Geopolitics

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute conducted an intensive multi-week exercise to frame, design, and evaluate potential courses of action that the United States could pursue to defeat the threat from the Islamic State in …

Jeffrey Rathke NATO’s strategy for transatlantic security, throughout the Cold War and to the present day, has been based on deterrence of potential adversaries through a mixture of both conventional and nuclear forces. A coherent and effective deterrence and defense policy depends on both aspects, especially at a …

EUGENE RUMER, RICHARD SOKOLSKY, PAUL STRONSKI Major geopolitical shifts and internal dynamics are setting the stage for possible increased great-power competition in Central Asia between Russia and China at a time when the region is becoming less hospitable to the projection of U.S. power and to the promotion …

Andrew J. Tabler Pushing the Syrian opposition to the negotiating table while the regime’s onslaught continues will only worsen the situation, so Washington should press Russia for a true ceasefire if it wants the talks to produce actual progress. With only days to spare before the latest deadline, …

By Stephen Lendman Chemical, biological and radiological warfare is a longstanding US practice, used in direct and proxy wars, Syrians and Yemenis notably affected. On January 22, the Donbass International News Agency (DINA) headlined “Deadly virus leaked from US laboratory – DPR Army and Intelligence,” saying: “More than …

According to the International Monetary Fund, Saudi Arabia’s economy is in danger of collapse as oil prices grow increasingly unstable. The warning appeared in the “Regional Economic Outlook” for the Middle East and Central Asia published on Oct. 15, an annual report published by IMF economists. Adam Leyland, …

Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran from January 19-23. Xi has delivered a series of important remarks on the relationship between China and the Middle East and Arab countries, which is of great significance in promoting the Middle East …

A recent bombing in the Turkish city of Istanbul has left at least 10 dead and 15 injured. The government in Ankara was quick to blame the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh), claiming the bomber was “Syrian” and had crossed over from Syria into Turkey before carrying out the …

SCOTT CAMPBELL IRAN is to get access to billions of pounds in frozen assets after trade sanctions imposed by the EU and US were lifted on Saturday. The country emerged from years of economic isolation when world powers halted the restrictions in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear …