By

The Editors

Russia’s Other War: The Forgotten Sorrows of Syria

Once at the forefront of global attention, the Syrian civil war now rarely registers comment. What more is there to observe, beyond dashed dreams, widespread desolation, and the ruthless will of despots? Yet Syria today is an expanding crisis, pitting the United States and its partners against Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime, with consequences...

Zero Way Out of Xi’s “Zero-Covid” Policy?

On Monday, China’s Health Minister Ma Xiaowei announced “the strictest, most thorough, most resolute and decisive” measures in combating a Covid surge, thereby doubling down on China’s “Zero-Covid” policy. The policy restricts foreign and domestic travel, shutters nonessential businesses, reduces public services, and metes out massive quarantines when cases are detected. China’s “Zero-Covid” policy has operated for...

Afghanistan After the Fall

Monday saw opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif become the prime minister of Pakistan. This followed a tumultuous week in which ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan attempted to remain in power by unconstitutionally dissolving parliament. To the north, Pakistan’s neighbor Afghanistan continues its painful adjustment to Taliban rule, with the extremist group inflaming popular opposition and humanitarian...

Introducing Security and Strategy

Former Secretary of Defense and retired four-star General James Mattis is fond of saying that in his line of work, “the enemy gets a vote.” Vladimir Putin’s recent war of aggression against Ukraine proves this point. Even at a time of divisive politics and a public health crisis unseen in a century, the United States...

Winning the Competition with China: The Demographic Competition

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency of the U.S. government. Assumptions made within the analysis are not a reflection of the position of any U.S. government entity. Though the United States and China both face downward-trending...

The Future of Maximum Pressure: Lessons Learned and a Path Forward

Maximum pressure on Iran may be over, but it is still the dominant framework guiding discussions on U.S. policy towards the regime. Despite some internal disagreements over particular elements, this strategy guided U.S. policy from May 2018 through the end of the Trump administration in January 2021. Although the Biden administration has taken a sharply...

Competing in the Cyber Domain

“We have been handicapped however by a popular attachment to the concept of a basic difference between peace and war, by a tendency to view war as a sort of sporting contest outside of all political context.” – George Kennan, 1948 American cybersecurity policy remains disjointed in implementation between the private, government, and national security...

The Veneer of Stability and Predictability in 2021 U.S. – Russian Relations

“Who is happy about this?” Vladimir Putin asked the 2007 Munich Security Conference audience of world leaders. In this now-infamous tirade, Putin referenced “one state” which had superimposed its economic, political, cultural, and educational policies upon the world.[1] That one state was, of course, the United States. Fifteen years and three American presidential administrations later,...

IRGC History and Role in Iranian Statecraft

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) (Sepaheh Pasdaraneh Enghelabeh Eslami) was originally constituted to protect the values and goals of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran.[1] In 1979, it was a body answerable only to the new religious leadership of the fledgling Islamic Republic. The IRGC now defines its mission beyond the state of Iran...

Traditional Victory Over Russia is Unlikely. Instead, Expect to Manage Competition for the Long Haul

After many years of U.S. hegemony following the Cold War, Russia has gained—and is exercising—the capabilities to threaten the United States and its interests abroad. Russia invests in military capabilities to confront the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other neighboring states. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea demonstrated its use of hybrid warfare to accomplish...
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