Navigating development in Moldova: The role and challenges of foreign donor organizations
This study on community leadership and social resilience factors in Moldova in the context of the war in Ukraine is based on in-country interviews with 15 Moldovan experts and community leaders, conducted in May-August 2023.
Deepening defense-industrial cooperation on NATO’s eastern flank
The war in Ukraine has turned policymakers’ eyes back toward the Euro-Atlantic arena and highlighted the need to reinvigorate NATO’s defense-industrial base. This analysis describes the macro policy environment that shapes the current relationship between Romania and the United States, and considers what steps the U.S. could take to improve Romania’s integration with the Euro-Atlantic defense-industrial base.
Polish and Romanian responses to Russian aggression: Lessons for a US CEE Strategy
The following analysis provides an overview of Poland’s and Romania’s engagement with NATO priorities on its eastern front line since 2022 and outlines their advocacy for increased regional security in multilateral formats. Drawing on the expertise of over two dozen Polish and Romanian security experts, it offers recommendations for an enhanced CEE security strategy for the United States, the leading member of the NATO alliance.
Russia’s aggressive behavior in the Black Sea can be challenged
Russia’s malign behavior in the Black Sea includes piracy, plunder, petroleum price cap violations, and actions to prevent the free transit of foreign commercial and naval vessels. Its largely unchallenged position in the Black Sea also helps Russia maintain access to foreign-made products and components, circumventing sanctions. The West and the broader international community have yet to act to decisively rein in these flagrant violations of international laws and norms.
Enhancing US-EU collaboration in MENA's digital development
Both the U.S. and the EU are increasingly focusing on digital development in the Middle East and North Africa as part of their efforts to support economic growth and tackle the region’s youth unemployment crisis. Deeper transatlantic cooperation in this field would greatly benefit both sides and drive forward digital development in the region.
Just over one year ago, I asked a simple question in The National Interest: What if machine learning—the most famous research paradigm in artificial intelligence (AI) today—is more limited than it seems? I expressed concern that the United States Department of Defense (DoD) could be unprepared for a slowdown or stagnation in AI development (an AI “winter”).
Iran, Russia, and the Caspian environmental crisis: A need for collaboration
The Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland body of water, is steadily shrinking. The lack of a solid legal framework surrounding the management of the sea among the littoral states, and particularly by Iran and Russia, has created a degree of ambivalence about where and how to limit ambitions related to oil, gas, fishing, and other environmentally harmful economic activities. If the impacts are not appropriately addressed, the consequences could be irreversible. But efforts to deal with shared environmental problems and maintain the Caspian Sea could also serve as an area for mutually beneficial cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, with a positive impact for other littoral states.
From oil wells to power cells: How Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors are securing their future through battery technology
As the world shifts toward a more sustainable future, the GCC states are also embracing this profound transition, moving from oil wells to power cells. With their vast resources, strategic location, and commitment to sustainability, the Gulf countries are uniquely positioned to become major players in the global battery supply chain. By embracing the potential of battery technology, these nations are not just preparing for a post-oil future but are actively shaping it.
Russia, Ukraine, and the Reshuffling of the European Security Order
In a 1994 article for Foreign Affairs, former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski famously argued that “without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire.” His analysis is no less valid today.
At the time, Brzezinski was arguing against the United States pressuring Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons. It seems reasonable to say that there would be no war in Ukraine today if the country had not done so under the terms of the flawed Budapest Memorandum.
Paul Scharre’s book “Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” straddles two lines of thought: the transformative impact of AI on power and warfare in the 21st century and the dangers AI presents to human freedoms, individual rights, and the meaning of truth and reality.
Mastering the growing crisis in the South Caucasus: A role for the West and Turkey
The South Caucasus region needs a clear push from the West to ensure its long-term stability and achieve a pro-Western orientation. But no lasting solutions in this space will be possible until there is an end to the war in Ukraine that fulfills the interests of both Ukraine itself and the broader West. The United States and the European Union, in cooperation with other key players — foremost Turkey — must showcase greater determination, flexibility, and coordination when it comes to their policies toward the region.
