Category: Blogs

Returning to mass graves in Raqqa

By Khalifa Al-Khudr

Since this story was first reported in April 2018, further updates have come out on Raqqa’s mass graves, highlighting the challenges of collecting bodies and identifying missing people. This is an analysis with eyewitness stories from people who have gone back to Raqqa.

Tehran’s Foreign Policy Originates from the Iran-Iraq War

By Holly Dagres

Every so often, the Iranian Committee to Find Missing Soldiers of the Iran-Iraq War announces the return of soldiers’ remains. A funeral procession of coffins draped with the Iranian flag—sometimes only containing a dog tag—is followed by hordes of Iranians wailing and mourning, as if the eight-year war only ended yesterday. To this date, tens […]

Ukraine’s Political Season Is about to Begin. Here’s What You Need to Know.

By Taras Berezovets

The hot summer of 2018 has been unusually calm in Ukraine, where in the absence of other news, a scandal or a crisis catches the media spotlight. This is a stark contrast to 2009, when the Ukrainian presidential campaign was in full swing, which on February 7, 2010, ended in victory for Viktor Yanukovych. In […]

Kofi Annan, RIP

By Frederic C. Hof

When he received the joint special envoy appointment in February 2012, Annan moved with dispatch to stop widespread Syrian violence caused by the Assad regime’s successful militarization of the Syrian uprising.

TRADE IN ACTION August 20, 2018

By Global Business & Economics Program

What will Merkel decide on Nord Stream 2?

By Agnia Grigas

Given that Russia is known for using energy as a tool of foreign policy, exporting corruption via its business dealings and seeking to fracture the unity of the EU and NATO, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is about much more than gas for both Washington and the European Union.

A breakthrough in Berlin? Not so fast.

By Jörn Fleck

Moscow’s vocal reaction to the new US sanctions may also signal Putin’s willingness to pursue a renewed dialogue with Germany.

Lessons from the Iran-Iraq War: Iranian Minorities Won’t Lead Transformative Change

By Neda Bolourchi

Before joining the Trump administration, National Security Advisor John Bolton penned an article on how to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement. In it, he also advocated helping ethnic minorities in Iran. Like previous American administrations, the Trump Administration seeks regime change in Tehran. And like the current White House, but more fervently, the […]

Brazil readies for contentious Presidential campaign

By David Wemer

Although the field remains divided, Lula or Haddad’s primary rival will be right-leaning Army Reserve Captain Jair Bolsonaro, who has gained notoriety for a string of controversial remarks and tough measures proposed to address Brazil’s security concerns.

Badr Brigade: Among Most Consequential Outcomes of the Iran-Iraq War

By Borzou Daragahi

The burly, graying men in the mismatched camouflage arrived in the late winter of 2003, setting up camp within the green hilly folds of northern Iraq. They were members of the Badr Brigade, a Shia fighting force that had been sheltering in exile inside Iran during the reign of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. They told […]