Reflections on the Australian Foreign Policy White Paper: Facing the Challenge of Global Engagement, Conflict and Realignment

12/18/2017
2017-12-05 By Robbin Laird During my last visit to Australia, I spent time with colleagues in the Australian government discussing various aspects of the strategic environment in flux and what the impact of such an environment has on Australian interests. The newly released Foreign Policy White Paper provides a public…

Iraqi Christians, Facing Double Whammy Challenges: A Discussion with Joseph T. Kassab, President and Founder of the U.S. Based Iraqi Christians Advocacy and Empowerment Institute (ICAE)

12/05/2017
2017-11-20 By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird The Middle East is certainly in turmoil and transition. The Turkish government under its current government is looking to expand Turkish influence in the region, certainly, in part, to bolster its own power position and to deal with Syrian instability. The Iranians are working…

Assessing the Russian-US Agreement on Syria

11/17/2017
2017-11-13 By Richard Weitz The joint presidential statement of November 11 on Syria was clearly the most important product of the intense Russian-US diplomatic dialogue that proceeded the Trump-Putin meetings in Vietnam. According to the State Department, “this statement really builds on months of fairly intense discussions with the Russians…

Europe: Illusions and Reality

11/16/2017
2017-11-10  Dr. Harald Malmgren Europe is in a period of fundamental transition. French President Macron has put great energy into what sees as the next phase of European development, namely intensified integration of the EU member states into a common framework of governance. He has even called for a common…