Removing the Houthi Threat to US Interests and Allies
One of the principal benefits of pursuing the war against Iran to the unconditional surrender of the Islamic Republic will be the end of the Houthi regime in northern Yemen. This regime represents a strategic Iranian foothold on the Arabian Peninsula. From Sanaa and the Yemeni highlands it has launched missiles and drones at Saudi […]
Iran Has Doubled Down on Digital Repression. How Can Washington Help?
As the Trump administration grapples with how best to confront Iran, its efforts remain centered on sporadic military action and the promise of aggressive economic sanctions. Meanwhile, inside the country, a human rights crisis is escalating—one that Washington is uniquely positioned to help counter. Over the past half-year, unprecedented attacks on the information space by Iranian authorities […]
Don’t Count out Netanyahu
Israelis head to the polls next month for their first parliamentary election since 2022. Polling varies, but many conclude that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an uphill battle to stay in power. Analysts doubt whether he can pull it off. “Their prime minister is in real political trouble,” writes Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer of […]
Post-War Recovery? Without Economic Revitalization in the North and South, Israel’s Center Will Not Hold
A sustainable national recovery requires new financial solutions Nearly three years after October 7, the emergency has passed and the recovery has not arrived. Across the western Negev and the North, most evacuees have gone home to communities whose business base never came back with them. Emergency relief kept those communities alive. It did not […]
The AfD and Germany’s Democracy
The German left-leaning weekly DER SPIEGEL recently carried a mugshot of Ulrich Siegmund on its cover page with the caption “The Most Dangerous Man in Germany”. Campaigning as the “happy warrior” for the hard-right populist AfD party (Alternative fuer Deutschland) in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Siegmund cheerfully autographed the SPIEGEL cover, while thousands of his […]
The Courage to Build Peace
In 1748, Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, published The Spirit of the Laws, one of the foundational works of modern political thought. The French philosopher, whose ideas influenced constitutional democracies far beyond France, wrote in a Europe repeatedly devastated by rivalry and war. He offered a proposition whose relevance has survived nearly three centuries: “The […]
Israel’s Problems of Governance:<br> Perennial Causes and Political Context
The State of Israel is not often associated with the persistent problems of governance that have beset many of its neighbors over the years. With a powerful military, a highly accomplished intelligence community (despite its catastrophic failure is), a well-respected judiciary (albeit under political siege by the present government), a thriving high-tech driven private sector, […]
NAFTALI BENNETT: From Entrepreneur to Prime Minister
Israel’s next election will not simply be about political parties. It will be about leadership. And among the figures who may help shape Israel’s next chapter is a man whose life has taken him from the battlefield, to the world of technology, and ultimately to the Prime Minister’s Office. His name is Naftali Bennett.
NUCLEAR ESCALATION SCENARIOS<br>The IMPACT OF AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN “FIREBREAK” THEORIES ON ISRAELI SECURITY DOCTRINE
With the Trump administration announcing plans for a revised nuclear strategy that emphasizes the potential use of shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons, this strategy will move American nuclear war “firebreaks” to more closely resemble Moscow’s already-worrisome nuclear thresholds. At the same time, Russia is aiding Iran in the development of an independent supersonic cruise missile technology; […]
He Will Not Give Up
I went to present Jared Kushner with the Abraham Shield Award 2026 because of what he had achieved. I left thinking even more deeply about who he is. We spoke for nearly an hour. There was no ceremony in his manner, no distance and none of the self-importance that so often accompanies power. He was […]
