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War On The Rocks
For Saudi Arabia, Normalization with Israel Doesn’t Make Sense Now
As the Trump administration continues to widen its engagement with Iran, Washington has yet to grasp a stark reality: An Israeli-Saudi peace deal is almost certainly beyond reach in the foreseeable future. The reasons for that deserve…
In Brief: Foreign Policy Surprises in Trump’s First 100 Days
Today marks the 100th day of Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. We asked five foreign policy and national security experts: What has surprised you most about Trump’s first 100 days? Read more below. Kori Schake Senior Fellow…
Modernization as Readiness in the U.S. Marine Corps
Many observers had grown numb to yet another Chinese military exercise encircling Taiwan. But after two weeks, the maneuvers did not end. Instead, China quietly transformed its “exercise” into a suffocating naval blockade, sealing off all…
Haiti Is a Political and Criminal Crisis that Should Not be Ignored
A coalition of criminal gangs is close to capturing Haiti’s beleaguered capital of Port-au-Prince.
Today, Haiti is grappling with extraordinary violence as gangs have tightened their stranglehold over large portions of the country. Over one…
Realizing America’s Drone Revolution
Two years ago, I represented the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab at the Defense Innovation Unit summit in Warsaw. A Ukrainian commander there poked me in the chest and said, “Stop sending us your American drones. They’re shit. They don’t work…
The Middle East’s AI Warfare Laboratory
On a chilly morning in November 1911, Lt. Giulio Gavotti, an Italian pilot, leaned out from the cockpit of his monoplane over the oases and farmlands of modern-day Libya and tossed four small grenades onto an encampment of Ottoman soldiers.…
Friends with Limits: The Future of Russo-Indian Defense Ties
Earlier this year, a Russian Su-57 fighter jet roared across Indian skies, capturing attention at the Aero India exhibition. The Kremlin’s aspirations for the showcase were transparent: Moscow offered to sell its…
Mid-Afternoon Map: Maps of Matrimony
<!-- category --> April 24, 2025 Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas.…
Modernizing Military Decision-Making: Transforming European Command
This June marks 81 years since Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the cross-channel invasion of France — a decision dependent upon hundreds, if not thousands of interrelated factors. Success depended on successful deception, suppressing…
Rewind and Reconnoiter: Getting to Critical Mass in the Iran Nuclear Deal
<!-- category --> April 23, 2025 In 2021, Nicholas Miller wrote, “The Lessons of the Past Point to Rejoining the Iran Deal,” in which he detailed how previous nuclear non-proliferation diplomacy had been derailed and the lessons…
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