Fragility of Middle East Alliances Becomes Ever More Apparent

by James M. Dorsey Three recent developments lay bare the fragility of Middle Eastern alliances and a rebalancing of their priorities: the Russian-Turkish compromise on an assault on the rebel-held Syrian region of Idlib, the fate of troubled Abu Dhabi airline Ettihad,… Continue Reading

Trump’s Scorched Earth Tour of Europe

by Mitchell Plitnick Like many other US citizens, I get very nervous every time Donald Trump goes to meet with foreign leaders. Whether they are friend, foe, competitor, or ally, it seems almost inevitable that Trump will find a creative… Continue Reading

Trump’s Unileaderism

by John Feffer In the wake of the disastrous G7 meeting in Canada and the successful summit in Singapore, it’s hard to know what to call U.S. foreign policy these days. It’s not just unilateralism, where Washington acts alone and… Continue Reading

Trump’s Iran Policy Embodies Imperial Overstretch

by Sina Toossi In his seminal 1988 book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, renowned historian Paul Kennedy posits that dominant powers throughout history have succumbed to the same perennial affliction: imperial overstretch. Whether the British Empire or… Continue Reading

Iran Deal: Will Europe Rise to the Occasion?

by Eldar Mamedov  This week will see a flurry of activity in the European Union designed to save the nuclear deal with Iran, otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). After President Donald Trump announced the U.S.… Continue Reading