Geopolitics

Jacob Helibrunn Amid warfare, assassinations, and bombings in the Middle East, two developments could ultimately reshape the region for the better. The first is the discrediting of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The second is the weakening of Iran. Netanyahu has just suffered a major rebuff from Israel’s …

Gavin Bade As he girds for a rematch against Trump, the president’s ambitious trade agenda finally buckled under backlash from his own party. It may never recover. The high-profile reversal in San Francisco was just the most recent setback in Biden’s trade agenda. U.S. officials have also hit …

Kazakhstan is assuming an increasingly important role amid a global energy transition and regional diplomatic shifts. From the landmark Biden-Xi summit in San Francisco to the upcoming COP28UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, November is proving to be a busy month for global diplomacy. Both events highlight some …

The U.S. and North Korea are beginning from such a low baseline that even small, incremental changes away from brinksmanship would be a big step forward. Unfortunately, the status-quo is likely to prevail throughout the year. It’s difficult to look at the Korean Peninsula and conclude that Washington’s …

“At the end of the year, we will have the courage to ask ourselves how many human lives have been shattered by armed conflict, how many dead and how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty,” the pontiff said. In Russia, the country’s military actions in Ukraine …

Iran’s election to fill seats in the Majlis on March 1 will be the country’s first vote since mass demonstrations in 2022 gripped the Islamic Republic following the death of a young woman who had been detained for allegedly not following state rules on proper dress. Disputed election …

The U.S. experience after 9/11 and the 2003 Iraq War can shed light on how to improve and alleviate coordination problems and intel politicization in Israeli intelligence. New details of Israel’s massive intelligence failure preceding Hamas’s surprise terrorist attack on October 7 continue to come to light. It …

Nada Wanni The civil war that began in April between rival generals shows no signs of ending. “The Army to the Barracks and the Janjaweed Dissolved,” chanted the Sudanese protestors who flooded the streets of the country in December five years ago this month. The chanting voices of the …

James Dorsey The Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s role in undermining the moral backbone and pillars of democracy goes far beyond Western support for Israel in Gaza. The question is no longer if, but when, the United States will support a ceasefire in the Gaza war. While the need for a …