Empire of Japan

September 3, 2025 | |

‘Axis of Aggressors’ Leaders Unite at Military Parade Showcasing Chinese Prowess

Defiant Against the West: Chinese President Xi Jinping stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un at a military parade...

Flash Briefs
June 18, 2025 | Clifford D. May |

A major battle in The Long War 

The roots of the current Middle East conflict trace back centuries

Op-eds
May 27, 2025 | Cleo Paskal |

FSM breaks ground on China-led airport reconstruction project in Woleai

Federated States of Micronesia President Wesley Simina officiated the May 26 groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction of the Woleai airport runway. ...

Op-eds
March 5, 2025 | Cleo Paskal |

Examining the Office of Insular Affairs’ Role in Fostering Prosperity in the Pacific Territories and Addressing External Threats to Peace and Security

Congressional Testimonies
October 11, 2024 | Ben Cohen |

War fatigue settles among Palestinians

For the first time, the majority of Gaza civilians—some 57%—now believe that the Oct. 7 atrocities were a mistake, a recent survey reveals.

Op-eds
August 21, 2024 | Clifford D. May |

America’s ‘self-defeat’ in Afghanistan

Three years after the U.S. withdrawal, lessons should have been learned

Op-eds
May 22, 2024 | Clifford D. May |

Biden’s substitute for victory

At best, it’s a frozen conflict

Op-eds
May 8, 2024 | Clifford D. May |

Replacing America

China’s Communists rulers intend to establish a new world order

Op-eds
March 5, 2024 | Matt Pottinger |

The JoongAng-CSIS Forum 2024: Keynote Address by Matt Pottinger

Prime Minister Han [Duck-Soo]; Chairman Hong [Seok-Hyun]; President Hamre—thank you for your stimulating remarks this morning.  And thank you for inviting me to be here today. We have a distinguished...

Remarks
September 17, 2023 | Cleo Paskal |

War flashbacks in Guam as China projects power in the Pacific

Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero, the Governor of Guam, a US territory, is not just waiting for the rest of the US to come save them. In this interview conducted in July, she describes some of the initiatives she is hoping to get off the ground so Guam is better able to defend itself.

Op-eds
September 5, 2023 | Jonathan Schanzer, Michael Rubin

Good Luck With That Grand Strategy

Even the most comprehensive plans are bound to fail if leaders can’t build support for them.

Op-eds
July 9, 2023 | Cleo Paskal, Col. Grant Newsham

U.S. fighting China on the wrong battlefield

While the U.S. has been focused on preparing for the kinetic warfare battlefield, China has been registering big wins on the political warfare battlefield. You can see it all over the Pacific Islands.

Op-eds
May 16, 2023 | Cleo Paskal |

Preserving U.S. Interests in the Indo-Pacific

...

Congressional Testimonies
March 22, 2023 | Cleo Paskal, Col. Grant Newsham

Beijing’s Subversive Political Warfare in the Pacific—and the Need for Greater Engagement by the United States and Taiwan

Honduras has said it intends to shift diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. We know this story: with the exception of 2007, when St. Lucia switched from Beijing to Taipei, the trend has run in this...

Op-eds
July 6, 2022 | Clifford D. May |

Shaping the future of the world

Either we do it or our enemies do it

Op-eds
June 8, 2022 | Clifford D. May |

Rue Britannia? Russian, Iranian and Chinese imperialism is what should concern us

Russian, Iranian, and Chinese imperialism is what should concern us

Op-eds
April 29, 2022 | Cleo Paskal |

China’s Agreement with Solomon Islands & Implications for Security in the Pacific

An Interview with Cleo Paskal

Op-eds
May 29, 2008 |

You Must Remember This


The Siege of Constantinople
The Siege of Constantinople
There’s an anniversary this week we might do well to recall. On May 29, 1453 – just 555 short years ago -- troops led by Mehmed II broke through the walls of the ancient Christian capital of Constantinople.
 
Mehmed the Conqueror – as he would be known from that day forward -- rode triumphantly into the city on a white horse. Soon, churches would be converted into mosques. Constantinople would become Istanbul.
 
“For the West this was a dark moment,” writes historian Efraim Karsh in his masterful book, Islamic Imperialism. “For Islam it was a cause for celebration. For nearly a millennium Constantinople had been the foremost barrier – physically and ideologically – to Islam’s sustained drive for world conquest and the object of desire of numerous Muslim rulers.”
 
Mehmed cast himself as not just as a master builder of the Ottoman Empire, but also as the caliph – the supreme spiritual and temporal ruler of all the world’s Muslims, chosen to “act as Allah’s Sword ‘blazing forth the way of Islam from the East to West.’” He would go on to conquer Greece, Serbia, the Balkans south of the Danube and the Crimean peninsula.  His grandson and great grandson would extend the caliphate to include the Levant, Egypt, the Arabian Hijaz including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, Iraq, North Africa, and most of Hungary.
 
The desire to conquer the world – or even just one’s neighbors -- is hardly an Islamic invention. Genghis Khan is not a name: It’s a title. It means “universal ruler.” The man history knows as Genghis Khan believed it was his divinely ordained mission to lead the Mongols to global domination.
 
And he loved his work. “Man's highest joy is victory: to conquer his enemies,” he said, “to pursue them; to deprive them of their possessions; to make their beloved weep; to ride on their horses; and to embrace their wives and daughters.”

Op-eds
July 18, 2007 | Clifford D. May |

Know Thine Enemies

It would be nice — or at least more convenient — if America could fight just one enemy at a time. But that’s seldom how it works. World War II was called a world war fo...

Op-eds
June 21, 2007 |

The End of War as We Know It?

I have been following the Hamas takeover of Gaza with a sense of what Yogi Berra, in reference to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, described as "déjà vu all over again." Almo...

Op-eds