Vatican City

March 30, 2026 | Shannon Walsh, Sean Calabria

Contra Pope Leo, Catholic Just War Doctrine Supports Iran Strikes

Over the weekend, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican by condemning those who “wage war” and insisting that God unequivocally rejects war and the prayers of those who...

March 11, 2026 | David Daoud |

Lebanon war intensifies as IDF strikes harder and Hezbollah escalates attacks

The renewed Lebanon war, now just over a week old, has witnessed a gradual intensification of attacks by Israel and Hezbollah between March 8 and 11, with both sides making clear their current disinterest...

December 24, 2025 | Mariam Wahba, Samuel Ben-Ur

Eight Things to Know About Christians in China

The latest wave of religious repression in China represents the most aggressive internal clampdowns in years. Catholic bishops appointed by the Vatican have been disappeared, despite a deal allegedly giving...

September 30, 2025 | Charlie Laderman, Nazee Moinian

Freedom for Iran: Learning From U.S. Support for Polish Anti-Communists in the 1980s

September 9, 2025 | Joe Truzman |

Israel targets Hamas leaders in Qatar

Israeli airstrikes in the Qatari capital of Doha targeted senior members of Hamas’s external leadership on Tuesday afternoon local time. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the operation, saying it had targeted Hamas’s leadership over the group’s responsibility for the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.  

August 17, 2025 | Mariam Wahba |

Egypt’s War Against the World’s Oldest Christian Monastery

The state’s suppression of St. Catherine’s is a microcosm of Egypt’s broader campaign against the country’s Christians—including my family.

June 24, 2025 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Khomeini’s war: Sunni Islamists taught Shia Iran to hate Israel

The ayatollahs adopted the Muslim Brotherhood’s worldview to make the destruction of the Jewish state the regime’s holy cause. The Shia leadership in Najaf now has the chance to return the Shia world to pacifism

May 20, 2025 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Lebanon Should Take a Cue from al-Sharaa – and Talk to Israel

A joke has it that Syria’s self-proclaimed president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus to make up for the two New York towers that Al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa former organization,...

May 13, 2025 | Waller R. Newell |

My dinner with Aleksandr Dugin

Putin doesn't want to restore the USSR; he wants a 'new world'

April 30, 2025 | Clifford D. May |

Putin ‘has to be dealt with differently’

Trump’s new perspective is correct

December 6, 2023 | Andrea Stricker, Anthony Ruggiero

Radioactive: Executives from Russia’s Rosatom Corporation May Qualify for U.S. Sanctions

November 21, 2023 | |

Israel SitRep: Nov. 21, 2023

Today’s Issue: Israeli Cabinet to Meet Tonight to Approve Hostage Deal | Israel Announces It Captured Two Gazans Inside the Country a Month after the October 7 Attacks | IDF Forces Encircle Jabalya,...

November 7, 2023 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iran begins diplomatic offensive against Israel and US

The key leaders in Iran’s efforts are President Ibrahim Raisi and chief diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

January 11, 2023 | Clifford D. May |

Walk like an Israeli

Why a Jew’s visit to the holiest Jewish site provokes outrage

May 12, 2022 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Lebanon’s ‘useless’ election will be neither free nor fair

Hezbollah coercion has occurred in the weeks and months leading up to this Sunday’s vote

June 14, 2021 | Andrea Stricker, Behnam Ben Taleblu

In the Iran nuclear crisis, the IAEA stands alone

Excerpt “And how many divisions does the Pope have?”  former Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin is alleged to have quipped in response to a political comment by the Vatican. Though outdated, the retort...

April 29, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, Nadine Maenza

Turkey Needs to Change its Policy and Rhetoric Toward Religious Minorities

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan stunned his country’s Christians and Jews by publicly using the slur “gavur” (infidel), a pejorative designation for non-Muslims, to criticize...

February 26, 2021 | Aykan Erdemir, John Lechner

Russia-Turkey Pincer Movement Threatens Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Survival

It is time the West offered robust support to the Istanbul-based Patriarchate – now being squeezed by Ankara and Moscow, both of which see it as a threat to their illiberal projects.

July 17, 2019 | Clifford D. May

Getting Human Rights Right

Mike Pompeo is trying – to the chagrin of the human rights establishment.

April 19, 2019 | Aykan Erdemir |

Scapegoats of Wrath, Subjects of Benevolence: Turkey’s Minorities Under Erdoğan