Eurasia

In 1904, Sir Halford J. Mackinder, one of the founders of classical geopolitics, conceptually divided the world into three parts: the pivot area of northeastern and central Eurasia, the surrounding area of an inner crescent of remaining Eurasian and North African territories, and an outer crescent of all the remaining …

Since 1991, most of the Islamist violence in the North Caucasus has occurred in the three republics in the eastern part of that region, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya, while the surviving bi-national republics in the middle and the national republics in the west have remained relatively quiet. But since last …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks a role for Turkey in Gaza’s post-war reconstruction if not governance, and the Biden administration appears ready to accede to this request. Others also see Turkish involvement after the conflict as a fait accompli. “It’s tough to imagine any long-term solution to the Gaza …

Ruling mullahs duly rolled into New York City to attend the U.N. General Assembly, led by Iran’s new “moderate” president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Two years have passed since the murder of Jina (“Mahsa”) Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman, at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s morality police. Amini was …

Following Ukraine’s signature of the Rome Statute, paving the way towards full ICC membership, it is more important than ever to ensure that open source intelligence can successfully enable accountability for Russian war crimes. Kyiv’s signature of the statute on 21 August came several weeks after Russia’s 8 July attack …

Israel’s pager and walkie-talkie attacks on Hezbollah, which have been followed by an ongoing air campaign, signal a new phase in the conflict amid heightened regional tensions. The sophisticated remote pager and walkie-talkie attacks on Hezbollah on 17–18 September were followed by an intensive Israeli air campaign against the militant …

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has miscalculated, and in the process dragged Lebanon into a bloodbath that the already impoverished, isolated, and desperate Lebanese can ill afford. The world is trying to help him save face, although first he must agree to many concessions before Israel lets him off the hook. …

All of humanity is less secure after a year of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and as Israel now unleashes its wrath on Lebanon. “The region is on the brink of a catastrophe,” the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general warned last Friday after Israel …

The Houthi movement (Ansarallah) in Yemen is diversifying its relationships beyond Iran and other Axis of Resistance partners, increasing its operational autonomy. Russia is expanding strategic ties to the Houthis as leverage against U.S.-led military support for Ukraine, while trying to avoid rupturing its established regional relationships. The Houthis have …

Military and local sources in Daraa and Quneitra confirmed to Syria TV that the military situation in southern Syria and along the borders of the occupied Golan remains unchanged. Local sources in southern Syria have denied claims made by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which cited Israeli security officials stating that …