US Foreign Policy

Trump wears a blue suit and gold tie and stands in front of large explosion and billowing clouds of fire and smoke. Composite image created on Canva.

The Wrong Man

In Iran, Donald Trump is showing us what a populist war looks like.

Michael J. Totten 17 Apr 2026 · 11 min read

Person walking away draped in Venezuelan flag, wearing matching cap, on a grey city street. Selective colour highlights the flag's yellow, blue and red against monochrome background.

Foreign Power, Local Politics

Where local collaboration is absent, foreign intervention imposes enormous costs or simply stalls. Where it exists, intervention can succeed with surprising velocity.

Pablo Policzer 9 Apr 2026 · 10 min read

Donald Trump's head and shoulders are visible as he walks in a breeze. Dark jacket, dark background.

Trump, Tehran, and the China Calculus

The CCP will certainly take advantage should Iran turn into a major distraction for the US.

Aaron Sarin 24 Mar 2026 · 7 min read

Trump gestures while speaking to Netanyahu, who listens during a meeting.

A Paradoxical War

The American debate about the campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Jeffrey Herf 13 Mar 2026 · 19 min read

Domino tiles bearing the emblems of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Syria, and Iran topple in sequence across a map of the Middle East, illustrating a cascading geopolitical chain reaction.

A New World Order in the Making

An interview with Dr Shmuel Bar.

Hannah Gal, Shmuel Bar 13 Mar 2026 · 13 min read

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

USS Abraham Lincoln, a large grey aircraft carrier, on blue water.

An Hour of Reckoning

Iran has never been weaker and America has never been more poorly led.

Brian Stewart 27 Feb 2026 · 7 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

Syrian army officer holding a rifle beside parked police vehicles with flashing lights on a city street in Sheikh Maqsoud, January 2026.

“No Friends but the Mountains”

America and the West have once again betrayed their Kurdish allies. Al-Sharaa’s assault on the Kurds of northern Syria, with Turkish backing, is just the latest chapter in the Kurds’ long struggle for self-rule.

Benny Morris 3 Feb 2026 · 10 min read

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NATO Is an Alliance, Not a Protection Racket

Even if unsuccessful, Donald Trump’s aggressive campaign to acquire Greenland threatens to undermine America’s reputation as a champion of western security, freedom, and co-operation.

Brian Stewart 2 Feb 2026 · 10 min read