Does Kim Jong-un Even Want Negotiations?
President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the first time last Thursday to discuss trade, stationing U.S. troops in South Korea, […] More
Adverse
Vladimir Putin and the Art of Intelligence
Russians are fond of their aphorism, v chuzhoi monastir so svoim ustavom, ne khodyat – “No-one goes to another monastery with their own charter,” the Russian equivalent […] More
Trump, Putin Set to Meet as Russia Uses Hybrid Warfare Against Ukraine
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first meeting later this week comes against the backdrop of a cyberattack thought to be linked to […] More
White House Warning to Syria Leaves Little “Wiggle Room”
The White House late Monday night released a statement warning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime against launching another chemical weapons attack. The Trump administration said […] More
Putin Looks Elsewhere to Retaliate Against U.S. Acts in Syria
On June 18, a U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Air Force Su-22 fighter bomber near the town of al-Tabqa in eastern […] More
U.S. Downing of Syrian Warplane: A “Canary in the Coal Mine”
After a U.S. Navy F/A-18E shot down a Syrian SU-22 bomber on Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly condemned the action, announced that […] More
Close Calls or Worse Between U.S. and Russia in Syria
Last Sunday, a U.S. Navy F/A-18E fighter jet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 bomber in the U.S. military’s first air-to-air kill involving manned aircraft […] More
State of Play: A Paean to Putin: The Oliver Stone Interviews
Showtime claimed its four-part documentary of Oliver Stone interviews with Vladimir Putin provided “unparalleled access” to the Russian ruler and “intimate insight into his personal […] More
Trump Turns Back the Clock on U.S.-Cuba Relations
President Donald Trump today announced a rollback to the Obama-era opening to Cuba in a speech at the Manuel Artime Theater in Miami’s Little Havana. […] More
Warner: Russians Have Sown Chaos in America Without Firing a Shot
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), as Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is his party’s top figure investigating what he considers a critical Russian threat […] More
Hope and Change, Iranian Style
On the surface, the Iranian election was an impressive display of hope trumping cynicism. Over 70 percent of the population turned out with more than […] More
Trump Mideast Trip Marks a Shift from Obama
President Donald Trump heads to The Vatican and Brussels on Wednesday, after wrapping up a trip to the Middle East, which started in Saudi Arabia […] More
Election Exposed Deep Polarization Within Iran
The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel sat down with Suzanne Maloney, Deputy Director of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, to discuss how the […] More
The Struggle Continues in Iran
Hassan Rouhani’s decisive victory in the Iranian presidential elections held last week reveals that after 38 years, Iranians are still struggling to resolve the conflicts […] More
Could Iran’s Elections Indicate a New Future?
Iranian voters sent a strong message to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, decisively electing incumbent President Hassan Rouhani to a second term in office. The […] More
Pyongyang Milking a Fortuitous Window of Opportunity
There could not be a riper time than the present for North Korean provocations. Over the past six months, leadership changes took place in both […] More
Iranian Elections Unpredictable and Exciting
Friday’s presidential election in Iran marks a pivotal moment for the Islamic Republic. Although ultimate power in the country remains in the hands of Supreme […] More
Schiff: Putin’s Offer is Laughable
The senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee is shrugging off as worthless propaganda Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to provide a record of a […] More