The August employment report gave a somewhat mixed picture as the establishment survey showed a strong gain of 315,000 jobs, while the household survey showed the unemployment rate rising by 0.2 percentage points to 3.7 percent. However, the picture given by both surveys is somewhat more complicated. In the case …

When I joined Ehud Olmert’s government on June 18, 2007, as minister of defense, it was almost three months since planning of the destruction of the Syrian reactor in Deir az-Zor had begun (in late March). I was aware of this activity, having been briefed in late April about the …

Background Businesses are rightly more concerned now over the outbreak of hostilities in the Taiwan Strait and its impact on physical security, assets/investments, and business continuity. Given the Chinese response to US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s 2-3 Aug 2022 visit to Taiwan, the risk of significant business disruption …

Those watching Russian television to follow the war in Ukraine live in an alternative reality. Commentators on state-owned Russian television news stations have spread the falsehood that Ukraine is staging fake attacks on their own cities to make it look like Russia is the aggressor. Russian news broadcasters have also …

Libya Worst fighting in years broke out in capital Tripoli between forces loyal to rival govts, raising prospect of a return to full-blown war. Fighting 26-27 Aug raged across Tripoli as forces aligned with Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR)-appointed PM Bashagha failed to take control of capital and oust Tripoli-based …

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Tuesday threatened to resign due to the violence that has broken out among Shi’ite factions over a long-standing political conflict. In a televised speech, al-Kadhimi said, “The Iraqi blood that was shed yesterday sends a warning to every Iraqi that today we must put …

With the end of the bipolar order, classical geopolitical theories as the main basis of the foreign policy of the powers during the Cold War seem to have declined in importance. The Ukraine crisis showed that these theories are still a suitable tool for analyzing the competition of great powers …

Russia-China Axis intensification in 2022 more significantly evident post-Ukraine with Russia and China ranged defiantly against virtually the entire world reminiscent of templates of Cold War 1.0 Grave security implications ensue for India consequently besides imposing on India the imperatives of reset of its foreign policy compass. India stares at …

Iran’s theocratic regime has been opposed to monarchies and dynasties since it overthrew the Shah in 1979. Now there are hints that its aging Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei may be thinking of throwing power to one of his sons. Mir-hossein Mousavi who served as Iran’s prime minister until the position …

At first glance, there is little that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an Islamist and nationalist, has in common with Dogu Perincek, a maverick socialist, Eurasianist, and militant secularist and Kemalist. Yet it is Mr. Perincek, a man with a world of contacts in Russia, China, Iran, and Syria whose …