Trapped behind a Trench: Israeli Army Closes Last Route into al-Ras al-Ahmar

An Israeli military trench has blocked the last route into al-Ras al-Ahmar, disrupting water deliveries, food supplies and children’s schooling.

Key Developments
Residents said an Israeli army trench had blocked the last remaining route into the northern Jordan Valley community for seven days.
Residents could not reliably receive water and animal feed, while children missed school and patients struggled to access medical care.
A local herder warned that restrictions on grazing land and supplies threatened approximately 15,000 sheep in the area.
An Israeli military trench has blocked the last route into al-Ras al-Ahmar, disrupting water deliveries, food supplies and children’s schooling.

Le champ de bataille qui n’existe pas : L’art russe de la tromperie, de l’Armée rouge à l’Ukraine

Le 17 janvier 2024, environ 150 troupes d’assaut russes disparaissaient sous le sol du champ de bataille au sud d’Avdiivka. La formation russe s’approchait du territoire au sud de la ville, en particulier la fortification ukrainienne de Tsarskaya Okhota (la Chasse du Tsar). Avancer vers la position par des approches classiques les aurait exposés à un champ de bataille sous la surveillance constante de drones. De plus, le terrain était fortement miné et les tentatives d’approches étaient reçues par les tirs de l’artillerie ukrainienne. L’armée ukrainienne avait installé des positions pour détecter et détruire les formations russes se dirigeant vers la ville.

After the SDF: What comes next for Syria’s Kurds?

Damascus, Syria – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were dissolved by their commander-in-chief, Mazloum Abdi, on 25 August, bringing an end to Rojava, a 14-year-old experiment in autonomous self-administration in northeast Syria.

Abdi is to take up a new role as a special adviser to President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whilst the senior leadership will occupy various positions within the government.

Mecca Joint Defence Agreement: Cross-Regional Security Cooperation in a Fragmenting International Order

On August 7, 2026, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement” at the Summit of Joint Defence, which represents an emerging form of cross-regional security cooperation amid growing geopolitical uncertainty. It seeks to ensure “collective deterrence against any act of aggression”; the central question it raises is why three countries from three different geographical regions came together at this particular moment to sign it.

Cold‑War Geopolitical Map Is Fraying: AI Is Rewriting Power Before Our Eyes

My core argument is straightforward: frameworks forged during the Cold War are not merely outdated—they can become actively dangerous as guides to a world being reshaped by artificial intelligence. Today’s strategists risk preparing to fight yesterday’s conflicts, while tomorrow’s power dynamics are being framed inside data centres—and, one day, potentially in outer space.

Chaos as a Generator and Rational Control

As it happens, we are the first generations of people simultaneously capable of engineering a genuine apocalypse and of averting it, perhaps at the very last moment. It seems to me that one of the reasons for the current, rather lamentable, state of affairs in the world owes much to humanity’s lack of experience in handling the power that has fallen into its hands.

Put Turkey on notice: The Eastern Mediterranean’s reliable alliance deserves US teeth

President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives to give a press conference after the cabinet meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey, on September 21, 2020. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The ongoing war with Iran is driving countries in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean to invest in new security alliances. This is partly driven by the drubbing Gulf Arab states have taken from Iranian missile attacks and by regional powers’ estimation that the United States may be less interested in underwriting the region’s security needs.