Podcasts May 7, 2026 The Strategy for Affordable Missiles: A Conversation with Ursa Major Aaron Stein, President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), talks with James Swartout, VP of Strategy at Ursa Major Technologies, about his career in national security and how his company is revolutionizing aerospace and defense. The Strategy for... Read more	Reports May 7, 2026 A Growing Rift: The Decline of Russian-Central Asian Ties By: Bruce Pannier Executive Summary A small group of Russian nationalists has been calling to “reclaim” Russia’s colonial territories since the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991. After the Kremlin finally acted on these aspirations by invading parts of Ukraine, the number... Read more	Analysis April 17, 2026 Hungarian Elections: Ramifications for Central Europe By: Robert Beck As the dust settles and the euphoria ebbs on the historic mid-April 2026 elections in Hungary, the consequences of Tisza’s resounding victory over Victor Orban’s Fidesz party will start to manifest to the north of Budapest, specifically in Poland,... Read more
Expert Commentary April 14, 2026 FPRI Experts React \| The US Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz By: Emma Salisbury, Michael B. Petersen, Frank G. Hoffman On Monday, April 13th, the United States announced that the US Navy would block Iranian ships entering or exiting the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement came after the first-round of negotiations to formally end the conflict concluded in Islamabad,... Read more	Analysis April 13, 2026 Japan and the Quest for Its New Normal By: Gilbert Rozman Japan’s hands have been tied militarily since it embraced a pacifist constitution in 1947, and the national debate to reassess its defense capabilities is intensifying amid the sweeping shifts in the global security landscape. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took... Read more	Analysis April 9, 2026 How War with Iran Undermines Deterrence in the Indo-Pacific By: Taehwa Hong Some argue that the goals of the attacks on Iran are ambitious: to eliminate the Iranian threat, delegate Middle Eastern security to regional partners, and redirect strategic bandwidth to the Indo-Pacific. At the same time, the demonstration of sheer... Read more
Conversations April 8, 2026 In Conversation with Adm. Rob Bauer and Eleonora Russell \| If You Want Peace, Prepare for War By: Natalia Kopytnik, Adm. Rob Bauer, Eleonora Russell The following conversation was recorded on March 19, 2026 and has been edited for clarity. You can listen to the conversation here. Natalia Kopytnik: Welcome back to The Ties That Bind, a project of the Foreign Policy Research Institute... Read more	Analysis April 7, 2026 The UAV-Enabled Anti-Air Defense Campaign in the Third Gulf War By: Aaron Stein, Sam Lair This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense. In late 2020, drones burst onto the national security scene in a new way. During the Nagorno-Karabakh war between... Read more	Analysis April 3, 2026 Pathways for the War with Iran By: Philip Wasielewski After a month of combat operations, the United States and Israel have made it clear that they will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power. Based on Iran’s history of domestic repression and foreign terrorism, this is a... Read more