Publications

The third Gulf War began with an assassination on February 28, 2026, in broad daylight in central Iran. The war has engulfed the region in conflict, extending from neighboring Gulf Arab countries to the waters just off Sri Lanka....

This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense.  The idea that an Iranian Shahed drone could strike the US Navy’s nerve center in Bahrain during daylight hours,...

In an interview on Feb. 1, 2026 on the popular Czech television political commentary series “Questions with Vaclav Moravec,” Petr Macinka, the Czech foreign minister and head of the government’s junior coalition party Motorists for Themselves (Motoristé sobě), declared...

Aaron Stein, President After declaring Iran’s nuclear program obliterated after Operation Midnight Hammer, the US has returned to finish the job. The backdrop for this renewed air campaign is complicated, but worth fleshing out to understand the implications for...

Each month, Dr. Indra Ekmanis writes a monthly roundup highlighting major political, cultural, and economic events in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Her commentary on the Baltic response to Russia’s war in Ukraine is featured below, originally featured in the...

The following conversation was recorded on February 5, 2026 and has been edited for clarity. You can listen to the conversation here.  Aaron Stein: Hello and welcome. Today I’m joined by Roland Theis. He is a member of the...

The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS), publicly issued in early December 2025, focused primarily on the survival of the United States as a “sovereign republic, rejecting international obligations and alliances, other than restoration of American hegemony in the...

In the Shadow of War and the Threat of International Law Starting in 2026, Latvia will serve as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for a two-year term. This will be a first in the country’s...

Shihoko Goto—With Takaichi’s Massive Win, Japan’s Potential Path Forward Opens Up  The decisive electoral victory of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s ruling party on February 8 was a clear win for a new wave of conservatism in Japan. The Liberal...

This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own.  A minor power outage in San Francisco offered a...