Oil markets have spent months absorbing bad news out of the Middle East with relative composure, cushioned by the fact that the war between the US, Israel, and Iran hadn’t yet meaningfully disrupted the physical flow of crude. That cushion appears to be wearing thin. Brent crude climbed past $106 […]
Middle East
The Mecca Pact: What Are The Limits Of Pakistan’s Involvement In The Saudi War With Houthis?
Pakistan’s promise to defend Saudi Arabia is becoming harder to separate from Yemen’s war. On September 18, it was reported that army chief, Asim Munir, had urged Iran to restrain the Houthis amid attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure. The intervention reveals Islamabad’s immediate and practical preference: using its […]
A War 4,000 Miles Away Is Turning Off Dhaka’s Lights
Halder sets her alarm for 1am not to get ahead of the workdayangladesh-Dhaka, but because that’s the only hour when Dhaka’s gas pressure runs strong enough for her to actually cook for her family. That single detail captures something larger than one exhausted bank employee’s routine: a war between the […]
When Washington Pulls Back: Is Europe Preparing For A Post-American Order?
For decades, Europe and the United States treated their trans-Atlantic relationship as more than an alliance. It was the political infrastructure of the Western order itself. Washington provided much of the military power, Europe benefited from security and economic stability, and both sides presented a common vision of international governance […]
Hubris In Action: Netanyahu And The Warnings Of October 7
Whatever awaits him this coming November, few politicians could claim to have the endurance, bloody mindedness and sense of granite staying power than Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. With some prowess, he has wooed, deceived, and lied his way to power, and, for the most part, stayed the course for the best […]
NATO 3.0 And Turkey’s Strategic Moment (II)
Part I For Ankara, hosting the summit carried symbolic and practical significance. Turkey has long argued that it occupies a unique strategic position linking Europe, the Middle East, the Black Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Turkish officials increasingly describe this approach as a doctrine of regional responsibility, arguing that countries directly […]
The Hormuz Paradox: When “Deterrence” Fuels The Conflict It Seeks To Prevent
The latest confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz exposes a dangerous contradiction: measures intended to restore deterrence may be deepening the insecurity they promise to resolve. On September 8, Washington said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers following missile attacks on an American warship. Tehran subsequently claimed attacks against ships […]
America’s Post-9/11 Wars Have Triggered 4.5 Million Deaths, Displaced 38-60 Million People, Study Shows
[This article was originally published in May 2023.] The wars the United States waged and fueled in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan following September 11, 2001 caused at least 4.5 million deaths, according to a report by Brown University. Nearly a million of the people who lost their lives […]
Five Reflections On The 25th Anniversary Of 9/11
It was a defining moment in the modern era that radically changed the course of history. The largest terrorist attack in modern history occurred a quarter-century ago when Al Qaeda operatives hijacked several planes and then crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Everyone remembers where they […]
The Upcoming World Order: The Mecca Pact And The Emergence Of A Multipolar World
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Saudi Arabia, T+rkiye and Pakistan on 7 August 2026, is more than a reaction to immediate Middle Eastern instability. It represents an attempt by three influential regional powers to reduce their dependence on external security guarantees and exercise greater control over their strategic […]






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