• Sun-11-2024
Experts React: Georgia just concluded a contested election, with the country’s future at stake. Now what? (October 27, 2024, Atlantic Council)

Refusing to recognize the official results and dismissing the contest as a “Russian special operation,” pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili called on Georgians to come out in protest on Monday. Will Georgian Dream consolidate power and pull Georgia further toward Russia and away from Western institutions? What’s next for the opposition? How should the United States and the European Union (EU) respond?

  • Sun-11-2024
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's Biggest Problem Isn't the North (November 8, 2024, Newsweek)

While the threat of new conflict with the nuclear-armed North Korea has long loomed across the armistice line, the South's domestic problems are growing—from the strains on its health care system to worries over the labor force to education. A deepening divide between genders, a collapsing birth rate and an aging population have set it on course for a demographic collapse as dramatic as any in the industrialized world.

  • Sun-11-2024
Oman Has Quietly Become a Vital Player in the Gulf (November 7, 2024, World Politics Review) (Subscription required)

Oman has most leveraged its long-standing tradition of robust neutrality in a volatile region to make itself a uniquely valued partner for both global and regional powers. In particular, Washington’s continued reliance on Muscat as a vital backchannel for indirect talks with Tehran has become an enduring pillar of Oman’s regional foreign policy, one that has only become more central amid the escalating regional confrontation between Israel and Iran.

  • Sun-11-2024
“With citizenship, I will feel complete.” (August 12, 2024, UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency)

Turkmenistan hosts documented stateless people, as well as stateless people who do not have documents – so-called ‘people with undetermined nationality’. With no proof of having a nationality or any legal status, people with undetermined nationality have difficulty accessing basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment, and freedom of movement.

  • Sun-11-2024
Morocco and Algeria: Neighbors Bound by History, But Doomed to Rivalry? (November 7, 2024, Morocco World News)

Despite shared histories and cultural ties, Morocco and Algeria remain locked in rivalry. Is enduring peace possible, or are these neighbors doomed to discord?

  • Sat-11-2024
Analyzing Jordan’s Parliamentary Elections 2024 (October 4, 2024, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - Sada)

On September 10, Jordan held parliamentary elections against the backdrop of unprecedented regional and domestic challenges, including the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon, a growing decline in public trust in state institutions, and constitutional amendments perceived as empowering the Royal Court and sidelining the government.

  • Sat-11-2024
How Kais Saied's tyranny went from tragedy to farce (October 27, 2024, Middle East Eye)

Now that Tunisia's democracy is securely straitjacketed, how long will the people tolerate the president's authoritarian chaos before they intervene once more?

  • Sun-11-2024
Trump Wins the 2024 US Presidential Election: Implications for China (November 7, 2024, China Briefing)

Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 United States presidential election will shape U.S.-China relations for the next four years, carrying significant implications for trade, diplomacy, and business exchanges. We explore the anticipated impacts of Trump’s election on China and examine the potential effects on U.S.-China business relations.

  • Sun-11-2024
China is building new villages on its remote Himalayan border. Some appear to have crossed the line (November 5, 2024, CNN)

The village is not only located in territory claimed by the world’s ascendent superpower. It is one of a string of Chinese settlements that also fall well within the border shown on official maps of Bhutan – a Buddhist kingdom of fewer than 1 million people that’s never agreed on a formal international border with China.

  • Sun-11-2024
Inside China’s cognitive warfare strategy (November 5, 2024, GIS Reports Online)

China’s strategy focuses on media influence and cognitive warfare. The Chinese military aims to manipulate its opponents’ thoughts. The West risks falling behind if it fails to take cognitive warfare seriously