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DEMOCRACY DIGEST: ATTEMPT TO CANCEL NATCON HANDS ORBAN A PR GIFT

Elsewhere, Mr Fiala goes to Washington, Mr Duda goes to New York; Poland looks toward Sky Shield; and new prosecutors needed in Slovakia. Anational-conservative conference in Brussels, featuring populist and right-wing politicians such as Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and French firebrand Eric Zemmour, would not …

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China’s Alternative Order

And What America Should Learn From It By now, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambition to remake the world is undeniable. He wants to dissolve Washington’s network of alliances and purge what he dismisses as “Western” values from international bodies. He wants to knock the U.S. dollar off its pedestal and …

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The Coming Arab Backlash

Middle Eastern Regimes—and America—Ignore Public Anger at Their Peril Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the Middle East has been rocked by mass protests. Egyptians have demonstrated in solidarity with Palestinians at great personal risk, and Iraqis, Moroccans, Tunisians, and Yemenis have taken to the streets in vast numbers. …

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The Delusion of Peak China

Ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping secured his third term in power in the fall of 2022, he has had a rough time. Shortly after his reappointment, street protests pushed him to abruptly abandon his signature “zero COVID” policy. After a quick reopening bump in early 2023, the economy has …

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Great power competition is back. What does that mean for US special operations forces?

After 9/11, US special operations forces (USSOF) became well known for direct-action missions that captivated the public’s imagination and demonstrated unparalleled tactical success. The highly publicized raids, precision strikes, and elimination of terrorist threats solidified USSOF’s reputation as the tip of the spear in the US military’s arsenal. In recent …

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The war in Ukraine could reach a decision point by the NATO Summit. Policymakers need to prepare now.

Russia has launched its third major mobilization wave in anticipation of its upcoming spring/summer campaign to take more land in Ukraine. On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to begin the next conscription drive, setting the target at 150,000 new inductees slated for military service. This came …

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Hamas leader in Gaza met fighters, inspected battle sites

The leader of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Yehya al-Sinwar, has recently inspected areas that saw clashes between Hamas and Israeli forces, a senior official in the movement told the Qatar-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper. Al-Sinwar has been leading the movement in the field and reports about …

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Senior Iranian Regime Officials Warn Of Iran’s Coming Nuclear Breakout

Introduction Since Iran’s April 14, 2024 drone and missile attack on Israel, named “True Promise,” by the Iranian regime, and against the backdrop of statements by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi that Iran is “weeks rather than months” away from having enough enriched uranium to develop …

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From Gaza to Jerusalem, it’s the same war

In an interview with business newspaper The Marker about Israel’s economy in 2012, Benjamin Netanyahu boasted, in what has since become a kind of idiomatic phrase, that “if you leave out the Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox, [Israel’s] in great shape.” Today, the prime minister seems to be refining that tagline …

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Defending Israel, but not Kurdistan?

When U.S. Patriots shot down an Iranian missile over Erbil on April 15, Kurds wondered why such defenses weren’t activated when they were attacked. Late in the night of April 13, Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, was shaken by the sound of a Patriot missile battery shooting down …

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