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Why did Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates provide a pulpit for a firebrand cleric who calls for the destrcution of Shiites, Alawites, Christians, and Jews? Oren Adaki, David Weinberg  Foreign Policy As Saudi Arabia expands its involvement in wars across the Middle East, the kingdom has …

By Vasudevan Sridharan The Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council is set to hold major talks in the presence of French President Francois Hollande over the handling of the Yemen crisis. The Sunni-dominated Council of Gulf monarchs is expected to call for a partial humanitarian truce in Yemen, at least …

Jeremy Friedman At its core, the proposed nuclear deal with Iran is a bet on the future direction of the Iranian regime. Two former Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, argued in a recent critical piece in the Wall Street Journal that the central claim of …

James Holmes Methinks the U.S. Navy has contracted some weird allergy to fleet experimentation. Why else would service potentates retire a promising experimental aircraft like the X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator, or UCAS-D, in its infancy? Experimentation, of course, is the process of testing some tactic, concept, …

By Ishaan Tharoor West African nation would be sending a detachment of 2,100 troops to Saudi Arabia as part of an international coalition cobbled together by the kingdom in its war effort in neighboring Yemen. In late March, Saudi Arabia commenced airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who had …

By James R. Holmes As weaponeers, budgeteers, and lawmakers wage their annual death match over the defense budget, here’s some input from the margins of Fight Club. And yes, I know the first and second rules of Fight Club. But no one obeys them inside the Beltway, and …

“Innumerable analysts have predicted that the twenty-first century will belong to China, yet it seems worth considering whether the current millennium will not belong at least equally to India.” Christopher Whalen Back in August of last year, TNI described why India’s economic prospects are brighter than those of …

Russian defense officials’ plans to build a supercarrier have been scrutinized at home and abroad. However, the idea could have a surprisingly practical side. A new article in Newsweek rekindled rumors from March that Russia could be building a new supercarrier. The article notes that Russia has no strategic need …

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman’s bold steps to consolidate power might trigger backlash from his rivals.  New steps taken by King Salman bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud might lead to a possible political storm in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Intelligence Review IHS Jane’s 360 reported. The reason to expect political disorder within Saudi governing circles …