As Voltaire noted, “History is replete with the sound of silken slippers (the US being the dominant strategic and economic power) going downstairs and wooden shoes (the rise of the rest) coming up.” The stage looks set for a new competition for power between the United States and …
Read More »The Effect of President Trump’s “Drill Baby Drill” on the East Mediterranean
The declaration of a national energy emergency with an executive order by American President Trump and the “drill baby drill” slogan incorporated in his inaugural speech outline the parameters of maximizing the development of American energy resources in the United States and other geographic regions. The East Mediterranean …
Read More »Shifting Sands: Geopolitics, Tariffs, and Europe’s Energy Defense
Since 2023, the world has been navigating a balanced phase in a new economic transition model. This global shift influences energy transitions, food systems, and the interconnected realms of geopolitics and military strategy. Beginning in 2000, and more prominently between 2011 and 2022, the economic transition followed a …
Read More »Russia’s Strategic Pivot to Southeast Asia: Energy, Climate, and Geopolitics
Russia is redefining its strategy in Southeast Asia with renewed attention to energy cooperation, technology transfer, and multilateral cooperation. The adoption of new engagement protocols in 2025 is an expression of Russia’s desire to boost its influence in Southeast Asia through partnerships that resonate with the region’s evolving …
Read More »Trump’s Middle East trip indicates a new world order
President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip of his second term included visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—notably excluding Israel. The trip was framed as an opportunity to secure economic deals, strengthen U.S.-Gulf partnerships, and advance Trump’s signature foreign policy achievement from his first …
Read More »The Changing Face of Global Power: Who Wins, Who Loses?
In the context of emerging new world, key global powers are thumbing up their strategic agendas, seriously evaluating their approaches in taking positions on diverse issues including security, trade and economics with implications for and impact on developing countries. Notwithstanding, Africa has seemingly become the center of the …
Read More »Six Reasons Why Trump’s Iran Negotiations Have a Greater Chance of Success
The 2015 Iran nuclear negotiations ultimately resulted in the fragile Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). While the deal initially raised hopes for sanctions relief, normalized relations between Iran and the West, and resolving the nuclear disputes, it proved short-lived and failed to meet objectives. Structural weaknesses, persistent …
Read More »On the Brink of Irreversibility: India-Pakistan, the Looming War
Since the bloody partition of 1947, which birthed two nations with antagonistic identities, India and Pakistan have been locked in an existential rivalry where history, religion, and geopolitics intertwine. In this volatile equation, Kashmir, the epicenter of this perennial discord, remains an unresolved trauma, reignited by every skirmish …
Read More »Opening the Gates: Trump’s Syria Gambit and the Fragile Road to Recovery
On May 13, 2025, in a surprise announcement during his first post-inauguration Gulf tour, President Donald Trump declared that he will be “ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.” The venue — the Saudi–U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh — …
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