Ian Lustick and Eli Clifton View image in fullscreenIllustration: Jordan Bohannon/The Guardian/Getty Images/White House In 1948, with war raging in Palestine, Harry Truman found himself trapped. On one side were Zionist lobbyists and the president’s domestic political advisers, who were urging him to support the establishment of a …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh The latest U.S.–Iran war has done more than expose the volatility of the Middle East. It has exposed the exhaustion of the region’s post-Cold War security model. For decades, Middle Eastern states relied on an implicit strategic bargain: the United States would remain the principal …

George Washington warned us well. In his Farewell Address of 1796, he urged his fellow citizens to remain “constantly awake” against “the insidious wiles of foreign influence,” which history and experience prove to be “one of the most baneful foes of republican government.” Two and a quarter centuries …

US President Donald Trump says talks with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz will begin on Monday. This followed Sunday’s early morning announcement that he halted strikes against the Islamic Regime “at the behest of Iran and other Middle Eastern countries” pending a deal. One of those …

Nearly 270,000 Israelis left the country for periods of at least three consecutive months between 2023 and 2025, a nearly 50% increase compared with the 2013-2015 period, according to a new study by researchers at Tel Aviv University. The study points to a sharp acceleration in emigration following …

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met Monday with Board of Peace Director-General Mladenov and senior members of the organization’s team as efforts to implement President Trump’s Gaza peace initiative entered what officials described as the “hard phase” of negotiations. The meeting focused on the next stage of the plan: …

Dr. Nessrine Mesto-Assaad Key Takeaways: – In the ongoing war between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other, why was the first vital Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility bombed by Iran, the Ras Laffan Industrial Facility in Qatar? – On whom does …

Dr. Yashwant Singh Japan’s deepening institutional contact with NATO, summit invitations since 2022, an Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (ITPP), liaison arrangements in Brussels, is frequently (mis)read through a geographic lens: is the alliance “expanding into Asia”? This framing asks the wrong question. NATO’s treaty area is fixed by …

By Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh For decades, the defining question of international politics was straightforward: Which country possesses the strongest military, the largest economy, or the greatest technological advantage? Today, however, a far more consequential question has emerged: Which power does the world trust most? The answer to that question may shape …