CULTURE, PSYCHOLOGY & MEDIA
STRATEGY & INTELLIGENCE
EN CLAIR | Maneuvering Continues in the Lower Red Sea
ECONOMICS & BUSINESS
STRATEGIC TRAJECTORIES | How China’s Slowdown Hits the BRICS and Others
DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES & TREATIES
Alliance-Building in the RedMed
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have been at the forefront of attempts to build new realities on the ground in the Red Sea-Eastern Mediterranean areas. But there are many sub-sets and contradictions at play, including significant underlying rivalries.
HARDWARE, WEAPONRY & TECHNOLOGY
Australia opts for Forward Defense
Australia’s new Defence White Paper and associated policy papers provoke significant major power interest, largely because Australia is looking, for the first time, at forward projection of capability. But it faces enormous challenges in rebuilding its defense industrial capabilities.
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Libya’s Gathering and Critical Jihad
What are Libya’s, and the international community’s, options in the face of the Islamic Caliphate’s growing rôle in Libya? The pace of the conflict there has broadened following a “mega-merger” of jihadist groups under the Caliphate’s banner.
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
EARLY WARNING | The New Hitler; the New Chamberlain
DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES & TREATIES
EN CLAIR | Serbian PM Gambles on EU Entry
Reports on Issues of Current Strategic Importance
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Turkey’s Gamble to Save Itself
Turkey considers direct military confrontation in Syria as Ankara stares strategic defeat in the face.
STRATEGY & INTELLIGENCE
The RedMed: All Change, Again, on the Red Sea
The People’s Republic of China begins its Djibouti troop deployment as base construction accelerates; meanwhile, Djibouti builds on its rapprochement with Riyadh.
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
CURRENT ESTIMATE | Libya as a DI’ISH Target: Broad Regional Ramifications
CULTURE, PSYCHOLOGY & MEDIA
Saudi Arabia Throws Down the Gauntlet, But to Whom?
Saudi Arabia’s theater of mass executions on January 2, 2016, was designed to reinforce the authority of its leadership. It may bolster short-term objectives, but it also ended chances for an early end to the Yemen war; it further damaged relations with the US; and it bolstered Turkey’s and Iran’s…