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December 23, 2025 A Deal to Help Bring Syria Together Nears Collapse In just a little more than a week, Syria could return to the civil strife its people suffered under for 13 years. A March deal to unify the militaries of President Ahmad al-Sharaa and the Kurdish-led Syrian... December 19, 2025 U.S. Blockades Sanctioned Oil Tankers in Venezuela. Iran Deserves the Same Treatment The waters off the shores of President Nicolas Maduro’s Bolivarian Republic are getting choppy for the dictator. After the U.S. Coast Guard seized the Skipper, a Venezuelan supertanker, on December 10,... December 19, 2025 New Mexican Tariffs Strike a Blow Against China Mexico is picking a side in the U.S.-China trade war. On December 10, the country’s congress voted to authorize tariffs of up to 50 percent on imports from China in a significant escalation of its existing... December 19, 2025 With Sham Election, Myanmar Junta Seeks To Give Foreign Governments Pretext for Engagement Myanmar will hold national elections starting on December 28. Myanmar’s ruling junta is selling this vote as a step toward stability, but nothing in the country’s political or economic landscape supports... December 18, 2025 Congressional Investigation Reveals Federal Research Funding Underwrote China’s Expanding Nuclear Program The United States unknowingly funneled research funding into China’s nuclear industry. On December 17, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the House Committee on Education... December 18, 2025 AI Is a Gift to Cyber Scammers and Nation-State Hackers This Holiday Season This holiday season, the Grinch is using a computer to steal Christmas. The Department of Treasury’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP) released its annual consumer... December 17, 2025 Florida Follows Texas, Brands Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Organization Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order on December 9 designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as terrorist organizations. In doing so, DeSantis... December 12, 2025 Israel Moves To Secure Its Most Vulnerable Border Israel’s longest and most porous border, shared with Jordan, has been the scene of smuggling and multiple infiltrations. Iran and its proxies have led much of the activity to funnel materiel to Palestinian... December 12, 2025 Iran’s Workers Want To Unite for Better Conditions, but Need Outside Help Iran’s workers are standing up for themselves and, increasingly, looking to join with others. Nearly 5,000 oil workers marched on December 9 in the South Pars natural gas field, the largest labor mobilization... December 11, 2025 Yemen’s Southern Secessionists on the March The rapid expansion of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen is moving the balance of power and may lead to a redrawing of the map. Forces aligned with the STC, which... December 11, 2025 Fight To Keep China Out of U.S. K-12 Classrooms Comes to Congress American children in grades K-12 are influenced by many things, including their parents, peers, and various forms of media. China, Qatar, and Iran don’t belong on the list, and three recent bills moving... December 10, 2025 Venezuelan Oil Exports Continued Despite U.S. Escalation in November U.S. pressure on Venezuela’s strongman, Nicolás Maduro, is increasing — his cartel has just been designated a terrorist organization and an American aircraft carrier group is circling off his coast... December 10, 2025 Chinese Jets Target Japanese Fighters, Escalating Tensions Between Beijing and Tokyo Chinese fighter pilots have upped the ante in the East China Sea. On December 6, The Wall Street Journal reported that two Chinese J-15 fighters from the aircraft carrier Liaoning twice trained their fire-control... December 10, 2025 Rolling Back Export Controls, U.S. Offers China Powerful AI Chips The United States has instituted a pay-to-play scheme for artificial intelligence (AI) exports. On December 8, President Donald Trump announced that the Commerce Department would allow American AI semiconductor... December 10, 2025 Top Hamas Officials Contradict Each Other Over Disarmament Hamas officials are sending mixed messages over disarmament. On December 7, a day after Hamas leader Khaled Mashal rejected aspects of President Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza, including disarmament,... December 10, 2025 Turkey Puts Fragile Deal Between Damascus and Kurdish Forces at Greater Risk If the agreement collapses, violence may be imminent. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have spent months negotiating with the government in Damascus how to implement their March agreement... December 8, 2025 Washington Temporarily Shuts Pretoria Out of the G20 South Africa’s relations with the United States are spiraling downward. “America will be forging ahead with a new G20,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on December 4 — one that does not include... December 8, 2025 Putin’s New Nationalities Strategy Seeks To Erase Ukrainian Identity While he accuses Kyiv of repressing Russian identity and language in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is working to erase Ukrainian identity in Ukrainian territories he has illegally annexed.... December 8, 2025 Iraq Almost Takes a Stand Against Iran’s Terrorist Proxies — Then Doesn’t The Iraqi government did the right thing and froze the assets of Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, but once the story made news on December 4, the government walked its decision back within hours. In... December 8, 2025 America’s Allies Step Up Pressure on Iran. They Deserve Support. President Donald Trump doesn’t want to float anybody’s foreign policy anymore. Washington’s quest to better balance foreign policy priorities and have allies do more is reflected everywhere... December 5, 2025 Eyeing Russia, Germany Fields First Israeli Arrow 3 Missile Defense System The renewed Russian threat to Europe led Germany to field its first Israeli Arrow 3 ballistic missile defense system on Wednesday. Europe is working to improve its air and missile defenses in the face... December 4, 2025 U.S. Approval for South Korean Enrichment of Uranium Would Be a Serious Mistake South Korea may soon have uranium enrichment technology. “We agreed to a 50-50 joint venture,” South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said, disclosing that when President Donald Trump visited South Korea... December 4, 2025 Iran’s Oil Exports Remained Near Peak in November Although Iran’s oil exports dipped slightly from their October high of 2.15 million barrels per day (mbpd), its exports in November remained robust at 2.06 mbpd, for a total of 61.8 million barrels,... December 4, 2025 Preventing Violence in Southern Syria Depends on Damascus and Jerusalem Reaching an Agreement “Israel must maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria,” President Donald Trump said on December 1, amid rising tensions between the two countries. On November 27, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)... December 3, 2025 Taiwanese President Proposes New Investment in Island’s Defense Amidst Rising Regional Tensions In response to Beijing’s belligerence, Taiwan is planning to invest in its own security. On November 26, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te announced a proposed special budget of $40 billion to strengthen... November 26, 2025 Former South African Foreign Minister’s U.S. Visa Revoked “She led South Africa to sue Israel for genocide,” read a flyer for a recent appearance by Naledi Pandor in Houston. Don’t expect another U.S. speech in the near future from the former South African... November 26, 2025 Chinese Government Mouthpiece Calls for Nuclear Attack on Japan Guancha, a Chinese state-run media outlet, openly called for nuclear strikes on Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the Japanese legislature earlier this month that Tokyo might defend... November 26, 2025 DeepSeek May Intentionally Produce Malicious Code Due to Chinese Political Bias, Research Shows China’s top artificial intelligence (AI) models don’t simply follow the Communist Party line — they act on it. On November 20, the cybersecurity firm CloudStrike published a study suggesting that... November 25, 2025 Peace in Ukraine Unlikely Until Putin’s Calculus Changes Moscow will reject Washington’s new peace plan if it does not meet Russia’s maximalist demands, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insinuated on Tuesday as U.S. and Russian officials met to discuss the... November 25, 2025 Unsolved Murder of Bedouin Couple Fans Sectarian Flames in Syria Syria seems to be inching back towards fracturing. On November 23, unknown individuals killed a husband and wife from a Sunni Arab Bedouin tribe in Homs Province. Authorities found slogans written at the... November 25, 2025 Iranian Operation Targets Israeli Academics Iran’s henchmen have a penchant for threatening political opponents with violence, which has taken new form in the digital age. The Jerusalem Post revealed on November 21 that a new organization, the... November 25, 2025 Chinese Electric Buses Trigger Cybersecurity Alarm Across Europe China’s reach into critical infrastructure threatens to disrupt Europeans’ daily commute. On November 19, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Oslo transportation authority, working in conjunction... November 24, 2025 Israel Killed Top Commander Because Lebanon Isn’t Disarming Hezbollah Hezbollah’s active and ongoing regeneration is leading Israel to take increasingly drastic measures to hinder the group’s rearmament. On November 23, an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building... November 24, 2025 Eyeing Turkey, Israel and Greece Work To Deepen Defense Ties Israel and Greece, two of America’s key Mediterranean partners, are deepening their defense ties as both face continued Turkish hostility. This cooperation includes sales of advanced Israeli weapons,... November 24, 2025 Beit Hanoun’s Lesson for Achieving Victory in Gaza Israel rightly framed the October 10 ceasefire and hostage release as a strategic victory over Hamas. The Palestinian terrorist organization may have secured only a temporary reprieve before... November 21, 2025 Russia Eyes Return to Southern Syria Russia stepped foot in southern Syria for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad almost a year ago. On November 17, a Russian military delegation traveled to the southern region, where they conducted... November 21, 2025 To Protect U.S. Cloud Computing, Follow the UK’s Example Modern life operates in the cloud. Banking, business transactions, and even government intelligence relies on cloud computing. Cybersecurity and technical failures by cloud computing companies therefore... November 20, 2025 U.S., Mexico Step Up Cooperation on Cartel Money Laundering Drug traffickers cannot spend their piles of cash unless other criminals are willing to launder their money for them. Without access to clean cash, cartels can’t invest in luxury properties, buy businesses,... November 19, 2025 China Keeps the Axis of Aggressors Afloat With Oil Imports Beijing continues to import oil from key U.S. adversaries. According to TankerTrackers, China imported 8.31 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in October, only slightly lower than its September... November 19, 2025 Russia Escalates Early Election Interference in Armenia as Yerevan Deepens Its Pivot Toward the West Russia has launched an unusually early disinformation campaign targeting Armenia’s June 2026 parliamentary elections, according to a report published last week by the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard. Since April, Kremlin-linked networks have pushed false narratives across multiple platforms, aiming to erode trust in Armenia’s democratic institutions, discredit Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s pro-Western government, and create instability that could help pro-Russia actors regain influence. The campaign comes as Armenia has sought to distance itself from Russia while aligning more closely with Europe and the United States, diminishing Moscow’s influence in a region it has long dominated. November 19, 2025 State Television Shows Chinese Military Using LiDAR-Equipped Robotic “Wolves” During Amphibious Assault Exercises Chinese forces have unveiled a new weapons system out of science fiction: semi-autonomous rifle-toting four-legged robots. On November 13, multiple Western news outlets released Chinese state television... November 18, 2025 China and Japan Clash Over Taiwan China is increasingly isolating Taiwan to force the island’s capitulation. On November 13, the Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Japan’s... November 14, 2025 Iraq’s Election Is Over, But the Real Winner Has Yet To Be Determined The voting is done in Iraq, but that doesn’t mean there will be a new government anytime soon. The preliminary results of the November 11 election didn’t contain shocking conclusions, but neither did... November 14, 2025 U.S. Diplomacy Key in Bridging SDF-Syrian Government Gaps The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are committed to “accelerating the integration of the SDF into the Syrian state,” SDF commander Mazloum Abdi stated on November 11. The assertion followed a White... November 14, 2025 Kazakhstan To Join the Abraham Accords, Signaling Opportunity in Central Asia Kazakhstan has reached out to the United States in an unprecedented fashion — by improving relations with Israel. Prior to a November summit between the United States and five Central Asia countries,... November 13, 2025 Normalizing Ties Between Saudi Arabia and Israel Should Be Trump’s North Star When MBS Visits White House November is shaping up to be an historic month at the White House. After welcoming Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to the Oval Office on November 10, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) will... November 13, 2025 Georgian PM’s Visit to China Highlights Beijing’s Growing Footprint in South Caucasus China is a “role model for modernization” and a “champion of peace,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze declared during a visit to Shanghai in early November, where the two countries signed... November 13, 2025 Using Shutdown as Cover, Suspected Chinese Hackers Target the Congressional Budget Office While President Donald Trump raved about his meeting with Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on October 30, it was business as usual for Beijing, targeting Washington’s secrets and security... November 13, 2025 Israel and India Strengthen Defense Ties United by “shared challenges of terrorism,” Israel and India are moving to deepen their already robust security cooperation. The two governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on November... November 12, 2025 China Pauses Some Rare Earth Export Curbs While Retaining Levers of Control While China may have officially halted some hostile trade actions, Beijing isn’t laying down its most potent weapons. On November 9, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced a one-year delay...

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