The Biden administration’s plan for the “day after” in Gaza would be disastrous without the promise of Palestinian statehood.
With the war in Gaza in a brutal stalemate, the Biden administration appears to be talking once again of the “day after.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated publicly on May 12 that Washington has “been working for many, many weeks on developing credible plans for security, for governance, for rebuilding” in Gaza.
The March 2024 terrorist attack by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Moscow Oblast brings to attention the Islamic State’s long-standing animosity towards the Russian state. The group also seeks to destabilise the relationship between Russia and Central Asia. Russia can be expected to deal with the ISKP threat more aggressively, including tighter border controls. The Islamic State Vilayat Caucasus, founded in 2015, also exists which operates in the historically conflict-prone Northern Caucasus region.
Debating Washington’s Strategy—and the Endgame of Competition
The Biden Plan
In “No Substitute for Victory” (May/June 2024), Matt Pottinger and Mike Gallagher raise important concerns about the Biden administration’s China policy. But their analysis misses the mark. Their review of key episodes in the administration’s China policy is inaccurate, and they propose steps that the administration is already taking. But above all, they make a bad bet: they contend that the United States should forget about managing competition, embrace confrontation without limits, and then wait for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to collapse. This approach risks runaway escalation and could force a moment of reckoning before the United States has taken the very steps the authors recommend to strengthen its defense industrial base and improve its competitive position. Such a strategy would also mean losing support from U.S. allies and partners, who would see it as irresponsible.
Islamists in Turkey do not teach schoolchildren that Jews have been indigenous to Israel for nearly 4000 years — since the Bronze Age — and that the reestablishment of Israel in 1948 was actually an anti-colonialist step.
The latest military-strategic dynamics suggest that a conventional NATO intervention is seriously being considered.
President Putin shared a lot of insight about the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine during the press conference that he held during his latest trip to Uzbekistan. The first point of relevance that he made is that Zelensky is no longer regarded by Russia as Ukraine’s legitimate leader after his term expired. According to President Putin’s “tentative estimate” of this legal question, Rada Speaker Stefanchuk should now be seen as Zelensky’s legal successor.
Forget the “Pax Americana.” The unipolar moment, that brief interlude where the United States reigned supreme, is over. China’s rise, coupled with a growing discontent with the American-led rules-based international order, has ushered in a new era: a multipolar world with multiple power centers jostling for influence.
Iran has recently reconciled with Saudi Arabia, with China’s backing, and it has been seeking to open a new page of ties with Egypt.
The Middle East appears to be perpetually at a crossroads.
Afghanistan, a nation characterized by rugged mountains and a rich tapestry of ethnic diversity, has for decades been at the epicenter of regional and global terrorism. Its geopolitical significance, combined with a history of foreign intervention and internal strife, has fostered an environment conducive to the proliferation of terrorist activities.
The Chinese military has confirmed that its J-20 stealth fighter jet can easily reach supercruise, which experts said on Monday can bring significant tactical advantages and reflect the power of China’s domestically developed engines.
[Other groups that] participated in the October 7 massacre…. include Palestinian Islamic Jihad — and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah faction headed by none other than the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas.