The recent election of Masoud Pezeshkian as Iran’s president has sparked speculation about the future of Iranian foreign policy, particularly as his campaign promise of “constructive engagement” with the outside world has drawn significant attention. Pezeshkian, a former health minister and member of Parliament, was relatively unknown inside and outside ..read more

From Ukraine, to the Middle East, to the Indo-Pacific, American officials claim to see an increasing level of policy coordination among China, Russia, and Iran. In this view, the three authoritarian powers work to support each other and challenge the US. In the worst case, their cooperation could take the form of a combined military challenge to the US in multiple theaters. But what level of coordination actually exists among China, Russia, and Iran, and what are the implications for the US? FPRI Senior Fellow Nick Gvosdev joins Bob Hamilton on Chain Reaction to discuss these questions ..read more

As the world was in the throes of World War I, H.G. Wells reluctantly sat down to write War and the Future, a work of war propaganda, wherein he called stridently for “the Allies fight for a permanent world peace.” Wells was a pacifist, but he believed that it was in the world’s best interest for the Allies to prevail and that despite their faults as nation states, “they do not make war but resist war.” The world is once again at war. The Russian expansion of its war in Ukraine in 2022 shows no signs of abating. Israel and Hamas remain embroiled in a conflict that risks expansion into Lebanon ..read more

  Introduction Since 2022, Russia’s space program has been in a state of turbulence and uncertainty. However, the deterioration started in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and began the first round of the war against Ukraine. Multiple factors have made the sustainable development of the Russian space program impossible: sanctions, an embargo on advanced industrial equipment, workforce shortages, limited financial resources spread among too many projects, cancellation of space cooperation with Western partners except operations on the International Space Station (ISS), and the economic ine ..read more

The recent assassination attempt of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico represents the nadir of a long-developing crisis of societal polarization in the small, Central European nation. As the first European Union (EU) president or prime minister seriously wounded in an act of political violence in over twenty years, Fico is, in many ways, the prime instigator of the toxic political culture in Slovakia that contributed to the shooting.  Well before Prime Minister Fico was gunned down on May 15, 2024, in the village of Handlová in west-central Slovakia, the witches’ brew of hat ..read more

Relations between Latvia and African countries have generally been rather distant. They are far apart in geographic terms. There is no sizeable community of Africans in Latvia or Latvian communities in Africa. Economic and political cooperation has been sporadic and mutual perceptions have often been limited to basic facts and stereotypes. Yet Latvia has recently shown interest in strengthening relations with African countries. In June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a forum, “Latvia and African Countries: Partners for Peace and Resilience.” In tandem, the Center for Geopolitical Studi ..read more

Last week, at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington D.C., the United States and its NATO partners agreed to support Ukraine “on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.” President Joe Biden also announced the “Ukrainian Compact” and promised that any future Russian armed attack on Kyiv would be met with “the provision of swift and sustained security assistance and the imposition of economic and other costs on Russia.” The path to Ukraine’s membership of NATO remains long and winding, but the summit underscored the remarkable degree of West ..read more

We hope you’ll join us in person, in Philadelphia to celebrate Jon M. Huntsman’s acceptance of the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s 18th Annual Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Service.  Wednesday, November 13, 2024 12:00 p.m. Reception • 12:30 p.m. Program • 2:00 p.m. Adjournment  The Westin Philadelphia – 99 S. 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 The Benjamin Franklin Award Recipient  Jon Huntsman has spent considerable time in public service at the state, national and international levels. Huntsman began his career in public service as a staff assistant to President ..read more

..read more

..read more