Recent Posts

Saudi Arabia: Bin Salman Toys With Religious Reform – Analysis

For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, religious reform has long been a question of when rather than if. Mr. Bin Salman’s potential embrace of religious, not just social and economic reform, could have far-reaching consequences for the role of religion in Saudi Arabia and religious soft power rivalry in …

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Don’t Give Poland a Pass

Warsaw’s Support for Ukraine Should Not Obscure Its Assault on Democracy at Home When Joe Biden campaigned for president, he called out the democratic backsliding that had taken place in eastern Europe on his predecessor’s watch. “You see what’s happened in everything from Belarus to Poland to Hungary, and the …

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The Illusion of Great-Power Competition

Why Middle Powers—and Small Countries—Are Vital to U.S. Strategy It may be a confusing and unpredictable moment in global politics, but there is no shortage of frames and narratives that purport to explain or at least characterize the major developments. For many observers, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine …

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