Security/Stability

In an exclusive interview with The Cipher Brief, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States, discussed the current security and […] More

Terrorism is spreading westward from the Middle East and East Africa to countries like Tunisia, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire. In Libya, the Islamic […] More

Since 2014, Algeria has been facing a major economic threat to its stability, as the 98 percent of its export revenue coming from hydrocarbons has […] More

With the recent decline in oil prices, many predicted that Algeria would come under a real threat of instability. Indeed, if one were to believe […] More

Deterioration of democracy, humanitarian issues, and an economic crisis in Venezuela have the potential to cause an implosion that destabilizes the greater region.  As The […] More

Venezuela is facing the most serious political and economic crisis of any country in Latin America. The situation is extremely volatile. Riots have intensified over […] More

The Venezuelan economy was forecast to contract six percent in 2016; following a 5.7 percent contraction in 2015, the latest period for which official government […] More

In Venezuela, everything is running out.  Food, electricity, and basic necessities like toilet paper are scarce.  Foreign reserves have been depleted, and the government is […] More

In the week since Nadiya Savchenko returned to Ukraine after her release from a Russian prison, the military pilot has shaken up her country’s political […] More

Islamic militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in November 2014, after a deadly attack […] More

The U.S. government has continued providing military support to Egypt despite the 2013 military coup that overthrew then-president Mohamed Morsi. Moreover, the U.S. State Department […] More

The U.S. and Egypt remain allies  although relations have been strained since the 2011 Egyptian revolution, which resulted in the ousting of then-President Hosni Mubarak. […] More

A sigh of relief could be heard amongst Europeanists, when independent Green Party candidate Alexander Van der Bellen was declared the winner of the Austrian […] More

Around 750,000 mail-in votes decided the fate of Austria’s presidential election this week, tipping the election in favor of a more centrist candidate. Yet the […] More

Independent Green Party candidate Alexander Van der Bellen has won Austria’s presidential election by the slimmest of margins, preventing Freedom Party (FPÖ) candidate Norbert Hofer […] More

South Asia is the region of the world at highest risk of suffering a nuclear crisis due to an explosive mixture of unresolved territorial disputes, […] More

The Presidency of Tsai Ing-wen, which began on 20 May, promises even more “interesting” developments in relations across the Taiwan Strait. China’s communist government has […] More

The United States has fully lifted its embargo on sales of lethal arms to Vietnam in what analysts say should be seen as a more […] More