The campaign carried out by Israel last month against Iran’s nuclear program was, by all indications, a spectacular feat of military prowess and strategic planning. But the role played by the United States cannot be overstated. America’s involvement dramatically augmented the damage done to key Iranian facilities, like Fordow—damage that it would have been difficult and potentially costly for Israel to inflict on its own.
Russia is not all that concerned about the humiliation of Iran despite its strategic partnership.
Although overshadowed by the war in Iran, the ongoing conflict in Gaza, and a seemingly perpetual struggle between Russia and Ukraine, last month saw an end to at least one global hotspot. On June 27th, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed a peace deal designed and brokered by Washington. The objective? Ending the violence that has surged in Central Africa since Rwandan-backed rebels took two major cities in the DRC earlier this year.
More Regulation of Russian Science;
Russia's Partnership With Iran Reaches Its Limits;
A Step Toward Belated Justice For Russian Aggression;
Russia Takes Aim At Ukraine... Via Signal;
Iran's Loss, Russia's Gain
What a difference a year can make.
Last summer, Iran appeared to be well and truly on the march. Its chief Palestinian proxy, Hamas, had succeeded in bogging Israel down in a costly ground war in Gaza – and turning global public opinion against the Jewish state in the process. The United States, under the Biden administration, didn't appear to have much of an answer to Iran's persistent pursuit of nuclear status, or to the growing regional threat posed by its other proxies, like Yemen's Houthi rebels. And vulnerable Gulf states, acutely aware of this dynamic, were increasingly seeking some sort of accommodation with Tehran. As a result, the Iranian leadership's strategic ambitions had begun to expand dramatically.
China Sends Scores of Planes Into Taiwan Strait...;
...While Japan's Nacy Navigates It;
Deployments To The South China Sea;
Hong Kong's Last Pro-Democracy Party Disbands;
Hong Kong's Crackdown Extends To Small Businesses
When President Trump returned to the Oval Office earlier this year, he confidently proclaimed that he could broker an immediate end to the Russia-Ukraine war. But the White House has gotten a better sense of the potential for meaningful compromise in the months since, and revised its expectations down — way down.
From June 27 - July 5, 2025, the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) supported a high-level delegation to Ukraine. The bipartisan group—including senior experts from the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—traveled to Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa, and Warsaw. Herman Pirchner, AFPC President, led the 9-person delegation.
Russia's Answer to WhatsApp;
Bishkek Versus Press Freedom;
Iran's "Shadow War" On The UK...;
...And Online Anti-Israel Army;
Two PRC Nationals Charged With Spying on U.S. Military Facilities;
SCO An "Anchor of Stability" -- Beijing;
PRC Hackers Access Russian Systems, Steal Defense Secrets;
Chinese Firms Expand Into Brazil...;
...As Flood of Cheap Chinese EVS Triggers Backlash
Last month's conflict between Israel and Iran has only just concluded, but its results are already being felt throughout the Middle East—and beyond.
Target: Finland;
Russia's Economic Woes;
A Grim Milestone For Moscow;
More Fodder For The Ukraine Fight
Israel has begun a little-noticed foreign policy transformation. Against the backdrop of its ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem has launched a new initiative in strategic communications.
Questions About Khamenei's Continued Relevance;
...As Succession Planning Speeds Up;
An End To Nuclear Cooperation...;
...And A Wider Description of Spying
Working capital funds could revolutionize how the United States builds and maintains space industrial advantage, yet the Space Force remains locked out of this proven funding mechanism.
China Issues New Centralized Virtual Internet ID;
China-Africe Trade, Deficits Soar;
Niger's Junta Expels PRC Oil Executives;
China Sells Fighter Jets And Weapons To Pakistan And Azerbaijan;
Congress Investigates Billionaire's CPC Links
How Qatar Has Kept Hamas Alive;
JNIM Expanding In West Africa;
Syria's Pragmatic Turn;
Prague Mobilizes Against Online Radicalization
Trump imposes travel ban on African states;
Nigeria eyes border fencing to combat militants;
China deepens continental ties amid record trade;
Niger eyes French-operated uranium mine;
Nigeria, Brazil ink $1 billion deal to modernize agriculture;
Deadly clashes erupt in Kenya on anniversary of tax protests
Codifying Moscow's Maritime Ambitions;
Popularizing A New Imperial Vision;
The Gears of Dubious Russian Justice Grind On;
Russia's National Welath Fund at Risk
Trump faces a pivotal moment: Capitalize on Iran’s unprecedented weakness by supporting Israel, avoiding overreach, and building bipartisan backing, or risk squandering a rare strategic advantage.
On the tenth anniversary of the Evolvable Lunar Architecture (ELA) study, its historical significance has come into sharp focus as a visionary roadmap that helped reframe U.S. Lunar ambitions around sustainability, affordability, and commercial partnership.
How Iran Made Russia's Drones More Lethal;
Iran's High-Tech Repression;
A Political Mandate For Action Against Iran;
That Old Tehran-Caracas Connection;
Iran Steps Up Its Cyber-Spying Next Door
Military Biotech Investment Needed;
Blood Vessels On Demand;
A Helium Helper for Hypersonics;
PLA Fireball Fighter Drones;
Seeking-- And Firing -- Radiation Relief
Another Step Forward For Morocco In The Western Sahara;
Islamist Attacks Threaten Mozambique’s Energy Plans;
Amid U.S. Retraction, China Mirrors American Strategy;
Ethiopia, Iran Expand Security Ties;
Wagner WIthdraws From Mali;
U.S. Mulls Somaliland Recognition For Base Access
Medvedev’s War Spoils;
Russia Targets Even Pro-Government News;
A Familiar Sort of Repression
Chinese Drones Menace The Region;
Bolstering Manila’s Maritime Posture;
Indonesia Tilts Toward China;
Deterrence By Drone On The Korean Peninsula;
A Warning From Wellington
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.
The Growing Threat of Syria's Islamic State;
The Expanding Houthi Footprint;
Another Step Forward For The Taliban
In Russia, The State Supercedes Justice;
Active Measures, Modernized;
Russia's Diminishing Advantage;
Into Uncharted Demographic Territory
New Tech And The Fight Against Disinfo;
Manila Investigates Chinese Influence Ops;
How African Militants Are Harnessing TikTok;
Meta Cleans House
China Is Recruiting Russians -- FSB;
PRC Hackers Exploit Google Calendar;
Taiwan-Based Group Hacks China's Sensitive Infrastructure;
Internet Censorship in Henan Is Even Tighter;
China Launces New Railway To Iran To Bypass U.S. Sanctions
FInally, Hamas in Financial Crisis;
Bangladeshi Islamists Come In From the Cold;
Syria's Foreign Jihadists Get A New Vocation;
France Raises the Alarm;
Rogue Devices Found in Chinese Solar Power Inverters;
U.S. To Revoke Visas of Students With CCP Connections;
PRC Institutions Lure Chinese Researchers From U.S. Universities;
China Issues New Policies To Channel Capital Into Tech Innovation;
Pakistan Uses PRC Hypersonic Missiles To Hit India's Air Defenses;
In December 2010, the Asahi Shimbun published a remarkable roadmap laying out the future trajectory of Chinese maritime expansion. In its analysis, the Shimbun outlined a geographically contingent thesis of Chinese geopolitical strategy—one on which the scholar Tetsuo Kotani elaborated further in a 2019 academic paper. Both publications argue that Chinese maritime access to the Pacific and Indian Oceans is effectively constrained through a series of islands and straits in the First Island Chain. These potential chokepoints constitute the “Nine Gates” through which Chinese maritime commerce and sea power must flow.
Missile Defense and Space: The Next Frontier for Strategic Advantage
Slaying the Hypersonic Beast
Missile Defense Must Go Back to the Future
Integrating Air and Missile Defense in Regional Conflicts
Prioritizing Air and Missile Defense Spending in the Broader Budget Debate
It is not too early to start thinking about monuments to those personages associated with Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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.
Target: Finland... And Beyond;
Moscow Versus Foreign Tech;
Russia Eyes Zaporizhzhia's Power
In December of 2024, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus fell unexpectedly to opposition Islamist forces spearheaded by the rebel group Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham.
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.”
France and The Western Sahara;
Ghana Closes DC Embassy Amid Visa Fraud Scheme;
Trump To Host African Leaders, Pushes Commercial Diplomacy;
Uganda and Germany Are On The Outs;
Mali’s Junta Dissolves All Political Parties;
U.S. and DRC Near Minerals-For-Security Deal;
RSF in Retreat;
Trump Confronts Ramaphosa Over Claims of White Genocide…;
…And Deports Migrants to South Sudan in Defiance Of Court Order
The Push for Wartime Justice;
Taking Aim at Russia's Shadow Fleet;
Russia and The Taliban, Continued;
Putin's Plan for The Year;
Pillaging Ukraine's Treasures
Military Necessity is The Mother of Invention;
Ukrainian Drones Take To The Seas;
A Grisly Business;
Leaning Into Defense Tech
How Russia Is Brainwashing Ukrainian Children;
The SVR Wants An Alliance With Washington... Against "Eurofascism";
Russia Threatens Its Neighbors Anew;
Thinking Beyond Putin
Israeli leaders must be suffering whiplash as they watch the dizzying events of recent days across the Middle East, with President Donald Trump sidelining the Jewish state and cozying up to some of its bitter rivals.
PLA To "Expand Practical Cooperation" With Russian Military;
China and Russia Sign Lunar Nuclear Reactor Deal;
China and Brazil Ink Deals, Vow To Defend Free Trade;
Colombia Joins The BRI;
China Expands Visa-Free Travel To Five Latin American Nations
This paper recommends that Congress encourage and support a commercial demonstration of asteroid capture and resource harvesting as a critical element of U.S. national security and economic development strategy.
"Black Widows" Game The Ukraine War;
Moscow's Foreign Legion;
Europe Plans Accountability For Putin;
Moscow Versus The Occult and "New Age";
A Helping Hand For Pyongyang?
Sudan Paramilitary Forms Rival Government;
China, Kenya Upgrade Ties Amid Global Challenges;
Trump Administration Shutters Africa Infrastructure Agency;
Gabon’s Military Leader Secures Controversial Presidential Victory;
Congo, Rwanda Edge Toward Peace Deal