The book “Pious Politics” by Zeynep Özgen discusses the rise of the Islamist movement through a popular and well-organised development in Turkey over decades that […]
Strategic Transactionalism: Russia’s Post-Assad Playbook in the Middle East
For most of 2025, Western capitals perceived that Russia’s position in the Middle East was in terminal decline. The fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 undermined Moscow’s policy in the Levant. Furthermore, under Israel’s offensive war against the Kremlin, which the grinding war in Ukraine had already absorbed, it seemed to have neither the bandwidth nor the capital to sustain its influence in the Middle East and, above all, to lose leverage in safeguarding its strategic interests once Washington and Tel Aviv turned their full attention on Tehran. These setbacks fed a narrative that Moscow’s decades-long project of relevance in the Middle East is running out. A year and a half later, that obituary looks premature. Through a combination…
Review of Zeynep Özgen’s Pious Politics: Cultural Foundations of the Islamic Movement in Turkey
Pious Politics: Cultural Foundations of the Islamic Movement in TurkeyZeynep…
Strategic Transactionalism: Russia’s Post-Assad Playbook in the Middle East
For most of 2025, Western capitals perceived that Russia’s position…
Why India and Iran Cannot Afford to Drift Apart
The war that has convulsed West Asia since February has…
Legacy of Leadership: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Gulf’s New Horizon
The former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al…
Review of “Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History”
Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political HistoryVali NasrNJ: Princeton University Press2025…
Strategic Transactionalism: Russia’s Post-Assad Playbook in the Middle East
For most of 2025, Western capitals perceived that Russia’s position in the Middle East was in terminal decline. The fall of Bashar al-Assad in December […]
Why India and Iran Cannot Afford to Drift Apart
The war that has convulsed West Asia since February has tested every regional relationship, but few as quietly and as consequentially as the one between […]
Legacy of Leadership: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Gulf’s New Horizon
The former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, whose 18-year rule from 1995 to 2013 transformed a marginal Gulf Sheikhdom into an […]
Review of “Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History”
At times when Iran’s resistance is beleaguered, Vali Nasr’s book, “The Grand Strategy of Iran: A Political History”, traces the long-term strategic logic centred on […]
European Security Architecture after Ukraine: Between NATO Dependence and Strategic Autonomy
The contemporary European security architecture is undergoing a significant systemic reordering since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. For nearly three decades, the […]
The Colour was Red: A Whisper of Hope, Love and Shared Silence
Review of Mahbod Seraji’s Rooftops of Tehran It was the long summer of restlessness, the youthness asking to colour the clapped mountains in red. Verses […]
Iran After the War: Between National Cohesion and Political Reform
The second war against Iran imposed by the United States and Israel in less than a year is a critical juncture in the Islamic Republic’s […]
Beyond Regional War: Ukraine’s Conflict as Catalyst of Russia’s Global Repositioning
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February of 2022, it was seen as one of the biggest geopolitical shocks to the existing international order in […]
Full Text of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran
The United States and Iran signed a 14-point Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding on June 17, 2026. The deal was first announced on June 15 by […]