Middle East

Resource competition has intensified between the two great powers, the US and China, due to trade and tariff wars. Recently, both the countries have made major policy shifts in the strategically significant rare earth sector. China discreetly issued 2025 rare earth mining and smelting quotas to its state-owned …

Sana Khan The U.S. imposed punitive tariffs of up to 50% on Indian imports, effective Wednesday, targeting India’s trade and potentially undoing the gains from Russian oil purchases. BackgroundAccording to an analysis by Reuters, India benefited financially from increased imports of discounted Russian oil after the outbreak of …

Dimitra Staikou As the ancient Greek historian Thucydides observed, “The strong reach as far as their strength allows, and the weak reach as far as their weakness permits.” In Pakistan, the weak—its tiny Christian minority—are struggling under the weight of relentless persecution and legal vulnerability. Comprising just 1.6% …

Noureen Akhtar It was no normal day in Kabul on the 20th of August 2025. The city, once ravaged by war and suspicion, welcomed an event that could redraw the region’s map, the sixth Pakistan-Afghanistan-China trilateral meeting. For decades, Afghanistan has been considered a theater of disorder, characterized …

Bushra Ikram The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the only remaining bilateral arms control agreement between the United States (US) and Russia, is set to expire on February 5, 2026. The New START, which accounted for 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, was signed in …

In the August 18 meeting between European leaders, Ukraine, and the United States, multiple officials stressed the importance of security guarantees for Ukraine that were Article V–like. These guarantees, especially in the absence of a ceasefire to support negotiations, would need to include foreign troops and monitors on …

Alon Ben-Meir The unfolding horror in Gaza has galvanized a powerful international momentum calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state. On July 29, France and Saudi Arabia, with the support of the Arab League and 16 other co-chairs, issued the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement …

Israel has long been defined by its security imperatives, but rarely has the price of war been so steeply visible in its economy as it is today. In 2024, Israeli military expenditure soared to 8.8% of GDP—a staggering figure for a developed economy. Projections suggest that defense spending …

Eldar Mamedov While the region’s nations have reasons to pursue closer ties with Israel, they will most likely stop short of full diplomatic recognition.  President Donald Trump has often voiced support for expanding the Abraham Accords—the US-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states—to include Azerbaijan and …