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June 24, 2026 As Kurdistan Region seeks drone defenses, Rubio warns Iraq about Iran proxies Iraq is working to shore up the economic stability and security of the Kurdistan Region in the wake of months of drone and missile attacks. More than 800 attacks, many assumed to have originated... June 24, 2026 Letter to Melania: Beyond the oil and nukes, you can fight for Iranian women Dear Mrs. Trump, Or may I call you Melania? If that is too familiar, no problem, I understand. But you can certainly call me Cliff! I am a longtime admirer. I have heard you speak out for human rights,... June 23, 2026 Congress should bring campus transparency into the defense bill Excerpt The National Defense Authorization Act has become one of Congress’s main vehicles for countering China’s military and technological ambitions. This year’s annual defense bill should also... June 23, 2026 How Iran Plans to Consolidate Its Victory Wars are judged by how they end, not by successes along the way. President Trump has done more to cripple Iran’s nuclear apparatus than his predecessors, but that may not matter. The memorandum... June 23, 2026 Israel’s Offer to Lebanon: Land for Hezbollah’s Disarmament Months ago, I argued that Israel had reformulated the traditional Arab peace proposal. The old formula of “land for peace” held that Israel would cede territory in exchange for Arab recognition... June 23, 2026 Don’t Let Turkey Hijack the NATO Summit For the first time since 2004, Turkey will host the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7–8, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will likely use the event to present Turkey as... June 22, 2026 China’s Malacca panic jails US scholar to appease Myanmar The Strait of Hormuz isn’t China’s only chokepoint. The Strait of Malacca may be more strategically vital — and on June 12, Beijing arrested an American scholar to protect its... June 19, 2026 You Can’t Deter China by Ignoring Europe There is a mistaken belief by some in Washington that deterring Chinese aggression requires the United States to cut back its military commitments in Europe, where American forces help NATO to deter Moscow.... June 19, 2026 Gaza peace plan sees slow progress after Hamas meets in Cairo The US-backed peace plan for Gaza has continued to progress slowly, though ceasefire talks held in Cairo in the first week and a half of June appeared to stall over the issue of Hamas’s disarmament,... June 19, 2026 Khamenei warily accepts US deal as Tehran eyes rebuilding Hezbollah On June 18, the Islamic Republic’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father, issued a statement on the recent memorandum of understanding between Washington... June 19, 2026 In China, Christianity Is Treated as a Cult Excerpt The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has decided some fundamental tenets of Christianity mark the world’s largest faith as a cult, and one that needs vigorous suppression. That includes sentencing a... June 18, 2026 Pirate attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden are on the rise The Gulf of Aden and other waters around the Horn of Africa are seeing an increase in maritime attacks. Since late April, Somali pirates have been attacking and seizing vessels at a rate not... June 18, 2026 Hezbollah: Lebanon Has Just Shattered a European Fiction For thirteen years, Europe explained that it maintained a distinction between Hezbollah’s political and military wings in order to protect Lebanon. This week, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef... June 18, 2026 Syria Need Not Enter Lebanon to Help Curb Hezbollah In recent days, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that Syria could take on Hezbollah in Lebanon, even suggesting that Damascus would be more effective than Israel in confronting... June 18, 2026 Rowing in the Same Direction The U.S. Navy released its latest “Shipbuilding Plan” in May. It comes at a dire moment – in a long running series of them – for the American maritime industrial base. The U.S. needs... June 18, 2026 Ukraine unveils reforms to address manpower shortage Ukraine last week unveiled a set of sweeping reforms for military personnel, promising higher-paying, fixed-term contracts in place of indefinite service. Kyiv hopes these measures will help redress its... June 17, 2026 Iran deal tosses a tremendous cash lifeline to terrorist regime The Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran hands the terrorist regime the one victory it could never have achieved on the battlefield. Financial reprieve. What is so disconcerting... June 17, 2026 Why Squander The Greatest Leverage Ever Built Against Iran? President Trump’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran avoids the obvious question: why trade away unprecedented leverage after unprecedented military success? Over the past three years, the... June 17, 2026 Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi meets US envoy amid militia pressure US Envoy to Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi on June 15 to discuss strengthening ties between Baghdad and Washington. The meeting comes as the US continues... June 17, 2026 In Iran, Christians Are Prosecuted as ‘Zionist Traitors’ It takes little to be branded a traitor in the eyes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. But since the start of Operation Epic Fury, Iran’s Christian communities have been accused of something worse: being... June 17, 2026 US must halt the terror-driven gold rush that’s looting Venezuela A human-rights horror is unfolding right under America’s nose, with kids under age 10 laboring in mines, girls as young as 12 working in brothels and whole communities fleeing cartel violence. Venezuela... June 17, 2026 An MOU is not a “peace deal” In “Why We Want You to Be Rich,” published in 2006, Donald Trump explained that a master negotiator knows “what the other side wants and where they’re coming from,” and is never afraid to... June 16, 2026 Trading Away Lebanon: Washington’s Bargains at Beirut’s Expense For the fifth time since 1958, the U.S. has placed Lebanon on the bargaining table, this time ready to sacrifice the country’s interests in pursuit of a deal with Iran. If Tehran dismantles its nuclear... June 15, 2026 Do not forget the Iranian people who still suffer, President Trump President Donald Trump has announced that Washington and Tehran have signed an agreement with two pillars: reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ensuring the Islamic Republic cannot develop... June 15, 2026 IDF confirms killing Hezbollah commander responsible for creating Iran-backed militias in Iraq The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it killed Ali Mousa Daqduq, a top Hezbollah military leader and a commander in the Radwan Unit, the group responsible for infiltrating the Israeli border.... June 15, 2026 Iran’s internet is back, until it isn’t Iran’s internet access has partially returned after nearly 90 days, the longest blackout in the country’s history. Yet authorities continue to throttle the available bandwidth, with Iranians reporting... June 15, 2026 Can US Engagement Rescue the United Nations From Irrelevance? By the end of 2026, the United Nations will have selected a new Secretary-General. The incoming UN leader will take office at a time when the global intergovernmental organisation is experiencing... June 14, 2026 Modi Era India displays geopolitical acumen Geopolitically, one of the deftest accomplishments of the Modi Era has been that India has shifted from being seen (rightly or wrongly) in places like Washington D.C. as a potentially obstructionist behemoth... June 14, 2026 A nuclear deal won’t solve Iran’s missiles, proxies, and repression Excerpt Tehran’s preferred negotiating tactic has long been escalation. While talks have been underway with the United States, the Islamic Republic downed a US Apache helicopter over the... June 12, 2026 The UN’s fatal formula for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict The antics of Colombia’s outgoing leftist president, Gustavo Petro, have dominated headlines about the United Nations over the last week. Petro arrived in New York to chair a special debate on the... June 12, 2026 Don’t Invite Syria Back Into Lebanon Excerpt While discussing the future of Hezbollah recently, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Syria could play a role in facilitating “more surgical” strikes against the group... June 12, 2026 Can Iraq’s New Prime Minister Thread the US-Iran Needle? Excerpt The question of what to do about Iran-backed militias in Iraq threatens to derail the new government of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi before it has time to get its feet under... June 12, 2026 CyberCorps is adapting to AI. The budget isn’t keeping up. The digital battlefield is expanding and changing faster than ever before. Washington must confront mounting threats to critical networks and systems. But there’s one challenge that stands out above... June 11, 2026 Venezuela reshuffles foreign relationships as oil production grows As foreign minister and vice president under former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez helped build many of Venezuela’s relationships with American... June 11, 2026 Iraq’s prime minister prepares US visit amid Iran threats and militia focus Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi is preparing for an upcoming trip to Washington, DC, Iraqi media outlets recently reported. The prime minister has been working since his May appointment... June 11, 2026 Don’t buy Iran’s charade — this regime can’t afford peace at ANY price For the last two months, President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Iran has seesawed between expressing optimism on negotiations and making explicit threats to remove the mullahs from power. This week,... June 11, 2026 Qatar covers its tracks: Gulf state spent millions to infiltrate American classrooms Excerpt Qatar Foundation International has poured millions of dollars into U.S. K-12 public schools over the past 17 years. Qatari officials have long claimed that QFI has a “narrow philanthropic... June 10, 2026 IDF targets Hamas middle managers, reports 15 strikes and ceasefire violations May 29–June 10 After eliminating two successive heads of Hamas’s military wing in roughly two weeks, the Israel Defense Forces has turned its attention to the commanders, specialists, financiers, and cell... June 10, 2026 Lebanese Parliament Speaker Berri Sabotages President Trump’s Peace Agenda Lebanon and Israel signed a historic framework deal in Washington last Wednesday that serves as a clear roadmap to disarm Hezbollah, end the war, and put the two countries on the path to peace.... June 10, 2026 Why the DRC’s Ebola Outbreak Is an American Strategic Failure Excerpt The Trump administration’s mineral diplomacy in the eastern reaches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is being undermined by a disease outbreak that its own policy decisions... June 10, 2026 Crazy rich Qataris For centuries, Qatar was a sparsely populated sheikhdom under the loose influence of successive Islamic empires, caliphates, and regional Arab rulers. In 1916, it transitioned into a British protectorate. At... June 9, 2026 Analysis of IAEA Iran Verification and Monitoring and NPT Safeguards Reports — June 2026 Excerpt This report summarizes and assesses information in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) quarterly report, dated June 4, 2026: Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement... June 9, 2026 Qatar’s New Online Influence Machine For years, Qatar has positioned itself in Washington as a trusted American partner: a host to major U.S. military assets, a mediator in hostage negotiations, and a wealthy Gulf state capable... June 9, 2026 Iraq’s New Christian Patriarch Inherits a Vanishing Flock On its surface, Polis III Nona’s installation ceremony bore all the hallmarks of a thriving church. The new patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Iraq’s largest Christian denomination,... June 9, 2026 Houthis attack Israel and announce ban on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea On June 8, Yemen’s Houthis fired missiles at central Israel as the Jewish state and Iran exchanged fire for the first time since the April 7 ceasefire between the US, Israel, and... June 9, 2026 Spycraft will decide Iran’s fate Excerpt After four months of war, Israel still has targets to hit. The latest IDF raids, in this increasingly fictional ceasefire, smashed Iranian missile-defense systems and a petrochemical plant in... June 8, 2026 Iraq Moves to Disarm Iranian Militias While Hezbollah Gets a Pass Iraq’s Militias Begin Surrendering Their Weapons Two of Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed militias, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali, recently agreed to place their weapons under... June 8, 2026 Why Is Saudi Arabia Circumventing the Lebanese State? Aflurry of statements and reports reveals that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar helped Hezbollah establish an indirect channel to U.S. President Donald Trump, offering a ceasefire in Lebanon on Hezbollah’s... June 8, 2026 Turkish interior minister states dream of governing Jerusalem, provoking Israel Turkey’s Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci publicly expressed his desire to one day serve as Jerusalem’s governor, while suggesting that the city and other former Ottoman territories would... June 5, 2026 Houthis emphasize solidarity and coordination with Iran-led Axis of Resistance In recent speeches, Abdulmalik al Houthi, the leader of the eponymous Yemeni terror group, reiterated his group’s support for its regional partners in the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” and held out...

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