Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh As the world grapples with the dramatic shifts in global power dynamics, two pivotal events have particularly reshaped the international landscape: the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Russian military operations in Ukraine. These incidents have sparked intense speculation about the decline of American …
Read More »The Biden-Trump debate will be a demolition derby. But will it change the race?
This week’s debate between President Biden and Donald Trump won’t produce much in the way of civil dialogue over the nation’s future. It’s more likely to resemble a demolition derby, with each contestant trying to knock the other off course. And, let’s face it, many viewers will tune …
Read More »Could the Biden-Trump Debate Actually Be a Game Changer?
Despite the incredibly high stakes of the 2024 presidential election, polling on Joe Biden versus Donald Trump has been exceptionally stable and apathy seems to be the prevailing mood among undecided voters. Among political journalists there is, understandably, a longing for game-changing events that will give this rematch …
Read More »Claudia Sheinbaum and the Future of U.S.-Mexico Relations
Mexico’s president-elect will enjoy a wide electoral mandate, yet her predecessor wants to leave office with a flurry of questionable constitutional reforms. Mexico voted overwhelmingly for Claudia Sheinbaum to become its next president. She won nearly 60 percent of the popular vote—6 percent more than the incumbent President …
Read More »Can Iran be Coerced?
What is needed is sustained and surgical military force that causes the Iranian regime to reconsider its immediate and long-term actions. Israel, unlike the United States, has demonstrated its resolve to respond with force to each and every attack against it by Iran or its proxies. However, it …
Read More »Joe Biden’s Failed Strategy Against the Houthi Threat in the Red Sea
Despite their attacks on global shipping, the Houthis are much weaker than they appear. With their increasing attacks on shipping passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, the Houthis, an Iranian-backed tribal group from the Saada region of Yemen who seized power a decade ago, …
Read More »The Black Sea Region as a Global Inflection Point
Long a crossroads between East and West, the Black Sea region today occupies a crucial geography from which the future security and prosperity of the transatlantic community will radiate. Russia’s unrelenting, unprovoked war against Ukraine has focused the world on the Black Sea. In the process, the world …
Read More »Iran—Iraq’s Unavoidable Neighbor and America’s Bitter Pill
It would be prudent for American policymakers to focus not on dismantling Iran’s hold on Iraq but rather on diluting its influence. One of the most ironic and adverse strategic outcomes of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was the elimination of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime and the …
Read More »Trilateral Masks Hidden Differences
Hugo Von Essen President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Pyongyang could create challenges in bilateral relations with Beijing. On Tuesday, June 18, Putin made his first official trip to North Korea since 2000 for talks with his fellow autocrat Kim Jong Un. The visit is Putin’s fourth foreign …
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