In The News

Iran Nuclear Deal Fuels Tension With Saudi Arabia Inflaming New Conflicts

Mohammed Ayoob January 19, 2016
Iran has moved swiftly in implementing terms of an international nuclear deal, and the nation's rising stock in the international community has alarmed rival Saudi Arabia. “As the economy falters, the Saudi regime seems to take aggressive stances in the foreign-policy arena in order to impress its domestic constituency, relying on sectarian rhetoric to justify policies and expenditures,”...

Analysis: Iran Deals May Not Herald Rapid Changes

Adam Schreck January 18, 2016
The terms of a nuclear agreement with Iran are being implemented, followed by a prisoner exchange, planning for an order of Airbus planes, and release of frozen Iranian assets, but the Associated Press warns that rapid change is unlikely. “It will take time for the economic benefits to trickle down to ordinary Iranians, but the goodwill from the deal could translate into electoral gains for...

The US Faces Rival Powers Waging Hybrid Warfare

Richard Weitz January 12, 2016
Overall, global military spending decreased in 2014 from the previous year, reports the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The United States spends more than other countries on defense, yet struggles against the skillful use of hybrid tactics by China and Russia, explains Richard Weitz. The senior fellow and director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Hudson Institute...

Madaya Syria: Aid Convoy Sets Off for Besieged Town

January 11, 2016
Small towns in rural Syria are blocked from basic supplies due to a protracted civil war and blockades: “only 10% of the UN's requests to deliver aid to people to in besieged and hard-to-reach areas were granted,” reports BBC News. “Blockades have been a feature of Syria's civil war but the plight of Madaya has drawn international attention, partly due to images emerging of severely...

Iranian-Saudi Tensions Have Little to Do With Religion

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam January 8, 2016
Saudi Arabia miscalculated on how global observers might react to its execution of Shia cleric Sheikh al-Nimr. Reflecting poor judgment and insecurity, the execution “demonstrates that the kingdom has lost its cool,” writes Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a philosophy professor at the University of London. He suggests the notion that the Sunni-Shia divide in Islam spurs conflict is “analytically flawed.”...

North Korea’s Nuclear Test Deepens Chinese Dilemma

Shim Jae Hoon January 7, 2016
China continues to gamble on regional security by placating the Kim dynasty in North Korea. The world’s most populous nation, the second largest economy, is the North’s leading benefactor and trade partner. The country of 25 million is isolated, impoverished and backward, its leaders intent on amassing a nuclear arsenal. The regime surprised the world with an underground blast, claiming a...

Middle East Tensions Boil as Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Iran

Sam Wilkin January 4, 2016
Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals for influence in the Middle East. The latest clash is driving up oil prices, deepening a sectarian divide and sparking new violence in the region, reports Sam Wilkin for Reuters: “Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday and fellow-Sunni Bahrain followed suit on Monday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh...