Analysis - Washington Institute For Defence & Security

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 […]

March 2, 2022
Research Team
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Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US intelligence expected a ferocious attack by Moscow, which would immediately activate the enormous Russian air force that its military had prepared in order to dominate Ukraine’s skies. However, the first six days have defied predictions, with Moscow acting significantly more cautiously with its air force, to the […]

19 Feb 22

China would diplomatically support Russia if it invades Ukraine

Experts believe China would back Russia diplomatically and maybe economically if it invaded Ukraine, exacerbating Beijing’s already poor relations with the West, but would refrain from offering military assistance. President Joe Biden warned on Friday that Russia’s Vladimir Putin has chosen to attack Ukraine within days, which Russia disputes. China’s foreign ministry has frequently chastised […]

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 […]

11 Feb 22

Foreign mercenaries in the Balkans – mentors for destabilization and training radical groups

How foreign mercenaries “appear” in the Western Balkans First of all, these are fighters who appeared in this part of Europe during the 1990s. In fact, when the process of disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia has begun. The civil wars in the territory of today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia were a fertile ground for the […]

10 Feb 22

China’s role in the Western Balkans – Trojan horse for the European Union or new challenge for the Washington administration?

Where are the first Beijing’s steps? It all has started with Chinese infrastructure loans, presented in the Western Balkans as investments of the People’s Republic of China. Then they went a step further, investing in important plants in the Western Balkans, not only important for economic development, but also for the energy sustainability of countries, […]

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 […]

05 Feb 22

United Arab Emirates in the Balkans – a breeding ground for investment and strengthening political Islam ties

Besides the EU and the USA, who are the new players in the Western Balkans? Influential Western and world media are increasingly writing about how Arab countries are penetrating the Balkans. And it is increasingly about investors from the United Arab Emirates, as well as from Saudi Arabia. However, in addition to the economic interests […]