Perspective is essential in understanding causes of war — and roads to peace. Strategic Demands strives in our work to see security, and mutual security, with a realistic perspective. Here, Anatol Lieven, brings a “Responsible Statecraft” perspective…
Category: Middle East
Afghanistan, the US announces its withdrawal

Fifteen years ago, we said the US Afghanistan war was a profound disaster, a choice to invade that would end in failure as so many invasions in the past have ended. Today, some twenty years from the war’s inception, the US president declared the withdrawal of US troops
Cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear Natanz site
April 11, 2021 Negotiations with Iran intercepted by reported attack on the operation systems of the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz. International news reports top of the news…
In the Gulf and in the U.S. on Christmas Eve

On Christmas eve, here in the U.S., hoping that the departing president, who’s railing at his election loss and now has ordered a breach in transition communications between the Defense Department and incoming Biden staff, is not, calamitously, planning to order a war…
U.S. China ‘Spats’ Rattle the World

(Associated Press – July 28, 2020) — Antagonisms between the United States and China are rattling governments around the world, prompting a German official to warn of “Cold War 2.0”
Mideast Missiles, Mideast Peace Plan

This week StratDem visits Jeffrey Lewis as he and NTI offer an interactive snapshot of Mideast missile threats. Against a backdrop of escalating tensions, the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is reported to be ready to reveal a long-promised ‘peace plan’. US abandonment of the JCPOA with Iran is a reality check
Tweet-of-the-Day — Exxon’s Tillerson, Trump’s POV

December 7, 2018 3:50 EST … Donald Trump, Rex Tillerson — Consider U.S. denial of climate change, oil / gas exploration, risks and reality. Recall that in 2011, Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon Mobil, completed an unprecedented oil / gas Arctic development deal with Russia’s Rosneft (see GreenPolicy360 / Arctic for details).
Another War Announcement

In April 2017, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the U.S. President and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down to an exquisite dinner in a regal, golden decor setting. As the two heads of state are eating dessert, the U.S. President suddenly announces to China’s president – “We’ve just launched 59 missiles…”
Another Perspective on the War in Syria

A Kennedy perspective — Syria: Another Pipeline War by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — and now a flashpoint in the making. S-300s roll in, the most advanced Russian missile defense system. Ask what could and most likely would happen if a no-fly zone proposal collapses and a US fighter is shot down
A Kennedy Looks at the Mideast Wars

The Dulles brothers are not so far removed from the present-day Middle East. Americans may not know or care to know the origins of conflict throughout the region, but the past holds lessons for future policy
Question of the Day

Article Five… Ask the question of questions: How will the U.S. administration respond if Russia retaliates militarily against Turkey, a NATO ally