Recent Posts

Iraq’s parliament votes to approve new PM, government

The Iraqi parliament gave a vote of confidence to incoming PM Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, approving his government program and his cabinet with 21 ministers. Sudani pledged to hold early elections within one year. Iraq’s parliament gave a vote of confidence Thursday evening to incoming Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani and …

Read More »

Turkey, Israel agree to strengthen defense ties

Israeli defense chief stressed stability in the Eastern Mediterranean during his landmark visit to Ankara amid lingering tensions between Turkey and Greece. Turkey and Israel agreed to enhance “formal defense ties” during Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s Turkey visit, which he described as “historic.” Gantz met with Turkish President Recep …

Read More »

Eight things you need to know about the new US National Defense Strategy

On Thursday, the Pentagon released its long-awaited 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS), along with the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) and Missile Defense Review (MDR). Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in the strategy’s introduction that it will shape the department’s priorities during the coming “decisive decade—from helping to protect the American …

Read More »

Putin’s next escalation is coming. How should the West respond?

Escalation is a cornerstone of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy in his war against Ukraine, especially as Ukrainian counter-offensives have steadily rolled back Russian gains. As his setbacks mount, it’s important to address some key questions: How can Ukraine and its partners prevent further escalation to the nuclear level while …

Read More »

Don’t Rule Out Diplomacy in Ukraine

Biden’s Current Strategy Risks Escalation and Forever War U.S. President Joe Biden has said that the United States is committed to a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine. But his administration has taken few, if any, steps to create a diplomatic process that could produce such an outcome. Buoyed …

Read More »

After Neoliberalism

All Economics Is Local For most of the last 40 years, U.S. policymakers acted as if the world were flat. Steeped in the dominant strain of neoliberal economic thinking, they assumed that capital, goods, and people would go wherever they would be the most productive for everyone. If companies created …

Read More »

Turkey: A NATO Ally?

What do members, future members, dialogue partners and future dialogue partners of this exotic blend of nations [the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO] have in common? With their growing democratic deficits and authoritarian-to-dictatorship regimes, they are at cold war with the world’s democratic bloc of nations. “I told Putin… Let us …

Read More »

Putin’s Risk Spiral

The Logic of Escalation in an Unraveling War In the spring of 2018, four years before his second invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an unusual speech about the growing strength of the Russian military. “To those who in the past 15 years have tried to accelerate an …

Read More »