TEL AVIV: The diplomatic opening between Israel and the UAE has had two contradictory effects. On the one hand, Israel sees the emirates as a potential customer for Israeli-developed weapon systems. On the other, Jerusalem is pressing Washington to keep Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME), Meanwhile, the U.S is mediating diplomatic normalization agreements with…
By Arie EgoziThe COVID-19 pandemic is driving the tectonic plates of great power competition, weakening the already wobbly international system. For a brief moment it seemed that the worst global pandemic in a century might lead to increased comity between the United States, China and Russia after years of geopolitical eye-gouging. As the virus spread there were…
By James KitfieldIsraeli officials said the message relayed during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s hours-long visit included a very specific political warning – Israel must stop any action that strengthens the Chinese Communist Party, even if that means canceling projects already planned.
By Arie Egozi“We need some coherency around what we’re actually doing on the public policy front, and we need some more technical coordination … so we could at least be at the stage where we’re still on the field, versus sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out how to catch up,” said Brookings fellow Nicol Turner Lee.
By Theresa HitchensJohn Beyrle, ambassador to Russia during the George W. Bush Administration, says letting New START expire would be “a pretty solid punch to the solar plexus of strategic stability.”
By Theresa HitchensThe Trump administration has watered down U.S. global leadership to coercive deal-making. The dangerous contours of a world in crisis are now coming into stark relief.
By James KitfieldUPDATED WASHINGTON: US commercial satellite sales to AsiaSat, and the company’s leasing of communications bandwidth to China, are not threats to US national security, say experts — contrary to charges by Republican Senators Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst. Instead, US export control law very deliberately has been crafted to encourage such sales in a…
By Theresa HitchensSecretary of State Mike Pompeo wants to establish a 20-country coalition to protect commercial shipping in the Middle East. But the US already leads a 33-country coalition doing just that.
By Paul McLearyA day after two commercial tankers are hit in the Gulf of Oman, reports emerge the Houthis are firing — and hitting — US aircraft.
By Paul McLearyAs troops and hardware are on the move in the Gulf, diplomats signal that no one is eager for war.
By Arie Egozi and Colin Clark“For far too long, Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with impunity,” a statement from the White House said. Moscow has refused to admit that it has for years been “covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad.”
By Paul McLearyWASHINGTON: After two years of reassuring US allies that Donald Trump’s America would not abandon them, Jim Mattis finally had enough. Even before Trump was sworn in as president, the announcement that he would pick Mattis as his Secretary of Defense was met with delighted relief “from the right, from the left, and from overseas.”…
By Paul McLeary