A Way Out of the Iraqi Impasse

It has been ten months since Iraqis went to the polls, for the fifth general election in the post-Saddam era, and the new parliament has yet to form a government. Drawn-out periods of government formation are nothing new in post-2003 Iraq, but this time around the implications may be more serious than usual. Tensions among the Shiite parties, which together hold the most total parliamentary seats, run so deep, and the rest of the political field is so fragmented, that politicians may be unable to agree on a compromise solution. With populist protesters occupying parliament since late July, observers are even concerned that Iraq may slide back into civil strife. This time, it would be intra-sectarian, unlike the bloody sectarian war that ravaged the country from 2005 to 2008. There are several factors, however, that militate against such an outcome, including that outside powers could re-engage to help Iraqi leaders find a way out of the impasse.

America’s Strategic Oil Reserves

The Biden administration in April sanctioned the sale of our nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the highest bidder. They have done so under the logic that putting more oil on the global market at a time when Russia has an energy stranglehold on Europe could force down the pump price of gasoline.

America Must Prepare for a War Over Taiwan

Being Ready Is the Best Way to Prevent a Fight With China

Why isn’t the United States doing more to prepare for war with China over Taiwan—precisely to deter and thus avoid it? The visit to Taiwan this month by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Beijing’s dramatic response to it have crystallized the gravity of this issue. A war with China over Taiwan has gone from what many regarded as a remote scenario to a fearfully plausible one.

Biden Signals Policy Reset, but African Leaders Must Meet Washington Halfway

In both spirit and language, the newly launched Biden administration’s Africa strategy illustrates the shift in the diplomatic mood in the four years since National Security Advisor John Bolton announced the Trump administration’s Africa policy. Consistent with the temper of the time, Trump’s Africa strategy emphasized three principles: prosperity, security, and stability. If there was one overriding military objective to be achieved, it was “countering the threat from radical Islamic terrorism and violent conflict.”

China and Russia—With Help from Biden—Attack the Dollar

Russia and China have launched another attempt to develop a “new global reserve currency.” In other words, they are again attacking the dollar.

There is only one country that can dethrone the dollar, and it is not a BRICS nation. It is the United States. President Joe Biden is China’s and Russia’s biggest ally in “dedollarizing” the world.

Erdogan, Putin, and the Complicated History Between Turkey and Russia

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have had a love-hate relationship over the decades, but their ties are undeniably strong.

The Russian and Turkish presidents have also become known for their antagonistic relationship, particularly when it comes to geopolitics. While both leaders have been accused of clamping down on civil liberties at home, they’ve also positioned themselves as world leaders who can stand up to Western liberal democracies. The tension between these two men is not new, however.

What a US military base in Poland may signal for NATO

The United States is planning a permanent military base in Poland, its first in Eastern Europe. This comes as President Joe Biden has told U.S. troops temporarily deployed to Poland earlier this year that they were “in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs.”

The Al-Qaeda Chief’s Death and Its Implications

What do we know about Zawahiri’s death?

On 2 August, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. had killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul on the morning of 31 July. The U.S. said it had discovered that Zawahiri had returned to the Afghan capital with his family in the spring of 2022, after more than two decades in hiding (as early as 1998, he was wanted for his alleged role in al-Qaeda’s bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa that year). Much of this time, he was widely thought to be sheltering somewhere near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. officials said the CIA had been watching the safe house in an upmarket district of Kabul, where the al-Qaeda leader was staying for several months, before proceeding with a precision drone strike. The Taliban have not explicitly acknowledged Zawahiri’s death beyond stating that they had no information about his arrival and stay in the capital.

Three Tech Lessons To Take From the Russia-Ukraine War

The world continues to watch Ukrainians defend the sovereignty of their motherland against the Russian aggressors to the death.

Although Russian offensives have a wide range of arsenals at their disposal, it’s clear as day how they have poorly assumed the abilities of the Ukrainian force, as well as its general population’s reception and protests—not to mention the strong support Ukraine has been receiving from the West.