Publications

Some decades ago already the phrase “CNN effect” was coined, referring to a concern that the emotional power of pictures might generate such popular sentiment as to overwhelm the calm and careful deliberations of governments during crisis decision points...

Yahoo News Senior delegates from twenty-one Arab countries have convened in the Saudi city of Dhahran for the twenty-ninth annual summit of the Arab League. The ongoing standoff between Qatar and most of its Gulf neighbors has been tabled,...

The Washington Post The most important book I read as a student at West Point was a weighty tome titled “Makers of Modern Strategy.” It covered the evolution of strategic thinking from Machiavelli to the nuclear age, explaining the...

Osservatorio Balconi e Caucaso Standing outside a crowd gathered in front of the Haydar Aliyev Culture Center, dressed in casual clothes rather than in his usual suit and tie, President Ilham Aliyev held his fist high as he delivered...

38 North What could be better on a rainy Sunday (at least for those of us on the U.S. east coast) than to delve a little deeper into North Korea’s 2017 budget reporting? I don’t have as much time...

World Politics Review On April 13, two lawmakers from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, resigned amid nationwide blowback over their public support for a group of Hindu men accused of the rape and murder of an 8-year-old...

Defense One The Trump administration is coming in for an avalanche of complaints that it conducted military operations against Syria without having a strategy for Syria.  This is inaccurate. President Obama had grandiose goals that he omitted to attain. He wanted Bashar al-Assad to go....

The Dayan Center On April 7, 2018, the Asad regime used chlorine and perhaps sarin gas to kill dozens and injure hundreds in the rebel controlled Douma area of eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus. Seven days later, on April...

The National Interest  Moscow is calling for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council about the western strikes on Syria. Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that President’s Trump’s move is both an “act of aggression” and...

On October 15, 2016, the day before Montenegro’s hotly contested legislative elections, Podgorica authorities thwarted an alleged coup attempt. Asserting that the conspirators aimed to prevent Montenegro’s imminent NATO accession, they blamed Moscow as the main instigator. Reflecting on...