More: Opinion
From Deterrence to Attrition: The Message Iran’s Resistance Sent to the China-U.S. Rivalry
Assessments of Trump’s recent trip to China indicate that the Iran-U.S. confrontation has moved beyond a regional crisis and has become a decisive variable...
IS BRICS Becoming an Anti-Western Bloc?
For much of the post-Cold War era, the global order revolved around Western-led institutions. The G7 shaped financial governance, the IMF and World Bank...
Trump’s Taiwan Threats: US Arms Freeze, China Tensions, and Taiwan’s Military Future
President Trump's threat to Taiwan, using the threat of arms sales and halting military deals between Taiwan and the United States, came in the...
UNPROFOR and the Declining Relevance of the UN
The April rejection of the United Nations draft proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, despite being backed by 112 member states, paints a...
Why China Gave Trump a Cooler Reception Than in 2017
The Chinese diplomatic reception of President Trump differed from previous visits by American presidents. The Chinese perception of Trump had shifted compared to his...
US Gulf Defense Deals Aim to Curb China’s Middle East Expansion
The appointment of Iranian Parliament Speaker Qalibaf as special envoy for Chinese affairs is directly linked to the failure of US President Donald Trump's...
China, Iran, UAE: Barakah Reactor Threat Analysis
Chinese intelligence and military agencies consider Iran's targeting of the UAE's Barakah nuclear reactor after the Beijing summit to be a multi-faceted Iranian deterrent...
Strategic Ambiguity Is Becoming the Gulf’s New Deterrence Doctrine
In the Gulf, the most important signals are increasingly the ones no actor fully confirms.
For decades, Gulf security rested on a relatively clear deterrence...
The Interwar Trap Returns: What 1919-1939 Europe Teaches the U.S., Japan, and South Korea Today
In contemporary debates on the Indo-Pacific, decision-makers sometimes invoke the lessons of the 1930s—mostly as a warning against “appeasement.” However, such a frame is...
US Delegation Dumped Chinese Gifts Before Trump Flight Reflects the Deep US-China Distrust
The US delegation's disposal of Chinese gifts by throwing them in the trash represents a strict security and protocol measure reflecting the deep distrust...