Israel’s stunning and sophisticated June 13 attack on Iran set off a worrying 12-day escalatory spiral. Iran responded in short order with ballistic missile and drone strikes, which led to a series of tit-for-tat exchanges between the two sides. On June… Read more
Despite Chinese leader Xi Jinping's plans to supplant the U.S.-led international order, Beijing has been a bit player in the major conflicts consuming the globe in recent years. China's peace plan for Ukraine and Middle East diplomacy in the wake of… Read more
The 2024 revelations over China’s effort to implant malware in critical U.S. infrastructure by the Volt Typhoon hacking group — as well as the Salt Typhoon group’s successful breaching of at least nine major U.S. telecoms — have renewed concern over… Read more
In the new era of great power rivalry between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”), the paradigm of strategic competition has become popular. In looking to make sense of the present global geopolitical moment and… Read more
At the end of 2024, the annual U.S. Department of Defense report on military and security developments in China reinforced evolving assessments of China’s rapid nuclear expansion with an alarming projection: The U.S. expects China to have 1,000 nuclear… Read more
There is no more potentially devastating threat to global peace than nuclear conflict. As President Trump argues, the consequences of a nuclear war would be catastrophic. In the whirl of day-to-day affairs, the prospect of nuclear war can seem remote… Read more
From an Israeli strategic calculus, the unexpected and precipitous fall of Assad at the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a simultaneous cause for cautious optimism and concern. Assad’s fall removes the final keystone of Iran’s arc of proxy and… Read more
Now the same pragmatism that drove normalization efforts with Assad is informing the Saudi and Emirati response to his ouster. While Saudi Arabia and particularly the UAE are skeptical of the rebels’ intentions and concerned about the chaos regime change… Read more
The fall of President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month and what comes next in Syria will likely have significant security, political and other implications for Iraq. The situation is dynamic and could evolve in favor of Iraq’s stability or pose new… Read more
The fall of Assad’s Baathist regime was met with widespread jubilation among Lebanon's various communities, especially its Sunni, Christian and Druze, but trepidation among many Shias, whose political leadership relied on Baathist cover and support… Read more
Until late October, the big questions about China’s role in the Ukraine conflict centered around whether Beijing would choose to expand its support for Russia to include lethal aid, or if it might engage in more active peacemaking to end the conflict… Read more
Russia’s war against Ukraine has spurred closer cooperation between Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific states and organizations, particularly Australia and NATO, signaling a deepening of ties that could have long-term benefits for global security. Over the… Read more