December 19, 2021 Middle Orient
An anti-ISIS coalition shot down a terrorist drone near a base in southern Syria this week, military officials said. Two RAF Typhoon FGR4s were patrolling over Syria and Iraq on Tuesday, as part of the global coalition against ISIS, and were ordered to investigate hostile drone activity near the Al …
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December 19, 2021 Iran, Middle Orient
In its annual terrorism report, the US State Department accused Iran of providing a safe haven for senior Al Qaeda members despite the regime’s public condemnation of the group. The report, released on Thursday, claimed senior Al Qaeda leaders are currently residing in Iran and “[facilitating] terrorist operations from there”. …
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December 19, 2021 Africa, Magreb
The Fezzan region of Libya is home both to the country’s largest oil field, making it key to Libya’s oil-based economy, and to some of its direst poverty. Young people have borne the brunt of the region’s chronic development challenges, making them vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups and criminal …
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December 19, 2021 South East Asia
China’s geo-economic influence is empowering the expansion of its security force posture in the Lower Mekong region, which should be of concern to both maritime Southeast Asia and the United States. While Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia—the geographic core of mainland Southeast Asia—are demonstrating resilience and sustaining some strategic autonomy, several …
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December 19, 2021 Eurasia
Multilateral efforts to uphold democracy should be more inclusive of conflict-affected countries going forward. Last week’s Summit for Democracy hosted by President Biden was a call to action. The first-ever international convening of its kind, it offered democratic leaders an opportunity to announce political commitments to reform over the coming …
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December 19, 2021 Eurasia
Security sector assistance often undercuts democratic rule in nations facing violence or autocracy As the United States pursues its initiative to bolster democratic rule and human rights after last week’s Summit for Democracy, a priority should be to diagnose and repair the flaws in U.S. and allied approaches to helping …
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December 19, 2021 Eurasia
The prospect of greater Russian involvement in the war in Ukraine raises questions about the possible role of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and how it could support Russia’s Ground Forces. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has seen something of a renaissance. While in 2000 it was seen to have been …
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December 19, 2021 Eurasia
The G7 talk of severe sanctions against Russia hides an inconvenient truth. To be effective, sanctions must hurt Western economies too. As Russian military assets mass on the border with Ukraine and tensions rise between the Kremlin and Western allies, ‘economic measures’ are emerging as one of the West’s biggest …
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December 19, 2021 Afghanistan, Eurasia, South East Asia
While China has tried to rebalance its relations between India and Pakistan before, recent developments in Afghanistan give it fresh impetus to do so. Any future Cold War between the US and China would be entirely different to the previous version for several reasons, the most obvious of which is …
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December 19, 2021 Middle Orient
This paper assesses the risks to national and transnational security posed by foreign terrorist fighters and their families, and considers how global leadership and multilateral solutions are necessary to address them. The collapse of the Islamic State caliphate in March 2019, while a positive development overall for international security, has …
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