By Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh In a private meeting with geopolitical analyst George Friedman in 2022, and during an earlier conversation with the late Henry Kissinger in 2021, both thinkers alluded to the strategic inevitabilities of conflict in the Middle East. Strategist Friedman warned that the region was heading …

Rany Ballout Unifying and deradicalizing Syria’s armed forces will be the regime’s most formidable challenge. The United States has now lifted all sanctions on Syria, except on some individuals and entities associated with the former Assad regime. Additionally, the United States has revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation …

A new “Great Game” is unfolding in the Caucasus and Central Asia, echoing the nineteenth-century rivalry between empires, with a modern, multipolar twist. The term “Great Game” refers to the nineteenth-century strategic rivalry between the British and Russian Empires over influence in Central Asia, particularly in Afghanistan, Persia, …

Semiconductor firms have a lot to learn from America’s banks; investing in compliance is the price of entry in a critical industry. Earlier this week, the Trump administration narrowed export controls on advanced semiconductors ahead of US-China trade negotiations. The administration is increasingly relying on export licenses to …

Robert Ellis Europe needs Turkey to shore up its defense. But is Ankara committed to European security? The European Union is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, it faces an onslaught from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which is determined to overturn the rules-based …

John Calabrese The recent Israel-Iran crisis could catalyze an expanded role for the Gulf states in maintaining regional security. The June eruption of hostilities between Israel and Iran once again exposed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to the acute dangers of regional instability. Yet it also raises …

Washington must clarify what it actually wants from New Delhi in order to secure a mutually beneficial trade agreement. President Trump has imposed a 25 percent tariff on India, prompted by the failure to conclude a trade deal before the reciprocal tariff deadline of August 1. In a …

Rahul Pandey June 1, Operation Spider’s Web can be considered a watershed moment in the Russia–Ukraine war but cannot be understood as a watershed alone without comparing it with other recent events such as Israel’s Pager attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria in September 2024. The question …

Matthew Maavak There is a well-worn rhetorical device deployed from Islamabad to Istanbul, echoed with minor variations across various Muslim-majority capitals: Kashmir is the Palestine of South Asia. But what appears on the surface as a passionate defense of Muslim dignity is in fact a geopolitical sleight of …