Black Sea

I’m sitting in Ukraine as I write this. In a case of perhaps the most awkward timing imaginable, I arrived here on the day the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office meeting went off the rails. I was having dinner with Ukrainian...

President’s Letter The Foreign Policy Research Institute had an exceptional year. We published cutting-edge research on Russia’s war in Ukraine and examined the Russo-Chinese relationship, with a special focus on Central Asia and the challenges posed by the rise...

Discussions of possible ceasefire negotiations in the war between Russia and Ukraine focus on the concessions that Ukraine could make to stop the hot phase of the war. At the same time, a realistic assessment of the prospects for...

The title of this essay would have been a little bit different if I had spent five more days in Odesa as planned. “50 days in Ukraine, 1,005 days in war.” That would be a neat summary of my...

This article was originally written as a USAWC Fellow Strategy Paper for the United States Army War College under the direction of Dr. (COL Ret.) Robert Hamilton. On August 23rd, 1989, an estimated two million citizens from the countries...

  Executive Summary Virtually all of the commentary on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has focused on those two states to the exclusion of the vital importance of this war for the neighboring regions of Belarus and the Balkans. This...

What Happened in Romania? The Romanian presidential election of 2024 faced significant controversy, culminating in its annulment due to confirmed foreign interference. The first round, held on November 24, 2024, saw independent candidate Călin Georgescu leading with 23 percent...

Contemporary conflicts are increasingly orchestrated across multiple nations and domains, manifesting in many ways, from conventional ground engagements to strategic influence operations. The informal coalition of China, Iran, Russia, and most recently North Korea (CIRN) represents a counter-influence regional...

Current analysis of the recent offensive conducted by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia is incomplete at best and misguided at worst. Most of the pundits are focused on speculating whether the recent offensive will anger American...