Category: Blogs

The United States is the Biggest Loser in Trump’s Decision to Quit Paris Climate Pact

By Robert F. Ichord, Jr.

US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement is in line with his past denials of the reality of climate change, which he has called an “expensive hoax.” His decision, however, will have grave consequences for the United States. Supported by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt, Trump has […]

Despite Successive Blows, Muslim Sisters Keep the Brotherhood Alive

By Abdelrahman Youssef

In a continuation of their confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian authorities arrested two Muslim Sisters, Dr. Hana Badr al-Din and Sara Abdul Moneim, during their visit to al-Qanater prison with the family of one of its prisoners. Recently, the Brotherhood’s Fund Inventory Committee has included the names of several women with relatives among […]

Sealing the Victory Over ISIS

By Frederic C. Hof

As the assault on Raqqa, the Islamic State’s (ISIS, ISIS, or Daesh) Syrian “capital” gathers steam, one hopes that the national security team of the Trump administration is working to devise a Syria policy that can do lasting damage to Islamist extremism in Syria and beyond. Routing a few thousand armed criminals from Raqqa—ideally without […]

British Election: Can Data Science See Through the Fog of Terror Attacks?

By Brent M. Eastwood

Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the front-runners in the British general election, have endured a volatile race punctuated by two terror attacks that have rocked Britain. With campaigning suspended twice after each incident and British pollsters’ failure to predict Brexit, FutureSource queried a data science firm to get its reading […]

Retreating from the Middle East Is Not the Solution

By Frederic C. Hof

Ambassador Frederic Hof contributed to NSI’s recent Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) report titled “US Foreign Policy as a Global Power.” SMA is a “multidisciplinary, multi-agency portfolio of projects that assesses and studies challenging problems associated with planning and operations of DoD, military services, and Government agencies,” and delivered to the commander of US Central Command. […]

Ford ‘Disappointed’ by Trump’s Decision to Quit Paris Climate Deal

While Ford Motor Company is “disappointed” by US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, it will not impact the company’s strategy to continue working toward technological advances designed to improve customers’ quality of life, William C. Ford, Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, said at the Atlantic Council […]

The Rise of Katibat Dir’ al-Watan: A Journey to the Lebanon-Syria Border Areas

By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

Four years ago, Lebanon’s north-eastern borderlands with Syria came to the forefront of media attention as the entry point for Hezbollah fighters to participate in the battle to capture the key Homs countryside town of al-Qusayr from Syrian rebels. Though there had already been reports of Hezbollah ‘martyrs’ through fighting in Syria, al-Qusayr was the […]

Q&A: What Does Archbishop Huzar’s Example Mean for Ukraine?

Archbishop Lubomyr Huzar died on May 31 at 84. Born in Lviv on February 26, 1933, Huzar’s family fled to Austria in 1944 when Soviet forces seized Lviv. His family eventually moved to the United States, where he studied at a number of universities and then obtained his doctorate in Rome. He returned to Lviv […]