How Kazakhstan Can Become the Hub of the New Silk Road
The Trans-Caspian International Transit Route or “Middle Corridor” is Central Asia’s best bet for increasing connectivity and economic ties to the West. But Kazakhstan, the corridor’s hub, faces internal challenges like price competitiveness and external threats like climate change and geopolitics. The Middle Corridor stretches from western China across the vast Kazakh steppe and the […]
Russia’s Defense Ties in the Middle East Poised to Rebound
Russia’s defense relationships in the Middle East and North Africa have been gravely weakened as a result of its war in Ukraine. However, a peace deal, sanctions relief, or even a lengthy ceasefire could provide Russia with an opportunity to resume arms sales and security assistance to the Middle East, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific. The […]
Where is the Military-Industrial Complex Now That We Really Need It?
In his long and distinguished public career – including as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe in World War II and two terms as president of the United States – a single phrase of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s has entered and remained in the language: the military-industrial complex. He spoke those words on January 17, […]
No Need to Rely on Russia to Keep China in Check
The Trump administration has identified China as the primary adversary of US global interests. CIA Director John Ratcliffe recently declared that, “no adversary in the history of our Nation has presented a more formidable challenge or a more capable strategic competitor than the Chinese Communist Party.” Some in Trump’s circle maintain that a key to […]
The Putin Problem
The Trump administration entered office with two complementary goals concerning Russia. The first, the humanitarian goal of ending Russia’s war with Ukraine, does not seem close to being achieved. The administration proposed a ceasefire between the two countries as a first step toward terminating the conflict, but while Ukraine accepted the proposal, Russia did not. […]
Lessons from a Prior Ukraine Deal: The Brest-Litovsk Treaty of 1918
“If he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems,” President Donald Trump said of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in an impromptu interview on Air Force One on April 1. The deal in question involves the transfer to the United States of rights to Ukraine’s rare earth elements and other natural resources, in […]
The Middle East As Informational Battlefield
Once upon a time, the Middle Eastern media environment was predictable and staid, dominated by a few prominent outlets that in Arab countries were often owned and operated by the governments’ information ministries. No longer. Over the past three decades, the region has witnessed an explosion in information and connectivity. In the 1990s and 2000s, […]
The Return of the German Problem
In the 75 years between the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and the end of World War II in 1945, what came to be known as the German Problem afflicted Europe. Germany became a problem because it grew too powerful for the peace of the continent, and over that period, Germany started three […]
A New World Order
The war in Ukraine is leading to a seismic geopolitical shift, reshaping the global order. At its fulcrum stands Donald Trump, the champion of “America First” who is asserting Washington’s dominance on his own terms. Opposing him, Europe remains trapped in the inertia of its post-Cold War illusions, struggling to adjust to a world where […]
Why a Peace Agreement in Ukraine is Not a New Munich
The spirit of Neville Chamberlain is haunting establishment foreign policy circles. Senior Trump administration officials have begun meeting with Russian counterparts and floating possible scenarios for a negotiated peace deal. Some American media commentators – including on the right – have accused Trump of “selling out” and “betraying” Ukraine in the same way that Chamberlain […]
