Tom Freebairn - Washington Institute For Defence & Security

15 May 22

Bleeding Outward: The Threat of Extremist Spillover from Afghanistan to Central Asia

Following a chaotic US withdrawal in August of 2021, Afghanistan has been under control of the Taliban, the fundamentalist group which had ruled the country briefly in the 90’s. A security vacuum left by US forces has sparked concerns among neighbors that conflict might not end at the nation’s borders. The fear of extremist spillover […]

01 May 22

East of the Dniester: Transnistria in the Ukraine Conflict

As the Ukraine war enters its third month, the eyes of the international community remain firmly transfixed on Eastern Europe. One frontier of Russian influence which has seemed curiously frozen during this escalation, has been the tiny breakaway state of Transnistria, within the recognized territory of Moldova. The perception of a statelet motionless in the […]

08 Apr 22

NATO’s Northern Expansion

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sent shockwaves across the world, with ripples being felt both near and far from Europe. As NATO announces its new Strategic Concept at the 2022 Madrid Summit in late June, renewed Russian belligerence is sure to be a central topic of discussion. In the same vein, two unexpected new […]

29 Mar 22

The Negev Summit: New Architecture or Cracked Foundation?

On Sunday of this past weekend, the settlement of Sde Boker made history as the site of the Negev Summit, the first Arab-Israeli diplomatic conference hosted in Israel. The foreign ministers of Israel, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt and the UAE met to discuss several key issues of shared interest including curtailing Iran, deepening regional cooperation and […]

28 Mar 22

What’s Next for Mali?

The past few years have seen major political upheaval in the West African nation of Mali, with two coups in as many years. The most recent transition took place in May 2021, when President Bah Ndaw was ousted by his vice president and former special forces colonel, Assimi Goïta. The newly established junta, as recently […]

09 Mar 22

Is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan coming soon? Unlikely.

While the eyes of the world are on Ukraine, curious voices have asked whether the island of Taiwan could face a similar fate at the hands of their long-time adversary, China. Beijing has after all refused to condemn the Russian invasion and made clear its relations with Moscow are both stable and amicable. While we […]

17 Feb 22

Why Europe’s Nuclear Energy Shutdown Will Empower Putin

By undercutting one of the primary transition assets to a renewable future, Europe is gambling heavily on natural gas. In doing so, they are choosing a battlefield in which Putin is well advantaged. Natural gas is clearly the centerpiece to the European energy strategy of the future but with local gas production falling and seeming […]

10 Feb 22

Prison Break: What al-Sina’a means for the War against ISIS in Syria

On January 20th, the al-Sina’a prison camp in Hasakah, northeastern Syria, home to thousands of ISIS detainees, was rocked by explosions and gunfire. Immediately after, over 200 armed fighters began a large-scale assault on the camp while inmates staged a riot inside. Prisoners and attackers overwhelmed the guards and seized control of large portions of […]

15 Aug 21

Biden approves the deployment of 1,000 extra troops to Afghanistan

In a statement released on Saturday, President Joe Biden authorised an additional direct deployment of 1,000 troops to Afghanistan. Biden said he authorized the deployment “to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops […]