Military & Security

Dr. Dan Steinbock Israeli military aggression has “reshaped both the physical and ecological landscape” of southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese report (which does not consider the impacts of Israel’s latest barrage of attacks this spring). In her foreword, Lebanon’s minister for the environment Tamara el Zein notes: …

U. S. President Donald Trump stated he had not yet reviewed the details of a new peace proposal from Iran, expressing skepticism about accepting it because he believed Iranians had not faced enough consequences for their actions. His comments followed a day of contemplation about potentially restarting airstrikes …

Racardo Martins Greater Israel: Beyond Biblical Mythology, a Geopolitical Blueprint When Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich talks about expanding Israel’s reach “to Damascus,” or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses personal attachment to broad territorial ambitions or Israel being not only a “regional superpower” but “in some respects, a …

President Donald Trump’s assurance that he will not use nuclear weapons against Iran should not be treated as restraint; it is the lowest possible bar in a crisis already overloaded with reckless language. His warning that the United States could “blow up” any Iranian weapons accumulated during the …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh For decades, the Middle East operated under a simple—if uneasy—assumption: proximity to the United States meant protection. That assumption has now been shaken. The recent U.S.–Israeli confrontation with Iran did not merely redraw military lines; it exposed a deeper fracture—the erosion of trust between Washington …

Winthrop M. Rodgers The stalemate over government formation is affecting the semi-autonomous region’s ability to deal with the fallout of the Iran war – and eroding its autonomy. More than 18 months have passed since voters in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq went to the polls in …

The latest attacks, following months of JNIM raids on Mali’s vital fuel supplies, show the need for negotiation at a regional, national and local level. Jihadist and Tuareg separatist militants launched a sequence of shocking attacks across Mali on 25-26 April. The unprecedented scale, geographical spread and levels …

Ezgi Başaran Many celebrated Hungary’s strongman Vikt Orbán’s fall via electoral defeat at the beginning of April.  What does his fall possibly portend for his fellow autocrat Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s political future in Turkey? Two cases of competitive authoritarianism After all, the authoritarian styles of Orbán and Erdoğan …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh The Collapse of the Illusion: When Empires Whisper “You’re On Your Own” History rarely announces its turning points with fanfare; it prefers irony. The return of Donald Trump to the White House did not begin a new era—it exposed the fragility of the old one. For decades, …