Eurasia

Rethinking Geopolitics: Geography as an Aid to Statecraft

Geopolitics has become marginalized in modern international relations scholarship despite its foundational role. This essay seeks to bring geopolitics back to the mainstream of international relations through conceptual, historical, and theoretical analyses. I make three arguments. First, definitional confusion about geopolitics comes from an overly broad understanding of geography. Notwithstanding …

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Russia’s Growing Ties With Afghanistan Are More Symbolism Than Substance

As Russia’s relationship with the West has deteriorated, the Kremlin’s view of the Taliban has changed. But substantive economic cooperation will be hard to achieve. Russia is one of just a handful of states in the world actively seeking to strengthen its relationship with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. While …

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Russia’s reluctance to secure an indecisive Armenia will weaken both

The volatile South Caucasus region has once again seized the world’s attention as a fresh wave of conflict erupted this week between Azerbaijan and the Armenian ‘separatists’ of Nagorno-Karabakh. Against the backdrop of a protracted nine-month Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin Corridor — a lifeline that binds Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia—the …

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An Israeli role in Syria’s Suwayda protests

Foreign intelligence agencies, including Israeli and US intel and their regional partners, have been instrumental in fueling recent anti-government protests in Suwayda, just as they did in 2011. On 17 August, anti-government protests erupted in Suwayda, a province in southern Syria with a Druze-majority population. These demonstrations were triggered by …

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The west destroyed Africa, Eurasia will revive it

Africa’s renaissance is already underway through partnerships with Eurasian powers Russia and China, whose significant contributions are already visible in security, economic, and institutional sectors throughout the continent. In Africa, injustice looms large, marked by poverty, warfare, and famine. Despite post-WWII political gains, economic independence, a vital component of true …

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From Counterinsurgency to Conventional Warfare: The Changing Role of U.S. Special Operations Forces

A monumental potential shift is on the horizon for the U.S. Army. At the heart of this sea of change lies a proposition to reduce special operations forces (SOF) programs by an estimated 10% in the forthcoming years. This decrease is part of a larger migration from unconventional warfare to …

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Behind Closed Doors: What Was the CIA’s Operation CHAOS?

The CIA’s Operation CHAOS was a covert program that ran during one of the most tumultuous periods in the United States. And while its name might suggest disorder and confusion, its objectives and methods were calculated and deliberate. The Central Intelligence Agency has been the epicenter of the United States’ …

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Poland threatens to stop sending arms to Ukraine in fight over grain

Poland, one of Ukraine’s staunchest backers in the fight against Russia’s invasion, said it was halting new weapons shipments to Kyiv, as tensions over grain exports continued to escalate between Ukraine and its Central European neighbors. “We are no longer transferring any weapons, because we will now arm ourselves with …

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Turkey: An Air Force Without Wings

The ambition of Turkish Aircraft Industries today is to build the first indigenous Turkish fighter jet, which could also be the world’s first Muslim fighter aircraft, and it has invited friendly nations Azerbaijan and Pakistan join the effort. Meanwhile Turkey is trying hard to support its assertive regional policy with …

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