“The international system of strategic stability continues to teeter on the brink of total collapse. Russia’s nuclear-powered weapons are intended to play the same role as tactical nuclear weapons: a way to offset U.S. superiority in conventional precision-guided munitions.”
“The Allon Plan’s parameters are flexible enough to offer some form of autonomy or minimal statehood. Ultimately, the plan also presents a compromise that can unite the Israeli left and right… drawing in Israeli extremists whose proposals offer no solutions.”
“Until regional states acknowledge their limitations and negotiate a regional arrangement they can all tolerate, the Middle East will remain trapped in recurring tensions… Stability is possible if regional powers acknowledge their structural limitations and recognize their mutual constraints.”
“That it took six years to come up with this law is a national disaster. The restructuring of the banking system should be seen as only one workstream in the government’s broader reform program. The only way to resolve a banking crisis is to rebuild trust.”
“The Hamas operation may have been unwelcome for Hezbollah, at least in its timing. Even if Hezbollah manages to sidestep a major Israeli offensive in the south, it’s difficult to conclude that October 7 has brought the party much benefit.”
“If Washington and Seoul continue to prioritize denuclearization of any sort, there is virtually no chance that Kim will see potential value in talks. The U.S. goal should be to kick-start momentum on engagement in 2026.”
“The United States is helping Israel to consolidate a zone of its own in the Levant. But reconstituting a world in which establishing and defending spheres of interest is the operating rule will mean a much more volatile global environment.”
“A political party law is unlikely to accomplish what decades of security moves, fiscal pressure, constitutional shenanigans, and military actions failed to achieve. If exclusionary drafting goes forward, the net effect on Palestinian politics will likely be negative indeed.”
“The theocracy is rotting from within. It has become a tighter and tighter inner circle around the supreme leader that has detained and discredited many of its own kind in order to survive. The odds are not in its favor.”
“Sistani has occupied a central place in Iraqi Shi‘a politics, revered by all parties as a higher moral guide… By more clearly siding with the protestors, Sistani made one of his boldest moves yet, the outcome of which may determine the balance of power.”