Where is Hungary’s New Government Headed in the Post-Orban Era?
The new Hungarian Tisza government promises to adhere to the strict immigration policies of recent years. But what does the European Union have to say, since it imposed a heavy fine on Hungary for precisely those policies? And what can foreign workers expect, given that – according to preliminary statements – the new administration would […]
Knowledge and Power
Knowledge is a power tool. It is arguably the most potent one in the human toolbox. As a global knowledge-leader, America’s knowledge ecosystem has allowed the United States to dominate world affairs for the past 80 years, but today our knowledge ecosystem is at risk, threatened by foreign adversaries as well as by domestic challengers. […]
Jill Biden’s Evasive New Memoir
Former First Lady Jill Biden’s new memoir is called View From the East Wing. Not “a” or “the” view (which, in any case, no longer exists, at least for now, as President Trump has demolished the East Wing as part of his mission to construct an opulent ballroom). Instead, the blandly noncommittal wording makes it […]
Abraham, Cyrus, and the New Middle East
For years, the dominant geopolitical language surrounding the Middle East revolved around multipolarity. China rising. Russia returning. America declining. The end of the unipolar world. BRICS, resistance blocs, parallel systems, Eurasian realignment. But reality inside the region is moving in another direction entirely. The Middle East is not entering a multipolar age. It is entering […]
Time to Recalibrate False Assumptions and Political Fantasies: The Cases of Iran and Venezuela
In May, The New York Times reported that Iran’s former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had allegedly been recruited by the United States and Israel to assume power if the Iranian regime was toppled. Ahmadinejad has long had a troubled relationship with the Iranian establishment. He publicly accused senior regime figures of corruption, was later barred from […]
The Abraham Accords Should Be More Than A Bargaining Chip
Suddenly, it seems, the Abraham Accords are back on the agenda. Three years ago, hopes for a further expansion of the Middle Eastern political normalization wave unleashed by the Trump administration during its first term in office were still running high. Back then, numerous states – most conspicuously Saudi Arabia – seemed to be mere […]
Are we witnessing a JCPOA redux?
The greatest danger of the emerging deal is that it may throw the regime a political and economic lifeline at the very moment when it is most vulnerable The justification for the 40-days of war with Iran, in a large part, turns on the question of whether or not it will achieve a better result […]
How America Can Help Rescue Ukrainian Children
The abduction of Ukrainian children has become one of the most horrific aspects of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Both Congress and the administration have unequivocally condemned this crime and are working to bring the 20,000 stolen children home. Yet the U.S. Treasury Department’s most recent easing of sanctions on Russian oil may undermine the good […]
Iran’s Onion Structure of Power
Why the Islamic Republic Survives Crisis, Resists Reform, and Defies Conventional State Analysis. For decades, analysts have repeatedly misunderstood the Islamic Republic of Iran because they have tried to interpret it through models designed for conventional states. Some view Iran as a rigid centralized dictatorship in which all power flows vertically from a single supreme authority. […]
China vs Taiwan: The Geography of an Unfinished War
Why the Taiwan Strait is not only a political dispute, but a structural fault line in the Indo-Pacific balance of power The conflict between China and Taiwan is often presented through the language of crisis: military exercises, elections, speeches, sanctions, visits, and diplomatic warnings. But the real importance of Taiwan does not come from any […]
Behind the Beijing Summit: Taiwan, Iran, and a New Great-Power Deal
The meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping can signal a broader geopolitical shift linking Taiwan and Iran within a shared framework of strategic bargaining. Rather than a formal deal, both powers could test indirect forms of restraint, leverage, and de-escalation across interconnected regional theaters. President Donald Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping […]
Refighting Spain’s Conquest of Mexico
During her recent visit to Mexico, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the fiercely conservative head of Madrid’s regional government, paid public homage to Hernán Cortés, the conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and brought Mexico under Spanish rule by 1521. This provoked a harsh response from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who emphasized the accepted view of Cortés […]
