American Military Guarantees Boost Ukraine’s and NATO’S Long-Term Prospects

US President Joe Biden during the press conference at NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain on June 30, 2022. Photo credit: Jakub Porzycki via Reuters Connect

Introduction  In a hard-hitting essay published here in the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, A Year of War, the Washington Institute’s Anna Borshchevskaya paints a sobering picture of what Ukrainians, and all in NATO, face. She argues that Russians view the war as an existential struggle for their future. Washington and the rest of NATO are now rightly ensuring that at a minimum […]

How Russia Used Gas Exports to Try to Overthrow a Government

New Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean kneels down in front of a state flag as President Maia Sandu stands nearby during an inauguration ceremony in Chisinau, Moldova, February 16, 2023. Photo credit: Reuters

To avoid receiving an energy bill she couldn’t afford, Zinaida Negruti, like countless others in Moldova, began spending more time in the dark as fall transitioned into winter. “Most of the time I don’t turn on the lights because I am worried it will be too expensive,” she says. “I try to use as little […]

Security Challenges Facing the New Israeli Government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo credit: Reuters

The State of Israel is not required by law to adopt a national security strategy. But the need for such a document has been often raised, and several efforts have been made to write one. In October 1953, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion presented a long disquisition on Israel’s security needs to the Cabinet, which he […]

Lessons of the Russo–Ukraine War

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo credit: via REUTERS

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been underway for almost nine years and is closing on one year in its current, full-scale form. What we can learn from the war’s origins and initial stages may assist us in finding the right policies to help end it on the best possible terms for Ukraine and […]

Lessons We Should Have Learned from Vietnam

Members of Company "D", Second Batallion, Third Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade, in Long Binh, Vietnam on October 6, 1969. Photo credit: DPA / Picture Alliance via Reuters Connect

With recent experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan in mind, three former US ambassadors look back at their earlier careers as infantry officers in Vietnam and offer the following lessons.

The Reasoning Behind Israel’s Refusal to Supply Weapons to Ukraine

Protestors hold signs at a demonstration against the Russian military invasion into Ukraine, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo credit: REUTERS

Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February, Israel’s policy of not supplying weapons to Ukraine has come under both domestic and international criticism. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently stated that the decision by Israeli leaders not to support Kyiv has encouraged Russia’s military partnership with Iran. Inside Israel, critics say support for Ukraine […]

Ukraine in the Trap of Ideological Fixations

Photo credit: Shutterstock

The tragedy now unfolding in Ukraine serves as a painful and powerful reminder of one of the foundational lessons of modern history. Ideological and faith-driven fixations, whether in foreign or domestic affairs, lead to bad policy. Evidence-based policies do not necessarily guarantee success, but their built-in pragmatism allows for adaptations that take into account changing […]