As the Trump presidency nears, it has suddenly become fashionable to downplay the achievements of Barack Obama, not least because the President-elect seems so keen on ripping up much of what he did. One view in particular has become popular: that Obama pursued a weak foreign policy, which is to blame for many of the […]
DONALD TRUMP IS the next commander in chief. Envisioning a Trump foreign and defense policy challenges the imagination and leaves allies abroad and observers at home scrambling to sketch a vision of the future. As a candidate, Trump didn’t outline his policies in detail, and his previous thoughts on a given issue aren’t terribly reliable indicators of current or future […]
The tumultuous events that have swept the Mideast like a whirling sandstorm have hardly abated; crises and conflict are now entrenched. Thus, looking back at the results of President Barack Obama’s two-term legacy, it’s clear we are facing a Mideast meltdown with dangerous and far-reaching consequences for the region and the world at large. Read […]
Like most everything today, the campaign was launched with a hashtag. But instead of promoting a new album or a movie release, #AllEyesOnISIS announced the 2014 invasion of northern Iraq—a bloody takeover that still haunts global politics two years later. Read Here – Defense One
Nearly twelve months after Iran’s diplomatic victory with the JCPOA, Tehran is still embroiled in four different major regional conflicts, and a fifth may soon break out. Read Here – The National Interest
Unsurprisingly, terrorism remains the preferred tactic of relatively weaker non-state actors who believe they can achieve their political objectives through violence. There has been a slight change in the perpetrators responsible for the most attacks. The Taliban replaced the self-proclaimed Islamic State as the number-one global perpetrator for terrorism attacks, with 1,093, which represents an alarming […]
As all sides weigh in on why President Putin decided to “withdraw” from Syria, Russian military action presents lessons for the United States on how to conduct future wars. The primary lesson seen in Syria was remarkably simple: clear and concise goals trump grandiose visions of regime change or nation building when intervening in conflicts. […]
President Vladimir Putin said Russia has passed the worst of its economic crisis after it was hit by the slump in oil prices that forced the government to lower forecasts and revise its strategy. He was speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow. Read Here – Bloomberg
An Islamic philosopher in Karachi, an ideologue who provides violent ideas to some of Pakistan’s fiercest extremist groups, once told me that there are two kinds of history: dead and living. “Dead history is something on a shelf or in a museum,” he said. “Living history is part of your consciousness, something in your blood […]
looking beyond borders 