March, 2024

• 3 March

  Putin proving his ambitions don’t stop at Ukraine

  

  The day before Vladimir Putin’s long yearly address to parliament Thursday, politicians from Transnistria, a pro-Kremlin breakaway region of Moldova, asked the Russian president to “protect” it against Moldova’s “increased pressure” — and Moscow responded it considers protecting its “compatriots” a priority. It’s a reminder Putin’s ambitions don’t stop at …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Israel’s ‘day-after’ plan for Gaza is a brutal occupation

  

  Netanyahu is taking Israel’s war on Gaza to a final terrifying stage, promising that total victory is at hand and using 1.5 million Palestinians in Rafah as hostages. If he can’t force them out into Sinai, he wants to take over complete control of the Rafah crossing from Egypt, destroy …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Moscow as mediator? Why Russia is hosting Palestinian unity talks

  

  From 29 February to 2 March, there will be an intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow under the Russian government’s auspices. Officials representing Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, and approximately ten other Palestinian factions received invitations and will participate. “Moscow’s goal is to help the various Palestinian forces agree to unite their ranks …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Washington’s Middle East Strategy Is All Cost, No Benefit

  

  A month after a drone attack killed three American troops at a US military outpost in Jordan’s borderlands with Syria, decisionmakers in DC are still contending with restricted policy options. The strike at the Tower 22 outpost came as instability ripped across the greater Middle East. Within days, the US …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Can Mark Rutte save NATO?

  

  It’s been more than five years since Mark Rutte earned the nickname “the Trump whisperer.” It was July 2018 and Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, had ushered everyone but the leaders, ambassadors and a handful of staff out of the room at the military alliance’s headquarters. Minutes earlier, Donald Trump …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Transnistria Ups the Ante Amid Creeping Pressure From Moldova

  

  An extraordinary parliamentary session in Transnistria was a bid to attract international attention and a signal that the de facto state is ready to escalate. The longer the war in Ukraine continues, the more confident neighboring Moldova’s authorities feel in their long-running conflict with the breakaway state of Transnistria. Moldova …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Putin’s Six-Year Manifesto Sets Sights Beyond Ukraine

  

  Putin’s state of the nation address should have been a mere pre-election formality, but it left an extremely chilling impression of an unraveling spiral of escalation.As Vladimir Putin prepares to run for re-election in less than three weeks’ time for a fifth presidential term, the Russian leader has not troubled …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Russo-Ukrainian War: The Deluge

  

  As the calendar barrels into another year and we tick away the days of February, notable anniversaries are marked off in sequence. It is now 2/22/2022 +2: two years since Putin’s address on the historic status of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, followed on 2/24/2022 by the commencement of the …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Alleged Israeli Airstrike in Syria Kills IRGC Officer and Hezbollah Members

  

  Latest Developments An alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria on March 1 killed an Iranian advisor to Hezbollah and two Hezbollah members. Iranian state-run media blamed the strike on Israel and said that it killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy Col. Reza Zarei. The strike targeted a building used by …

  Read More »
• 3 March

  Palestinians Need New Leaders, Not New Governments

  

  The sole way to “revitalize” the Palestinian Authority is to insist that it rid itself of every leader who has failed his people and who remains in power, disregarding the will and interests of the people. That is hardly likely, at least not in the foreseeable future. No one is …

  Read More »