OSINT Global Trendline Report: The Middle East and Africa
The Cipher Brief’s Open Source Trend Line Report utilizes open source data on a quarterly basis to track trends around the world that impact national and global […] More
North Africa
Energy Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Battle for Libya
Bottom Line Up Front Just last week, France agreed to send war frigates to the eastern Mediterranean, a decision welcomed by Greece and decried […] More
Putin Flexes Russian Muscle Abroad
Bottom Line Up Front Vladimir Putin has consolidated Russian power in Moscow’s near abroad and traditional sphere of influence. The Kremlin has also made […] More
Economic Development in West Africa Can Counter Terror
Although the United States counterterrorism campaign is focused on key battlegrounds in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, the threat posed by al Qaeda in […] More
The Latest
Sahel Governments Need More Security Assistance
Developments in the Sahel are cause for real alarm. Insecurity in northern and central Mali, the epicenter of much of the region’s al Qaeda-related violence, […] More
A Tale of Three Libyas
To put it mildly, circumstances on the ground in Libya are complicated. Mired in a state of conflict since former head of state Muammar Gaddafi […] More
Algeria Takes the Lead in Libya
That Libya is a mess is beyond doubt, but who is actually trying to resolve the conflict is a harder question to answer. U.S. President […] More
Nobody is in Charge in Libya
The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel sat down with Mohamed Eljarh, former political consultant to the Libyan Mission to the European Union, to discuss the ongoing […] More
Conditions in the Sahel Benefit Al Qaeda
The Cipher Brief sat down with Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, to discuss the growing threat of al Qaeda and […] More