The Qatari New Arab reported on July 17 that Esmail Ghaani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), met with Tehran’s Iraqi proxies in Baghdad earlier this week. Ghaani reportedly warned the militia commanders that an Israeli attack against them in Iraq is “imminent,” while also instructing them to stay vigilant against an Israeli intelligence penetration.
Iranian leaders face fundamental questions about their strategy and military priorities in the aftermath of the Israel-Iran war. They failed to deter US and Israeli strikes or to defend their airspace, giving Israeli forces the freedom to strike a wide range of critical targets across Iran. Iranian missile forces failed to penetrate Israeli air defenses at any significant scale, preventing Iran from imposing a serious cost on Israel for its strike campaign. These events represent a complete failure of Iranian security policy, which has long focused on deterring and defending against a conventional attack by the United States and Israel. Iranian leaders must now rethink their military approach fundamentally, which could change how they wield the forces at their disposal. They could, among other things, reconsider the division of responsibilities between their two military institutions: the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the conventional military known as the Artesh. Tehran has traditionally assigned its most critical missions to the IRGC but could increasingly look to the Artesh in the months and years ahead, especially given how poorly the IRGC fared in the recent fighting. This report examines the order of battle of the Artesh Ground Forces to inform the public discourse ahead of any major changes to Iranian security policy.
With Iran’s regional influence in steep decline, Turkey is aggressively positioning itself to fill the vacuum and assert dominance across the eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East. This ambition is clearly evidenced by Ankara’s rapid military buildup, its expanding engagement with African states such as Libya and Somalia, and its assertive military activity in Syria, all of which exploit Tehran’s retreat from the regional stage.
A recent article published in The Hill celebrated the revival of the Monroe Doctrine under Donald Trump by suggesting that U.S. pressure is displacing China from Latin America. But this view misreads both the nature of U.S. influence and the political and economic dynamics shaping the region. What we are seeing is nothing short of coercion by an empire attempting to secure its declining grip on a hemisphere that is increasingly multipolar and pragmatic in its economic policies.
The clock strikes 9:00 a.m. My mom gives the apartment a final check before closing it up for the next few months. My dad is waiting for us outside. The cab taking us to the airport for our return to Germany, has arrived on time — these are the last moments of a week spent in Kosovo.
At the recent annual summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), US President Donald Trump pressured member states to increase their defense spending. The alliance ultimately adopted a target for member states to increase defense spending to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over 10 years. While this appears to be a shift in policy, it is more accurately a continuation of a trend that began on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, the rush to expand Europe’s arsenals and armies risks leaving behind one critical priority: preparedness to protect civilians if a war erupts on European soil.
Executive Summary
This report assesses the strategic credibility, practical feasibility, and geopolitical implications of the planned Chinese investment trip to Chechnya in July 2025.
The delegation’s primary interest centred on assessing the viability of a large-scale nitrogen fertiliser plant proposed in Naursky District, executed by the Chinese engineering conglomerate Wuhuan.
Cela paraît difficile à imaginer, pourtant Israël se lance aujourd’hui dans un projet d’extension qui devrait le conduire à annexer prochainement la capitale syrienne, Damas. Déjà le président autoproclamé, le jihadiste Ahmed al-Charaa, s’est réfugié à Idleb sous la protection de la Türkiye.
À l’époque du «collectif Biden» – groupe imposteur de la Maison-Blanche qui a suppléé aux défaillances de l’ancien président handicapé par «l’auto-pen» (signature automatisée apocryphe) aussi illégale que frauduleuse -, le projet de corridor géoéconomique projeté depuis l’Inde, en passant par les Émirats arabes unis (EAU), l’Arabie saoudite(AS) jusqu’en Israël et en Europe a été détourné par l’étrange attaque de la guérilla palestinienne du Hamas, aujourd’hui décimée au maximum.
Criminal networks in the South Caucasus are expanding their reach across borders, exploiting both the region’s geographic position as a trade hub and its complex political environments. While in Azerbaijan, organized crime has largely been absorbed by the state apparatus, in Georgia and Armenia, criminal groups have been allowed to operate within limits set by political authorities. In all three countries, these networks thrive on blurred lines between licit and illicit economies, creating transnational challenges for security and governance.