Middle East
Regional security, proxy networks, escalation risk, and conflict diplomacy across the Middle East.
192 Dispatches
The Gaza Disarmament Deadline: Why the Ceasefire Could Split the Strip in Two
Gaza's ceasefire faces a make-or-break disarmament deadline. Inside the Board of Peace plan, Hamas's defiance, and the risk of two Gazas.
The Gulf State Militaries Are a Joke — For Now
How the 2026 Iran war shattered the Gulf states' fantasy of safety, and the long road to rebuilding their parade-ground militaries into real fighting forces.
How a Harris Presidency Would Reshape the World's Conflicts
A defense analysis of how a Kamala Harris administration might handle Taiwan, Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, drawing on her record and expert assessment.
How Yemen's Houthi Rebels Could Decide the Iran War
Why Yemen's Houthis may be Iran's most dangerous ally in the Iran war, and why their patience on the sidelines could yet prove catastrophic for global trade.
The Houthis Enter the Iran War: Bab al-Mandeb, a Failed Kurdish Plan, and a Regime Fracturing
The Houthis open a new front in the Iran war, raising the specter of a Bab al-Mandeb closure as a secret Kurdish ground plan collapses and Tehran fractures.
The Houthis Enter the Iran War: A New Front and a Buried Ground Plan
Yemen's Houthis open a second front in the Iran war as a secret Mossad-Kurdish ground plan collapses and Lebanon defies an Iranian ambassador's expulsion.
How Powerful Is Turkey? Inside Ankara's Military and Geopolitical Rise
A deep assessment of Turkey's modernizing military, its control of the Bosporus, and its bid to become an autonomous middle power.
Iran's Attack on Israel: Is the Middle East About to Go to War?
An analysis of Iran's April 2024 drone and missile barrage against Israel, its causes, its failure, and whether the region now stands on the brink of war.
Three Deals, No Agreement: Why the US-Iran Ceasefire Collapsed in Twelve Hours
The US-Iran ceasefire fractured within a day over Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz, and three rival versions of the deal. Here is what fell apart and why.
The Iran Ceasefire: What We Know and What We Don't
A two-week ceasefire pauses the Iran war as competing US and Iranian peace plans, immense pressure, and an open question over whether it holds.
The Iran Ceasefire: What We Know and What We Don't
Inside the two-week Iran ceasefire over the Strait of Hormuz, the rival US and Iranian peace plans, the pressures that forced both sides to the table, and whether it can hold.
The Iran-Iraq War: Eight Years of Trench Warfare, Human Waves, and Chemical Weapons
How Saddam Hussein's 1980 invasion of Iran spiraled into one of the deadliest wars in modern history, ending with roughly two million dead and no borders changed.