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Foreign Affairs

A collection of 171 posts

A US war cruiser on the ocean launches a rocket attack. Fire, smoke, and an ascending rocket.

A Strike Against Beijing

Operation Epic Fury is not just about Iran.

Aaron Sarin 6 Mar 2026 · 7 min read

Reza Pahlavi (left) and Mojtaba Khamenei (right) in composite image against US and Iran flags.

Podcast #327: Will Post-Islamist Iran Get a Royal Restoration?

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Iranian-Canadian human-rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz about whether Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last Shah of Iran, might rise to power as a new Prince of Persia.

Quillette 6 Mar 2026 · 2 min read

Black smoke rises in Sharjah City, UAE, on 1 March 2026, following Iranian strikes in Dubai.

The End of Strategic Ambiguity

The Islamic Republic’s assault on the Gulf will forge the new Middle East.

Chama Mechtaly 3 Mar 2026 · 9 min read

Statue of Thucydides centered between American and Chinese soldiers, with their national flags behind them against a muted textured background.

Power Beyond Realpolitik

In geopolitics, moral culture shapes whether influence is experienced as leadership or domination, cooperation or coercion.

Scott Atran 28 Feb 2026 · 8 min read

Cracked concrete wall painted with the Iranian and American flags, split down the centre to suggest geopolitical division.

After Trump’s Iran Decision

The real dilemma is not between war and negotiation. It is between episodic action and sustained architecture.

Allen Zeesman 26 Feb 2026 · 6 min read

Man in a dark suit and red tie standing before EU and Jordanian flags at a formal diplomatic meeting.

Heir Jordan

Aaron Magid has written a timely biography of a consequential monarch.

Michael M. Rosen 4 Feb 2026 · 8 min read

MBS in Saudi dress with a checked headscarf and dark robe, seated against a blue-toned backdrop with faint architectural shapes.

Saudi Arabia’s Counter-Reformation

The Takfiris are back in business.

Aurele Tobelem 4 Feb 2026 · 11 min read

Progressive Moral Reasoning and Iran’s Revolt

Progressive Moral Reasoning and Iran’s Revolt

Progressive discourse has become highly adept at identifying oppression, exclusion, and harm. But it is far less capable of understanding the basic conditions of political order.

Roohola Ramezani 3 Feb 2026 · 11 min read

General Zhang Youxia, smiling, in dress uniform, shakes the hand of Vladimir Putin, who wears a suit and tie.

The Fall of Zhang Youxia

A septuagenarian loyalist may be facing execution for the crimes of caution and professionalism.

Aaron Sarin 30 Jan 2026 · 8 min read

Crowd gathered on a city street at night as a person throws an object towards a burning tyre during a street protest.

The Supreme Leader’s Reckoning

The brutality the security forces are unleashing in Iran is not an improvisation. It is doctrine.

Roya Hakakian 27 Jan 2026 · 6 min read

Protester holding placard reading “Greenland belongs to” with cartoon face and heart symbol, during a street demonstration with flags.

Risky, Costly, and Extremely Cold

Any invasion of Greenland would be a logistical nightmare with no economic upside.

Sean Welsh 22 Jan 2026 · 9 min read

Japanese and Chinese leaders shake hands before Japanese and Chinese flags during a formal diplomatic meeting.

Stranded in History

China’s over-reaction to a measured remark about Taiwan made by the Japanese prime minister is an attempt to move the Overton Window.

Aaron Sarin 19 Jan 2026 · 8 min read

Iran’s Forward-Operating Base in the West

Iran’s Forward-Operating Base in the West

With the survival of Nicolas Maduro’s regime now uncertain, Iran and Hezbollah have much to lose in Caracas.

Emanuele Ottolenghi 6 Jan 2026 · 7 min read

A woman wearing a Sudanese flag face covering makes a peace gesture during the 2019 Khartoum sit-in, with script on her arm calling for the government to fall.

Sudan Between Two Middle Easts

Between the jihad of the “Hamas of Africa” and the new order of the Abraham Accords, the choice in Sudan should be clear.

Chama Mechtaly 26 Dec 2025 · 21 min read

Shanghai Lujiazui global financial district at sunset with golden sunshine.

Broken China

The Chinese economy is a picture of mismanagement, wasted opportunities, and decline.

Milton Ezrati 12 Dec 2025 · 5 min read