous consensus about the threat posed by Russia and the need to continue to support Ukraine against Moscow’s aggression. But Europe’s steadfastness could be undermined by a different factor—a sustained and growing dependence on Russian energy among a number of its members.

Sixty-eight years ago, the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching Sputnik 1 and igniting the space race. Today, new Sputnik moments loom on the horizon, and the stakes are far higher. The country that emerges as a preeminent space power will guarantee its own economic and national security, and shape the “rules of the road” that govern the international community for decades to come. Who will that be?

After two years, the war in Gaza appears to be over. Following the Trump administration's active mediation last week, a tenuous ceasefire deal was struck over the weekend, and Israel's hostages have returned home. Of course, only time will tell whether this agreement will truly hold. Even so, it's not too early to draw some preliminary lessons from the conflict that just ended.

The plan relies on a future international force to dislodge the terror group, a scenario deemed highly unlikely. By failing to remove Hamas, the ceasefire merely sets the stage for the next inevitable war.

The question is no longer whether SpaceX can deliver payloads into orbit; it is whether America’s present, profound dependence on this company could be politically weaponized in the future. The simmering summer-long feud between President Trump and Musk, which largely stemmed from the latter’s objections to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and which saw access to SpaceX used as a key bargaining chip, suggests that the answer to this question is “yes.”

Armenia faces significant challenges to its political stability and geopolitical security as it attempts a high-stakes strategic pivot away from its traditional Russian security patron and toward the West—a reorientation driven not by choice but by necessity, as the country finds itself militarily inferior, diplomatically isolated, and abandoned by unreliable security guarantors.

Is the Gaza war truly over? On October 8, President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had come to terms on a deal to cease hostilities and exchange hostages, something that had been largely unthinkable just weeks prior.

Central Asia and the Caucasus have recently attracted American attention. Wabtec and Boeing have announced multibillion-dollar investments in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, respectively, and groups of American investors have descended on every country in the region.

Chinese individuals, corporations, and state actors are increasingly involved in both legal and illegal mineral mining operations across West Africa. The negative impacts of these operations on water resources, forests and biodiversity, livelihoods, health, and food security across West Africa have been profound.

As the economic problems grow, Putin’s government has increased its efforts to distract its population from the extent of the financial and political disaster it has brought upon them. This is evident in the holiday atmosphere that fills its capital city, featuring pop-up gardens, light shows, fountains, and theme parks. Street festivals are the most common form of such celebrations, with over 10,000 events held in Moscow this summer alone.

President Trump is now talking tougher on Ukraine, but the White House clearly still holds out hope that negotiating a just peace between Moscow and Kyiv might be possible. To do that, however, the United States will need to fully grasp how Russia is targeting Ukraine’s future. And it will need to make a return of these innocents a core demand of its approach toward the Kremlin.

At first blush, the world seems universally outraged over Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar – with Washington expressing unhappiness, Western leaders threatening retaliation, Arab nations convening in Doha, and the UN’s Human Rights Commission holding an “urgent debate.” But looks may be deceiving.

Many wealthy Chinese cherish the elegance and artistry of rosewood (hongmu) furniture. Famous for its rich burgundy color, its intricate Ming and Qing dynasty-style carvings, and its shockingly high price tag—a single bed can fetch $1 million—hongmu is distinctly Chinese.

Beijing is gradually linking South America together with its massive investments in infrastructure—right under Washington’s nose.

Just a few months ago, U.S.-India relations were on an upswing. But that was then, and this is now. Ties between Washington and New Delhi have deteriorated dramatically since, for both political and economic reasons.

In Russia’s view, the Western world has a big problem: It doesn’t like Russians. The reason, in the Kremlin’s telling, is not Russia’s devastation of Ukraine or its nuclear threats. Instead, the culprit is “the propaganda of Russophobia, unleashed by the West.”

Iran’s political opposition is in no position to challenge the regime. That doesn’t mean popular dissent has gone away.

When the international community descends on Manhattan next month for the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, one issue will loom exceedingly large on the collective agenda: the intention of France, Britain and Canada to imminently recognize Palestine as a state, absent significant changes in Israeli policy.

Ahead of last week's summit in Alaska between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, many feared the meeting would result in some sort of grand bargain that abandoned Ukraine to the Kremlin's predations. That, however, didn't happen.

Since this summer’s humiliating Twelve-Day War, Iran’s regime has shown no signs of collapse.

A new analysis reveals a critical vulnerability in Russia’s war machine: its heavy reliance on imported cotton byproducts to manufacture gunpowder and explosives.A new analysis reveals a critical vulnerability in Russia’s war machine: its heavy reliance on imported cotton byproducts to manufacture gunpowder and explosives.

Russia has a dirty little secret. It faces a dire – perhaps even a fatal – population problem.

“We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza,” French leader Emmanuel Macron declared in announcing that France will recognize a Palestinian state next month—an announcement that British prime minister Keir Starmer and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney quickly echoed.