The Strait of Hormuz is not a regional problem. It is a global stress test, and two men in particular are grading the paper. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin do not care about the Persian Gulf the way Washington cares about it. They care about what the response to a crisis there reveals — about American attention span, alliance cohesion, and the price the West is willing to pay to … [Read more...] about Hormuz Is a Message to Beijing and Moscow
Ammunition Drain: How the Iran Campaign May Be Weakening Taiwan’s Deterrence
The volleys exchanged over Iranian skies are being counted in more places than Tehran and Tel Aviv. In Washington and Taipei, defense planners are running the same grim arithmetic: every interceptor expended, every precision munition drawn from pre-positioned stockpiles to service the Middle East theater, is a round that does not exist for the Taiwan Strait. The concern is … [Read more...] about Ammunition Drain: How the Iran Campaign May Be Weakening Taiwan’s Deterrence
Woe to the Vanquished: Iran Still Does Not Get It
In 390 BC—or 387, depending on which ancient chronology you accept—a Gallic war-band under a chieftain named Brennus broke the Roman army at the Allia, a small tributary of the Tiber about eleven miles north of the city. The rout was total. What survived of the Roman field force fled to Veii. Rome itself was essentially undefended, and the Gauls walked in. For months they held … [Read more...] about Woe to the Vanquished: Iran Still Does Not Get It
U.S. Treasury Sanctions 20 Companies and 19 Vessels in Iran-Related Action, Targeting Chinese Refinery
The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed Iran-related sanctions on 20 companies and 19 vessels, including oil and gas tankers, in a move that extends Washington's pressure campaign against Tehran's energy revenues. Among the newly listed entities is Hengli Petrochemical Dalian Refinery, a Chinese refinery, marking another instance of the United States targeting a major Chinese … [Read more...] about U.S. Treasury Sanctions 20 Companies and 19 Vessels in Iran-Related Action, Targeting Chinese Refinery
Iran Will Sign Anything — And That’s Exactly the Problem
John Bolton is not a popular figure in diplomatic circles. He is too blunt, too hawkish, too willing to say what career foreign policy hands prefer to leave unsaid. But on Iran, he is right — and the evidence of four decades supports him. Iran will sign anything to get the U.S. out of the region. And once we are gone, they will start rebuilding their nuclear program. This is … [Read more...] about Iran Will Sign Anything — And That’s Exactly the Problem