Is a sanctions rethink in the works?

The Biden administration’s announcement that it will limit economic sanctions as a tool of foreign policy could prove significant, since it follows two decades in which policymakers of both parties dramatically increased the use of sanctions against governments, individuals, and entities that they considered bad actors. “After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,” the Treasury Department …

The West Faces A Big Human Rights Test With The Taliban

The West faces a key test of its commitment to human rights as the Taliban cements its rigid rule in Kabul. At the moment, Western nations and the global financial institutions over which they hold considerable sway are demanding that the Taliban respect human rights as a condition of receiving the economic aid that Afghanistan …

Iran’s SCO Entry Could Complicate U.S.-Israeli Strategic Options

Iran’s impending entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Eurasian bloc that China and Russia lead, has great potential to limit U.S., Israeli and Western leeway in confronting Tehran’s nuclear and hegemonic aspirations, sponsorship of international terrorism and efforts at regional de-stabilization. Iran’s SCO entry comes as the Institute for Science and International Security, …

Cuba Protests Could Presage Brighter Regional Future

As video of protests in Havana circulates on social media, many are wondering about Cuba’s future. Why now? What’s changed for everyday Cubans? And, most importantly, what do the protests mean for the island nation’s communist government and its grip on power? “The basic economic situation is what’s pushing people to go out and raise …

Western Silence as Gaza Summer Camps Train Future Terrorists

The teenage boys of Gaza, some of whom are still in junior high, are learning how to shoot guns, launch anti-tank missiles and protect themselves while peering around walls. The boys are attending summer camp, but it’s not the swimming and softball, hiking and cookouts that many of us fondly recall. It’s camp as run …

U.S., Allies Too Eager to Resume Nuclear Deal with Iran

With Tehran making significant progress on the nuclear front, Washington and its European allies seem engaged in an increasingly desperate effort to revive the 2015 global nuclear agreement with Iran, mirroring the earlier eagerness that helped produce the problematic agreement in the first place. The operative question is whether – in reversing President Donald Trump’s …