Recent Posts

NATO Needs to Drop the 2% of GDP Requirement

The June NATO summit has come and gone and the usual commentaries have been written, mostly celebrating the Biden administration’s recommitment to the alliance. The allies discussed yet again how to manage future threats, how to deal with China and Russia, how to develop a more effective burden-sharing approach, and …

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A New U.S. Maritime Strategy

This article outlines the path that led to the U.S. Navy’s current strategic deficit and proposes a framework for a new maritime strategy, one that I believe should be immediately developed along with the corresponding force structure assessment. With a modest 5% additional investment in the Navy over the next …

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Will Turkey use Syrian mercenaries in Kabul?

Turkey is allegedly planning to use Syrian fighters in its proposed mission to guard and run Kabul’s airport, but this time recruitment is expected to proceed via private security firms. Turkey’s government appears to have learned little from the troubles it has faced for deploying Syrian fighters in the wars …

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Bedouin Israeli millionaire charged with spying for Iran

Businessman Yaqoub Abu al-Qia’an, who was briefly a Knesset candidate in right-wing Telem party, accused of providing information to Iranian intelligence via a contact in Lebanon A Bedouin Israeli millionaire who briefly ran for Knesset with former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon was charged on Monday with passing information to Iranian …

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Iran says US prisoner swap negotiations underway

The Iranian comments followed US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley’s pledge that the United States would not accept a partial deal that does not bring home all four detained Americans from Iran. Iran said Tuesday that negotiations are ongoing over a possible prisoner exchange with the United States as …

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