Recent Posts

Iran Update Special Report, July 27, 2026

Key Takeaways Recent attacks on regional states by Iran’s proxies and partners enable Iran to maintain plausible deniability while continuing to advance its objective of coercing the United States to end the war in terms favorable to Iran, which include accepting Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia …

Read More »

Russia Is Not Leaving Syria

While it no longer enjoys primacy in Damascus, the Kremlin has proven itself able to adapt to the new reality, and Washington must play the long game in response. Today, Syria is a fundamentally different country from the one where Moscow intervened in September 2015 to preserve the rule of …

Read More »

Can Western Political Civilization Survive Its Caudine Forks Moment?

For over a century, the Western civil service model was hailed as the gold standard of modern governance. Today, especially in the US, we are witnessing loyalty replace merit and brazen corruption go unchecked. Drawing on China’s 2,000 years of bureaucratic history, Professor Fan Yongpeng argues that the system was …

Read More »