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June 19, 2026 Iran Prioritizes Protection of Hezbollah Over Negotiations With U.S. Days after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to end the U.S.-Iran war, the Tehran regime is testing whether it can use Lebanon — and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah — as leverage over... June 18, 2026 China’s Chokepoint Problem: Why Beijing Is Welcoming a Leader Nobody Likes No one likes Min Aung Hlaing. Nevertheless, the leader of Myanmar’s military government kicked off a five-day state visit in China on June 16, seeking legitimacy after a sham election that few inside... June 18, 2026 Squeezing Al-Qard Al-Hassan Could Weaken Hezbollah’s Chances of Survival If President Trump has his way, the Third Lebanon War, which Hezbollah began by attacking Israel on October 8, 2023, will soon end. But even as the group’s most intense fight against Israel comes to... June 18, 2026 Washington Wants a Relationship With Iraq Focused On Business, but Security Can’t Be Ignored Amid a tense regional situation, Iraq’s new government is engaged in a high-stakes balancing act. Tom Barrack, the U.S. special presidential envoy for Iraq and Syria, met with Iraq’s new prime minister,... June 18, 2026 Ukraine Takes an Important — if Small — Step Toward Joining the EU After more than four years of war, the European Union has stepped up its efforts to bring an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with two new measures. First, Brussels announced the addition of 34... June 17, 2026 Gifting Iran Early Concessions Surrenders Washington’s Upper Hand The U.S. has reportedly granted Iran sanction waivers for selling oil, with one Iranian supertanker transporting crude oil having already crossed the U.S. naval blockade. This development came one day... June 16, 2026 Deploying Syrian Troops in Lebanon Would Help, Not Hurt, Hezbollah “I told Israel it should let Syria handle Hezbollah because, frankly, I think Syria would do a better job,” President Donald Trump said during the G7 summit in Paris. Trump’s comment was the second... June 16, 2026 Dilution Is Not the Solution: Disposing of Iran’s Enriched Uranium Stockpile The critical question of how to handle Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile will be addressed in a long-term peace agreement between the United States and Iran, to be negotiated over the 60 days following... June 15, 2026 Turkey’s Hejaz Railway Revival Is a Bid To Undermine Israel’s Regional Role A railway originally built by the Ottoman Empire to project power across the Arab world is receiving a second lease on life as Turkey launches its latest bid to become the Middle East’s logistics... June 15, 2026 AI Is Outpacing NATO’s Hybrid Defense Playbook NATO just received a glimpse of how a blackout can quickly become a crisis. At a three-day exercise in Bydgoszcz, Poland, NATO tested its ability to respond to a multi-domain crisis that combined cyberattacks... June 15, 2026 FBI Web Domain Seizures Highlight China’s Virtual Espionage Strategy Jobseekers in the national security space must take a closer look at prospective employment opportunities. A June 10 Department of Justice press release announced that the FBI had seized 13 web domains... June 15, 2026 China-Linked Technology Companies Target U.S. AI Companies and Data Centers Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, said earlier this year that “AI is no longer a single breakthrough or application — it is essential infrastructure. Every company will use it. Every nation will build... June 12, 2026 U.S. Turns to Central Asia To Combat China’s Rare Earth Dominance The United States is vulnerable to Chinese control over critical mineral supply chains. To reduce its dependence on Beijing, Washington is increasingly looking to Central Asia. On June 10, U.S. special... June 12, 2026 Iran Wants To Punish Jordan for Hosting U.S. Forces The Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) announced on June 11 that they had intercepted 20 missiles launched from Iran toward Al-Azraq, a town about 50 miles east of Amman that is also home to a major air base... June 12, 2026 Tbilisi Moves Closer to Beijing Despite Courting Washington Georgia, once Washington’s closest partner in the post-Soviet space, is deepening its strategic alignment with China. On June 9, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili... June 11, 2026 FPV Drones Are the Logical Evolution of Hezbollah’s Warfighting Doctrine Hezbollah’s new first-person view (FPV) drones provide the group with a maximum return on investment — earning their name from their cameras broadcasting footage of attacks until moment of impact. FPVs... June 10, 2026 Showcasing Growing Ties, Xi Engages in Rare Visit to North Korea In a rare visit to the Hermit Kingdom, Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping sought to bring North Korea out of the cold. Xi visited North Korea on June 8-9 for the first time in seven years, holding... June 10, 2026 Trump Signs Executive Order Addressing Structural Gaps in Trade Enforcement High tariffs create strong incentives to evade them. More than 40 percent of textile shipments flagged for analysis by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were either “mis-declared or mis-described”... June 9, 2026 Turkey Escalates Tensions in Cyprus Turkey’s increasingly confrontational posture in the Eastern Mediterranean was on display this week when aircraft carrying European defense ministers to Cyprus were reportedly harassed by Turkish fighter... June 9, 2026 Updated Pentagon List Targets China’s Military-Civil Fusion Program The Pentagon just fired a warning shot at Beijing — and Wall Street. On June 8, the Pentagon released its updated Section 1260H list, which designates Chinese companies as supporting Beijing’s military-civil... June 9, 2026 Pro-Iran Hackers Outsmart Meta AI Chatbot, Access High-Profile Accounts Hackers are coming after those friendly, cheerful chatbots used in customer support roles almost everywhere, and the first week of June told the tale. Attackers used a series of basic questions to exploit... June 9, 2026 On U.S. Military Aid Phase-Out for Israel, Go Smartly — Not Quickly The United States and Israel announced on June 5 the launch of formal negotiations to replace the existing U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding (MOU), which provides the framework for the annual provision... June 8, 2026 Iran Resumes War on Israel as Trump Equivocates Iran resumed ballistic missile attacks on Israel on June 7 for the first time since agreeing to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire two months ago. Despite President Donald Trump’s public calls for restraint,... June 5, 2026 Trump’s Blockade Is Zeroing Out Iran’s Oil Exports The Islamic Republic of Iran suffered a devastating blow in May, with the American blockade and sanctions biting deep into the regime’s bottom line. Iran exported zero crude oil in the month and only... June 5, 2026 Hezbollah Snubs Trump Offer of Israel Truce Hezbollah was quick to reject the latest Israel-Lebanon ceasefire brokered by the United States this week. It did so despite President Donald Trump floating direct talks with the Iranian-backed terrorist... June 4, 2026 U.S. Must Apply Strict Conditions Before Lifting Syria’s Terrorism Designation “The lifting of sanctions is the primary step toward revitalizing the Syrian economy,” Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa told President Donald Trump during a phone call on May 31. In... June 3, 2026 China Introduces New Outbound Investment Laws To Prevent U.S. Decoupling After decades of courting foreign investment, Beijing is now working to stop the flow of funds going the other way. On June 1, China’s State Council published new rules tightening... June 3, 2026 Voluntary Militia Disarmament in Iraq Sounds Too Good to Be True, and It Likely Is Promises from Iran-backed militias in Iraq can never be taken at face value. Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), an Iran-backed militia in Iraq designated by Washington as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)... June 3, 2026 Israel Seizes Medieval Fortress in Renewed Effort To Defeat Hezbollah After an interval of 26 years, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has again captured Beaufort Castle, a 12th century fortress that occupies strategic high ground in the South Lebanon Security Zone that was... June 2, 2026 Commerce Department Admits Failure To Enforce AI Export Controls on China The United States may have allowed American firms to sell an untold number of high-end chips to China for over a year. On May 31, the Commerce Department issued guidance clarifying new enforcement... May 29, 2026 Commerce Department to Allow Volvo Sales Despite Chinese Ownership, Espionage Concerns Volvo will be staying in the American market despite concerns that its vehicles may vacuum up data for delivery to the firm’s majority shareholders in China. On May 27, Bloomberg reported that the... May 28, 2026 Court of Appeals Temporarily Reinstates Sanctions on Antisemitic UN Envoy Francesca Albanese Reversing a lower court’s decision, a federal appeals court has temporarily reinstated U.S. sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN envoy who, according to the State Department, “has spewed unabashed... May 27, 2026 Political Exclusion of Syrian Kurds Threatens SDF-Damascus Deal A dispute over Kurdish political representation and cultural rights is emerging as the primary fault line in the Syrian government’s process of integration with the Kurdish-run semi-autonomous region... May 26, 2026 Curbing Iran Means an Israel Unfettered in Lebanon Amid the ongoing, fitful diplomacy to end the war between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the conflict’s second front, between Lebanon and Israel, is picking up pace. While Israel... May 22, 2026 Justice Department Appeals Federal Judge’s Ruling That First Amendment Protections Apply to Sanctioned UN Special Rapporteur The sanctions imposed by the United States against Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for “human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967,” are the focus of a legal... May 22, 2026 Price Fixing Indictment of Chinese Companies Underlines U.S. Vulnerability to China’s Monopolization of Maritime Industries In the 1950s, the United States invented the shipping container, revolutionizing global trade. Today, China makes almost all of them — and just got caught fixing the price. On May 19, the U.S. Department... May 21, 2026 Putin-Xi Summit Fails To Land Major Breakthroughs This spring is summit season in Beijing. Russian leader Vladmir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for a two-day summit on May 20 to 21 and signed 40 limited agreements covering... May 21, 2026 EU Anti-Circumvention Sanctions Spark Policy Change in Kyrgyzstan Russia depends on foreign jurisdictions to help it circumvent Western sanctions — but secondary sanctions have raised the cost of abetting this sanctions evasion, deterring at least some facilitation... May 20, 2026 U.S. Needs To Upgrade Critical Infrastructure To Counter Iranian Hackers U.S. officials suspect Iranian hackers are behind the breach of gas station pump displays in several states. The hacks are part of a long-term Iranian campaign targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, including... May 19, 2026 Iraq Forms a New Government Without Resolving Cabinet Role of Iran-Backed Militias After six months of internal discord against the background of competing foreign interests, Iraq has formed its new government, ending the stasis that followed the November 2025 election. Prime Minister... May 19, 2026 Post-Assad Syria Is Mending Fences With Russia The new Syrian leadership has signaled openness to the West and has even demonstrated cooperation with Ukraine — Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in April.... May 15, 2026 U.S.-China Summit Underlines Stalemate Between Washington and Beijing The United States and China remain stuck in a stalemate, but Beijing isn’t likely to be disappointed. President Trump and Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping convened in Beijing on May 14 to 15 to... May 15, 2026 Turkey Plays Central Role in Transfer of Iranian Weapons to Sudan Turkey is enabling covert weapons trafficking to Sudan. A newly unsealed U.S. federal indictment against Iranian national Shamim Mafi details how Turkish financial channels, currency exchanges, and corporate... May 14, 2026 Canceled Poland Deployment Further Weakens American Deterrence in Europe In a move that will likely send shockwaves across Europe, the Pentagon reportedly halted the scheduled deployment of a roughly 4,000-strong U.S. Army armored brigade to Poland on Wednesday. The news... May 14, 2026 Iran-Backed Houthis Assist Resurgent Somali Pirates The western section of the Indian Ocean, with its key trade routes and its maritime chokepoints, has faced no shortage of crises between disruptions caused by the Houthis in Yemen and their backers in... May 14, 2026 The Pentagon Is Transforming U.S. Commercial Satellites Into Tactical Battlefield Infrastructure Contested battlefields can change in seconds. Vehicles move, targets disappear, and outdated intelligence can quickly place U.S. operators at risk. For special operations forces (SOF) operating... May 14, 2026 Chinese Virtual Espionage Operation Targeted Congressional Staffer Would you discuss U.S. policy insights or trade issues for $10,000? A staffer with the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) received such an offer via email and reported... May 13, 2026 Hamas’s Quiet Reconstitution Efforts All signs point to a Hamas resurgence. A new document from the IDF, reviewed by Israel’s Channel 13, assesses that the group is producing hundreds of explosives and surveilling IDF troops stationed... May 12, 2026 Iraqi Corruption Is Fueling Iranian Sanctions Evasion Iran-backed militias work through politicians, front companies, and oil smugglers to siphon billions of dollars from the Iraqi people each year in schemes to enrich both themselves and the Islamic Republic... May 12, 2026 Ransomware Hackers Crash Finals Season In the middle of final exams, ransomware hackers hijacked global education platform Instructure, the company behind Canvas. The attack denied service to millions of users and enabled hackers to access...

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