Pakistani Taliban: Mullah Fazlullah’s Death Revives Mehsud Clan Fortunes
Russia Expands Its Fleet in Sea of Azov to Some 40 Ships, Kyiv Warns
Huawei’s Smart Cities and CCP Influence, At Home and Abroad
The Belt and Road Initiative: A Road to China’s World Cup Dreams?
Since its inception at a 2013 speech in Kazakhstan, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping has touted his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a platform for “peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and... MORE
‘Terrorist Intent’: How Finland’s Justice System Struggles to Tackle Terrorism Offenders
On August 18, 2017, 22-year-old Abderrahman Bouanane, a Moroccan citizen, attacked pedestrians in the center of Turku, Finland's third largest city, armed with a knife. The incident was Finland’s first jihadist-inspired terrorist attack, and it... MORE
Ominous Silence: Why Has al-Shabaab Refrained From Condemning This Year’s World Cup?
Al-Shabaab insists on a strict interpretation of sharia in areas of southern Somalia that it controls. This typically means that the group prohibits watching the World Cup, but the hardline al-Qaeda affiliate has, unusually, not... MORE
‘Continuing War by Other Means’: The Case of Wagner, Russia’s Premier Private Military Company in the Middle East
Summary The Wagner Group is a Russian private military company that has been active in Ukraine and Syria. In early 2018, reports of the combat deaths of over 200 Wagner personnel in eastern Syria shed... MORE
Revival of Pan-Turkism in Kazakhstan Threatens Pillars of Eurasian Union
The term “pan-Turkism,” which carried a similarly ominous meaning as “enemy of the people” under Joseph Stalin and his Soviet successors, has become a strong component of Kazakhs’ search for national identity ever since their... MORE
Sofia Is Helping Moscow Bypass Ukrainian Gas Transit
German support for Russia’s plans to double the capacity of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea has, in turn, encouraged Bulgaria’s aspirations to develop a regional gas hub with Russian help.... MORE
China Pursuing Dominance of Northern Sea Route
In January 2018, Beijing issued a White Paper on its strategic approach to the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The document notes China wants to take advantage of this shortcut to Europe and the possibilities it... MORE
A ‘Fantastic’ NATO Summit as a Possible Bargaining Chip in Trump’s Talks With Putin
After the end of the Cold War, both the East and the West agreed they were no longer enemies, and Russian delegations regularly visited summits of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The last such... MORE