The Russo-Ukrainian war, the extensive sanctions against Russia that the West adopted in response, and the growing possibility that European border states will block east-west transit routes traversing Russian territory into Europe, including the so-called Northern Corridor of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), are... MORE

The Islamic State (IS) province in Iraq (Wilayah Iraq) stabilized its operations in 2020 and increased them in 2021 (Jihad Analytics, January 24; Jihad Analytics, February 4). After the fall of IS as a territorial entity and the death of the previous caliph, Abubakar al-Baghdadi,... MORE

The roles of the Central Asian and the South Caucasus regions in facilitating economic relations between the European Union and East Asia—particularly in the fields of energy, trade, and transportation—have been growing in importance over the last few months (Report.az, April 6). Amidst the current... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. After Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 (Kremlin.ru, February 24), the Western economies introduce several rounds of increasingly harsh economic sanctions against the Russian Federation (Meduza, March 8). So far, Russia’s non-renewable... MORE

The Russo-Ukraine war, the extensive Western sanctions against Russia, and the growing possibility that European border states will block east-west transit corridors traversing Russian territory into Europe are having far-reaching implications for the landlocked countries of Central Asia, which have historically relied on road and... MORE

Russia’s highest-level military officers are heavily influenced in their operational thinking by shared experience of the Syrian theater of military operations. This was used as an en masse training opportunity, which included significant military experimentation, and it boosted combat experience and confidence—arguably over-confidence—among the officer... MORE

Is Myanmar’s Military Junta Quashing the Insurgency Through Domestic Crackdowns and Regional Outreach? Jacob Zenn Since Myanmar’s February 2021 military coup to overturn the democratically elected victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the junta has experienced widespread resistance from multiple regions of the country... MORE

Two months after a U.S. special operation on March 10 in Atmeh, Syria, al-Furqan Foundation, which disseminates Islamic State (IS) messages from the organization’s central leadership, released an announcement through the new spokesman Abu Umar al-Muhajir (Jihadology, March 10). In the twelve minute audio clip,... MORE

Pressure is growing around the world to cut off international purchases of Russian oil because of the Kremlin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In recent days, the government of Poland announced its intentions to do just that, in addition to self-embargos on Russian coal and... MORE

On February 14, Iran’s interior minister Dr. Ahmad Vahidi paid a visit to Pakistan against the backdrop of a recent spike in terrorist attacks by Baluch separatists on Pakistani security forces in Baluchistan, which shares long borders with Iran and Afghanistan. Vahidi held meetings with... MORE