The Forgotten Benefits of Offshore Balancing

by Paul R. Pillar Discussions of grand strategy often are too abstract and general to be of significant practical use in formulating sound decisions about specific foreign policy problems, but sometimes a concept drawn from such discussion points to an… Continue Reading →

Restraint in the Persian Gulf

by Paul Pillar Hardliners who—for their separate reasons in each of the countries where such hardliners live—are still determined to sabotage the agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear program must have been salivating when they first heard yesterday that Iran had… Continue Reading →

Kuwait and the Islamic State

by Alex Stout and Giorgio Cafiero Throughout the twenty-first century, the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation of Kuwait has enjoyed relative stability and security. This tranquility is largely attributable to the harmonious coexistence of Kuwait’s Sunnis and Shi’ites and the ruling… Continue Reading →

The United States Needs to Rein in Its Regional Allies

Saudi Arabia

by Shireen T. Hunter The interests of the great powers and their regional allies have seldom totally coincided, and often their interests have diverged in important ways. This was even true during the Cold War era, despite the fact that… Continue Reading →

Our Base Nation

by David Vine With the U.S. military having withdrawn many of its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans would be forgiven for being unaware that hundreds of U.S. bases and hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops still encircle the… Continue Reading →