ExxonMobil
Beyond the Embargo: A Toolkit for Squeezing the Cuban Regime
Opponents of U.S. sanctions often cite Cuba as “Exhibit A” for why sanctions don’t work. The United States has maintained an embargo on the island for more than six decades — but to what end? Cuba’s...
Insights
Iran’s War on Iraq’s Oil Industry
Iran-aligned militias in Iraq have been attacking the country’s oil sector while the world’s attention focuses on the Strait of Hormuz.
Op-eds
Unlocking Iran’s potential: a trillion-dollar opportunity for America in a free Iran
The United States can seize the moment to support regime change and forge a strategic partnership with a democratic Iran that could yield over $1 trillion in revenue for American firms over the next decade. This...
Op-eds
US seizes more tankers, courts oil companies as post-Maduro Venezuela takes shape
In the week since Washington arrested former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the outlines of a post-Maduro Venezuela have begun to take shape. Interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, Defense...
Op-eds
The gas corridor sanctions forgot: Tehran’s quiet expansion into Turkey
While everyone focuses on tankers transferring the Iranian oil, a massive financial valve remains open to Tehran on NATO’s eastern border. On paper, Iran is entering its most...
Op-eds
Ruble Rumble
Offensive and Defensive Measures to Defeat Russia in the Economic Domain
Monographs
Iraq Attacks Israel; What Should Happen Next?
On May 26, Iraq approved a poorly thought out authoritarian law; its implications will hurt Iraqis in the diaspora, Iraqis in Iraq, and the Iraqi economy. The law criminalizes non-existent ties with Israel,...
Op-eds
Russia sanctions grow faster, larger than South Africa sanctions in 1980s
When I lived in Moscow, I worked for Bloomberg, banked at Citibank, used my Visa card at Ikea, lunched at McDonald’s and flew home on Aeroflot to New York. As of this week, all that is over. As more than...
Op-eds
The United States is still too reliant on oil
Oil prices have been cratering in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s decision to ramp up production and offer customers a discount for its crude. A decade ago, that would have been welcome news for the United...
Op-eds
Evolving Menace
Iran’s Use of Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare
Monographs
Transformational Diplomacy
Many supporters of an Iranian nuclear agreement believe that a deal could help to moderate, even democratize, Iranian society. Barack Obama’s constant allusions to the transformative potent...
Op-eds
King Crude: How Iraq’s ISIS Crisis Restores Saudi Influence
While the world panics over the conquests of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Saudi Arabia, oddly enough, has reason to be thankful. Even though ISIS advocates the A...
Op-eds
Is Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal Unraveling?
President Obama’s nuclear agreement to slow down Iran’s drive to become a nuclear-weapons power faces tough resistance from Senate Republicans and Democrats because of massive loophol...
Op-eds
Analysis: Has the Geneva Agreement Undercut Sanctions to Stop Iran’s Nuclear Program?
The interim nuclear deal reached between the major powers and the Islamic Republic on November 24 opened the investment floodgates for Western companies seeking to capitalize on a new business en...
Op-eds
Radioactive Regime
The list is long of Occidentals who’ve fallen for Persia. This isn’t surprising. Compared with Arab lands save Egypt, Iran has a longer history—Hegel described the Persians as &...
Op-eds
Good Friends are Hard to Find: Why the US Should Support Mithal Alusi and Kurdistan
I know. Foreign policy has been largely an afterthought in the presidential campaign. Iraq, for all intents and purposes, is off the radar screen entirely -- except as a Democratic talking point,...
Op-eds
The Kurdish Factor
How an ethnic minority shaped the Middle East.
Op-eds
Turkey, Kurdistan and the Future of Iraq: Time for Washington to Tune Back In
With last week's headlines dominated by Egypt's presidential elections, negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, and fresh atrocities in Syria, it would have been easy to miss a maj...
Op-eds
São Tomé and Príncipe: An African Exception?
That the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe might somehow escape the various "traps" – ethnic conflict, the "resource curse," poor governance, etc. – en...