Content

The Big Story

Dec 21, 2023

Distortion by design: How social media platforms shaped our initial understanding of the Israel-Hamas conflict

By Emerson T. Brooking, Layla Mashkoor, Jacqueline Malaret

Almost as soon as the Israel-Hamas war began, it collided with the engineering and policy decisions of social media companies. On Telegram, terrorist content spread mostly uncontested; on X, false claims proliferated. Accusations of anti-Palestinian bias at Meta and pro-Palestinian bias at TikTok added to the confusion. Can the platforms thread this needle?

Conflict Disinformation

In the News

Dec 21, 2023

Dean quoted in Australian Financial Review on Australia’s Red Sea call

On December 20, IPSI nonresident senior fellow Peter Dean was quoted in the Australian Financial Review on Australia’s decision not to send warships into the Red Sea. 

Australia Indo-Pacific

MENASource

Dec 21, 2023

Need a book on the Middle East to read during the holidays? Here’s our recommendations

By William F. Wechsler, Nadereh Chamlou, Mark N. Katz, Marcy Grossman, Nour Dabboussi, Sarah Zaaimi, Masoud Mostajabi

Our team of experts and staff have you covered with their recommended reads related to the Middle East and North Africa for the holidays.

Civil Society Middle East

New Atlanticist

Dec 21, 2023

Opposition to Israel’s war for survival fails to understand Hamas’s goals

By Jonathan Panikoff

Calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, beyond humanitarian pauses, are implicitly advocating for a Hamas victory.

Conflict Israel

AfricaSource

Dec 21, 2023

What Kenya’s proposed mission to Haiti says about Nairobi’s foreign policy

By Sibi Nyaoga

Success in Ruto’s foreign policy approach depends, in part, on the success of this mission to Haiti—one that will be hard to come by.

Africa East Africa

China-MENA Podcast

Dec 21, 2023

Performative or Substantive Engagement? China & Russia in the Middle East

By Atlantic Council

Li-Chen Sim and Mark Katz join us to explore the growing collaboration between China and Russia and its impact on the Middle East, including the amplification of influence through media collaboration as a force multiplier.

China East Asia

UkraineAlert

Dec 20, 2023

Ukrainian telecoms hack highlights cyber dangers of Russia’s invasion

By Mercedes Sapuppo

An unprecedented December 12 cyber attack on Ukraine's largest telecoms operator Kyivstar left tens of millions of Ukrainians without mobile services and underlined the cyber warfare potential of Russia's ongoing invasion, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Conflict Cybersecurity

In the News

Dec 20, 2023

Grundman on Money Talks podcast discussing defense industry

Steve Grundman joins the Economist's Money Talks podcast to discuss how the defense industry is reacting to changing technology and geopolitics.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Strategic Insights Memo

Dec 20, 2023

Expanding NATO’s competitive mindset: Deterring and defending across physical and virtual domains

By Delharty Manson

In October 2023, the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Forward Defense program, in partnership with NATO ACT, convened current and former practitioners for a private workshop on expanding NATO’s approach to multi-domain operations (MDO), identifying key challenges and opportunities to operationalizing MDO across the Alliance. This memo summarizes the workshop’s key takeaways and conclusions.

Crisis Management Defense Policy

Report

Dec 20, 2023

Evolving cooperative security approaches for tomorrow’s realities

By John T. Watts

US security cooperation, which are military aid activities led or executed by the US Department of Defense, is immensely valuable if done right and can help the United States achieve its goal from the 2022 National Security Strategy (NSS) by building a strong coalition of allies to confront shared challenges.

Defense Policy National Security

Experts

Events