SCFR Online – Opinion: The Ukraine war was not merely a European crisis, but rather the starting point for the rearrangement of the global balance of power and a shift in the strategic behavior of great powers.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Great power competition is now pursued more in trade, currency, technology, and global supply chains than on the battlefields of military confrontation.
Strategic Council Online – Note: By disregarding Iran’s deterrence capabilities and political economy leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has reached a strategic deadlock from which military means are unable to extricate it.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Foreign policy analysis is valid when it evaluates decisions based on the information and circumstances prevailing at the time they were made, not on the basis of outcomes that only become apparent after the crisis has ended.
SCFR Online-Opinion: Sanctions are gradually transforming from classical financial instruments into complex mechanisms for the containment of technology, data, and global supply chains.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus is an attempt to redefine France’s role in Syria following the recent political developments in that country; an effort pursued within the context of great power competition and the country’s security challenges.
Strategic Council Online – Note: Middle powers such as India, Turkey, Australia, and some Persian Gulf countries are no longer marginal actors, but are redefining global power equations through balancing diplomacy.
Strategic Council Online – Note: In today’s global politics, the creation of narratives has become as important as territorial control and economic management, and has turned into the main tool of great power competition.
SCFR Online – Interview: Three months have passed since the operation by US special forces in Caracas – an operation in which Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was abducted and transferred to New York. To examine the legal, political, and economic dimensions of this unprecedented event and its consequences, we have interviewed Soroosh Salami, an expert on Latin American affairs.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: A Latin American affairs expert believes that, although the United States of America is trying to impose “new colonialism” on the Latin American region, a new form of resistance, protest, and nationwide uprisings will likely emerge.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: An American affairs expert stated that in recent weeks, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has undergone a distinct redefinition, shifting toward hard power tools. According to media reports, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House reviewed options for military operations “against drug cartels”. It even introduced a deadly attack on a suspected boat leaving Venezuelan waters as the beginning of a new phase of its campaign. This approach has been reinforced by the deployment of significant military assets to the Caribbean periphery, including cruisers equipped with cruise missiles and attack submarines, as well as the stationing of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. It is complemented by labeling Nicolás Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and doubling the bounty for his capture.
Although Trump, when asked about “regime change,” said, “We’re not discussing that,” by linking Venezuela to the anti-drug mission, he has effectively redefined the “maximum pressure” strategy within a security-military framework. At the regional level, the resurgence of the old concept of “gunboat diplomacy” in America’s backyard sends a deterrent message to Caracas and its allies on one hand, while increasing the risk of sliding into proxy and attritional conflicts on the other. At the structural level, the merging of U.S. domestic considerations, including the “crackdown on drug trafficking” agenda, with geopolitical calculations to control energy resources and routes of influence, indicates that the Venezuela issue is not merely a criminal-security matter but rather a reflection of great power competition and a test of the resilience of the Latin American regional order—an order that, with each crisis escalation, simultaneously creates opportunities and threats for both extra-regional and regional actors.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: Former head of the Logistics Headquarter of Afghanistan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Taliban is now only thinking of consolidating its international position; said: So far, there is no evidence of the efforts of the leaders of that group to create an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnic groups.
Strategic Council Online – Note: The policy that Russia is currently pursuing in Afghanistan is an effort to fill the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from the country by strengthening its presence and influence through political mechanisms and security processes, unlike China, which uses mechanisms of economic, development, and investment programs in Afghanistan’s infrastructure in an effort to fill in the said gap.
Hamid Khoshayand – Analyst of International Affairs
Strategic Council Online: As Trump’s maximum pressure to attract US public opinion, and change the course of international development of corona pandemic towards China, by introducing this country as the origin of the virus, and make Beijing responsible for this pandemic by any means, French diplomacy is on a mission to continue this trend and to increase a controlled pressure on Paris-Beijing relations.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former IRI Ambassador to France
SCFR Online – Opinion: The Ukraine war was not merely a European crisis, but rather the starting point for the rearrangement of the global balance of power and a shift in the strategic behavior of great powers.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Great power competition is now pursued more in trade, currency, technology, and global supply chains than on the battlefields of military confrontation.
Strategic Council Online – Note: By disregarding Iran’s deterrence capabilities and political economy leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has reached a strategic deadlock from which military means are unable to extricate it.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Foreign policy analysis is valid when it evaluates decisions based on the information and circumstances prevailing at the time they were made, not on the basis of outcomes that only become apparent after the crisis has ended.
SCFR Online-Opinion: Sanctions are gradually transforming from classical financial instruments into complex mechanisms for the containment of technology, data, and global supply chains.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus is an attempt to redefine France’s role in Syria following the recent political developments in that country; an effort pursued within the context of great power competition and the country’s security challenges.
Strategic Council Online – Note: Middle powers such as India, Turkey, Australia, and some Persian Gulf countries are no longer marginal actors, but are redefining global power equations through balancing diplomacy.
Strategic Council Online – Note: In today’s global politics, the creation of narratives has become as important as territorial control and economic management, and has turned into the main tool of great power competition.
SCFR Online – Interview: Three months have passed since the operation by US special forces in Caracas – an operation in which Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was abducted and transferred to New York. To examine the legal, political, and economic dimensions of this unprecedented event and its consequences, we have interviewed Soroosh Salami, an expert on Latin American affairs.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: A Latin American affairs expert believes that, although the United States of America is trying to impose “new colonialism” on the Latin American region, a new form of resistance, protest, and nationwide uprisings will likely emerge.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: An American affairs expert stated that in recent weeks, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has undergone a distinct redefinition, shifting toward hard power tools. According to media reports, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House reviewed options for military operations “against drug cartels”. It even introduced a deadly attack on a suspected boat leaving Venezuelan waters as the beginning of a new phase of its campaign. This approach has been reinforced by the deployment of significant military assets to the Caribbean periphery, including cruisers equipped with cruise missiles and attack submarines, as well as the stationing of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. It is complemented by labeling Nicolás Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and doubling the bounty for his capture.
Although Trump, when asked about “regime change,” said, “We’re not discussing that,” by linking Venezuela to the anti-drug mission, he has effectively redefined the “maximum pressure” strategy within a security-military framework. At the regional level, the resurgence of the old concept of “gunboat diplomacy” in America’s backyard sends a deterrent message to Caracas and its allies on one hand, while increasing the risk of sliding into proxy and attritional conflicts on the other. At the structural level, the merging of U.S. domestic considerations, including the “crackdown on drug trafficking” agenda, with geopolitical calculations to control energy resources and routes of influence, indicates that the Venezuela issue is not merely a criminal-security matter but rather a reflection of great power competition and a test of the resilience of the Latin American regional order—an order that, with each crisis escalation, simultaneously creates opportunities and threats for both extra-regional and regional actors.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: Former head of the Logistics Headquarter of Afghanistan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Taliban is now only thinking of consolidating its international position; said: So far, there is no evidence of the efforts of the leaders of that group to create an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnic groups.
Strategic Council Online – Note: The policy that Russia is currently pursuing in Afghanistan is an effort to fill the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from the country by strengthening its presence and influence through political mechanisms and security processes, unlike China, which uses mechanisms of economic, development, and investment programs in Afghanistan’s infrastructure in an effort to fill in the said gap.
Hamid Khoshayand – Analyst of International Affairs
Strategic Council Online: As Trump’s maximum pressure to attract US public opinion, and change the course of international development of corona pandemic towards China, by introducing this country as the origin of the virus, and make Beijing responsible for this pandemic by any means, French diplomacy is on a mission to continue this trend and to increase a controlled pressure on Paris-Beijing relations.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former IRI Ambassador to France
SCFR Online – Interview: Three months have passed since the operation by US special forces in Caracas – an operation in which Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was abducted and transferred to New York. To examine the legal, political, and economic dimensions of this unprecedented event and its consequences, we have interviewed Soroosh Salami, an expert on Latin American affairs.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: A Latin American affairs expert believes that, although the United States of America is trying to impose “new colonialism” on the Latin American region, a new form of resistance, protest, and nationwide uprisings will likely emerge.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: An American affairs expert stated that in recent weeks, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has undergone a distinct redefinition, shifting toward hard power tools. According to media reports, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House reviewed options for military operations “against drug cartels”. It even introduced a deadly attack on a suspected boat leaving Venezuelan waters as the beginning of a new phase of its campaign. This approach has been reinforced by the deployment of significant military assets to the Caribbean periphery, including cruisers equipped with cruise missiles and attack submarines, as well as the stationing of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. It is complemented by labeling Nicolás Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and doubling the bounty for his capture.
Although Trump, when asked about “regime change,” said, “We’re not discussing that,” by linking Venezuela to the anti-drug mission, he has effectively redefined the “maximum pressure” strategy within a security-military framework. At the regional level, the resurgence of the old concept of “gunboat diplomacy” in America’s backyard sends a deterrent message to Caracas and its allies on one hand, while increasing the risk of sliding into proxy and attritional conflicts on the other. At the structural level, the merging of U.S. domestic considerations, including the “crackdown on drug trafficking” agenda, with geopolitical calculations to control energy resources and routes of influence, indicates that the Venezuela issue is not merely a criminal-security matter but rather a reflection of great power competition and a test of the resilience of the Latin American regional order—an order that, with each crisis escalation, simultaneously creates opportunities and threats for both extra-regional and regional actors.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: Former head of the Logistics Headquarter of Afghanistan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Taliban is now only thinking of consolidating its international position; said: So far, there is no evidence of the efforts of the leaders of that group to create an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnic groups.
Strategic Council Online – Note: The policy that Russia is currently pursuing in Afghanistan is an effort to fill the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from the country by strengthening its presence and influence through political mechanisms and security processes, unlike China, which uses mechanisms of economic, development, and investment programs in Afghanistan’s infrastructure in an effort to fill in the said gap.
Hamid Khoshayand – Analyst of International Affairs
Strategic Council Online: As Trump’s maximum pressure to attract US public opinion, and change the course of international development of corona pandemic towards China, by introducing this country as the origin of the virus, and make Beijing responsible for this pandemic by any means, French diplomacy is on a mission to continue this trend and to increase a controlled pressure on Paris-Beijing relations.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former IRI Ambassador to France
SCFR Online – Opinion: The Ukraine war was not merely a European crisis, but rather the starting point for the rearrangement of the global balance of power and a shift in the strategic behavior of great powers.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Great power competition is now pursued more in trade, currency, technology, and global supply chains than on the battlefields of military confrontation.
Strategic Council Online – Note: By disregarding Iran’s deterrence capabilities and political economy leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has reached a strategic deadlock from which military means are unable to extricate it.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Foreign policy analysis is valid when it evaluates decisions based on the information and circumstances prevailing at the time they were made, not on the basis of outcomes that only become apparent after the crisis has ended.
SCFR Online-Opinion: Sanctions are gradually transforming from classical financial instruments into complex mechanisms for the containment of technology, data, and global supply chains.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus is an attempt to redefine France’s role in Syria following the recent political developments in that country; an effort pursued within the context of great power competition and the country’s security challenges.
Strategic Council Online – Note: Middle powers such as India, Turkey, Australia, and some Persian Gulf countries are no longer marginal actors, but are redefining global power equations through balancing diplomacy.
Strategic Council Online – Note: In today’s global politics, the creation of narratives has become as important as territorial control and economic management, and has turned into the main tool of great power competition.
SCFR Online – Interview: Three months have passed since the operation by US special forces in Caracas – an operation in which Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was abducted and transferred to New York. To examine the legal, political, and economic dimensions of this unprecedented event and its consequences, we have interviewed Soroosh Salami, an expert on Latin American affairs.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: A Latin American affairs expert believes that, although the United States of America is trying to impose “new colonialism” on the Latin American region, a new form of resistance, protest, and nationwide uprisings will likely emerge.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: An American affairs expert stated that in recent weeks, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has undergone a distinct redefinition, shifting toward hard power tools. According to media reports, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House reviewed options for military operations “against drug cartels”. It even introduced a deadly attack on a suspected boat leaving Venezuelan waters as the beginning of a new phase of its campaign. This approach has been reinforced by the deployment of significant military assets to the Caribbean periphery, including cruisers equipped with cruise missiles and attack submarines, as well as the stationing of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. It is complemented by labeling Nicolás Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and doubling the bounty for his capture.
Although Trump, when asked about “regime change,” said, “We’re not discussing that,” by linking Venezuela to the anti-drug mission, he has effectively redefined the “maximum pressure” strategy within a security-military framework. At the regional level, the resurgence of the old concept of “gunboat diplomacy” in America’s backyard sends a deterrent message to Caracas and its allies on one hand, while increasing the risk of sliding into proxy and attritional conflicts on the other. At the structural level, the merging of U.S. domestic considerations, including the “crackdown on drug trafficking” agenda, with geopolitical calculations to control energy resources and routes of influence, indicates that the Venezuela issue is not merely a criminal-security matter but rather a reflection of great power competition and a test of the resilience of the Latin American regional order—an order that, with each crisis escalation, simultaneously creates opportunities and threats for both extra-regional and regional actors.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: Former head of the Logistics Headquarter of Afghanistan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Taliban is now only thinking of consolidating its international position; said: So far, there is no evidence of the efforts of the leaders of that group to create an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnic groups.
Strategic Council Online – Note: The policy that Russia is currently pursuing in Afghanistan is an effort to fill the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from the country by strengthening its presence and influence through political mechanisms and security processes, unlike China, which uses mechanisms of economic, development, and investment programs in Afghanistan’s infrastructure in an effort to fill in the said gap.
Hamid Khoshayand – Analyst of International Affairs
Strategic Council Online: As Trump’s maximum pressure to attract US public opinion, and change the course of international development of corona pandemic towards China, by introducing this country as the origin of the virus, and make Beijing responsible for this pandemic by any means, French diplomacy is on a mission to continue this trend and to increase a controlled pressure on Paris-Beijing relations.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former IRI Ambassador to France
SCFR Online – Opinion: The Ukraine war was not merely a European crisis, but rather the starting point for the rearrangement of the global balance of power and a shift in the strategic behavior of great powers.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Great power competition is now pursued more in trade, currency, technology, and global supply chains than on the battlefields of military confrontation.
Strategic Council Online – Note: By disregarding Iran’s deterrence capabilities and political economy leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has reached a strategic deadlock from which military means are unable to extricate it.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Foreign policy analysis is valid when it evaluates decisions based on the information and circumstances prevailing at the time they were made, not on the basis of outcomes that only become apparent after the crisis has ended.
SCFR Online-Opinion: Sanctions are gradually transforming from classical financial instruments into complex mechanisms for the containment of technology, data, and global supply chains.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus is an attempt to redefine France’s role in Syria following the recent political developments in that country; an effort pursued within the context of great power competition and the country’s security challenges.
Strategic Council Online – Note: Middle powers such as India, Turkey, Australia, and some Persian Gulf countries are no longer marginal actors, but are redefining global power equations through balancing diplomacy.
Strategic Council Online – Note: In today’s global politics, the creation of narratives has become as important as territorial control and economic management, and has turned into the main tool of great power competition.
SCFR Online – Interview: Three months have passed since the operation by US special forces in Caracas – an operation in which Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was abducted and transferred to New York. To examine the legal, political, and economic dimensions of this unprecedented event and its consequences, we have interviewed Soroosh Salami, an expert on Latin American affairs.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: A Latin American affairs expert believes that, although the United States of America is trying to impose “new colonialism” on the Latin American region, a new form of resistance, protest, and nationwide uprisings will likely emerge.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: An American affairs expert stated that in recent weeks, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has undergone a distinct redefinition, shifting toward hard power tools. According to media reports, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House reviewed options for military operations “against drug cartels”. It even introduced a deadly attack on a suspected boat leaving Venezuelan waters as the beginning of a new phase of its campaign. This approach has been reinforced by the deployment of significant military assets to the Caribbean periphery, including cruisers equipped with cruise missiles and attack submarines, as well as the stationing of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. It is complemented by labeling Nicolás Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and doubling the bounty for his capture.
Although Trump, when asked about “regime change,” said, “We’re not discussing that,” by linking Venezuela to the anti-drug mission, he has effectively redefined the “maximum pressure” strategy within a security-military framework. At the regional level, the resurgence of the old concept of “gunboat diplomacy” in America’s backyard sends a deterrent message to Caracas and its allies on one hand, while increasing the risk of sliding into proxy and attritional conflicts on the other. At the structural level, the merging of U.S. domestic considerations, including the “crackdown on drug trafficking” agenda, with geopolitical calculations to control energy resources and routes of influence, indicates that the Venezuela issue is not merely a criminal-security matter but rather a reflection of great power competition and a test of the resilience of the Latin American regional order—an order that, with each crisis escalation, simultaneously creates opportunities and threats for both extra-regional and regional actors.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: Former head of the Logistics Headquarter of Afghanistan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Taliban is now only thinking of consolidating its international position; said: So far, there is no evidence of the efforts of the leaders of that group to create an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnic groups.
Strategic Council Online – Note: The policy that Russia is currently pursuing in Afghanistan is an effort to fill the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from the country by strengthening its presence and influence through political mechanisms and security processes, unlike China, which uses mechanisms of economic, development, and investment programs in Afghanistan’s infrastructure in an effort to fill in the said gap.
Hamid Khoshayand – Analyst of International Affairs
Strategic Council Online: As Trump’s maximum pressure to attract US public opinion, and change the course of international development of corona pandemic towards China, by introducing this country as the origin of the virus, and make Beijing responsible for this pandemic by any means, French diplomacy is on a mission to continue this trend and to increase a controlled pressure on Paris-Beijing relations.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former IRI Ambassador to France
SCFR Online – Opinion: The Ukraine war was not merely a European crisis, but rather the starting point for the rearrangement of the global balance of power and a shift in the strategic behavior of great powers.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Great power competition is now pursued more in trade, currency, technology, and global supply chains than on the battlefields of military confrontation.
Strategic Council Online – Note: By disregarding Iran’s deterrence capabilities and political economy leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has reached a strategic deadlock from which military means are unable to extricate it.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Foreign policy analysis is valid when it evaluates decisions based on the information and circumstances prevailing at the time they were made, not on the basis of outcomes that only become apparent after the crisis has ended.
SCFR Online-Opinion: Sanctions are gradually transforming from classical financial instruments into complex mechanisms for the containment of technology, data, and global supply chains.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus is an attempt to redefine France’s role in Syria following the recent political developments in that country; an effort pursued within the context of great power competition and the country’s security challenges.
Strategic Council Online – Note: Middle powers such as India, Turkey, Australia, and some Persian Gulf countries are no longer marginal actors, but are redefining global power equations through balancing diplomacy.
Strategic Council Online – Note: In today’s global politics, the creation of narratives has become as important as territorial control and economic management, and has turned into the main tool of great power competition.
SCFR Online – Interview: Three months have passed since the operation by US special forces in Caracas – an operation in which Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was abducted and transferred to New York. To examine the legal, political, and economic dimensions of this unprecedented event and its consequences, we have interviewed Soroosh Salami, an expert on Latin American affairs.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: A Latin American affairs expert believes that, although the United States of America is trying to impose “new colonialism” on the Latin American region, a new form of resistance, protest, and nationwide uprisings will likely emerge.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: An American affairs expert stated that in recent weeks, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has undergone a distinct redefinition, shifting toward hard power tools. According to media reports, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House reviewed options for military operations “against drug cartels”. It even introduced a deadly attack on a suspected boat leaving Venezuelan waters as the beginning of a new phase of its campaign. This approach has been reinforced by the deployment of significant military assets to the Caribbean periphery, including cruisers equipped with cruise missiles and attack submarines, as well as the stationing of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. It is complemented by labeling Nicolás Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and doubling the bounty for his capture.
Although Trump, when asked about “regime change,” said, “We’re not discussing that,” by linking Venezuela to the anti-drug mission, he has effectively redefined the “maximum pressure” strategy within a security-military framework. At the regional level, the resurgence of the old concept of “gunboat diplomacy” in America’s backyard sends a deterrent message to Caracas and its allies on one hand, while increasing the risk of sliding into proxy and attritional conflicts on the other. At the structural level, the merging of U.S. domestic considerations, including the “crackdown on drug trafficking” agenda, with geopolitical calculations to control energy resources and routes of influence, indicates that the Venezuela issue is not merely a criminal-security matter but rather a reflection of great power competition and a test of the resilience of the Latin American regional order—an order that, with each crisis escalation, simultaneously creates opportunities and threats for both extra-regional and regional actors.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: Former head of the Logistics Headquarter of Afghanistan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Taliban is now only thinking of consolidating its international position; said: So far, there is no evidence of the efforts of the leaders of that group to create an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnic groups.
Strategic Council Online – Note: The policy that Russia is currently pursuing in Afghanistan is an effort to fill the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from the country by strengthening its presence and influence through political mechanisms and security processes, unlike China, which uses mechanisms of economic, development, and investment programs in Afghanistan’s infrastructure in an effort to fill in the said gap.
Hamid Khoshayand – Analyst of International Affairs
Strategic Council Online: As Trump’s maximum pressure to attract US public opinion, and change the course of international development of corona pandemic towards China, by introducing this country as the origin of the virus, and make Beijing responsible for this pandemic by any means, French diplomacy is on a mission to continue this trend and to increase a controlled pressure on Paris-Beijing relations.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former IRI Ambassador to France
SCFR Online – Opinion: The Ukraine war was not merely a European crisis, but rather the starting point for the rearrangement of the global balance of power and a shift in the strategic behavior of great powers.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Great power competition is now pursued more in trade, currency, technology, and global supply chains than on the battlefields of military confrontation.
Strategic Council Online – Note: By disregarding Iran’s deterrence capabilities and political economy leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has reached a strategic deadlock from which military means are unable to extricate it.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Foreign policy analysis is valid when it evaluates decisions based on the information and circumstances prevailing at the time they were made, not on the basis of outcomes that only become apparent after the crisis has ended.
SCFR Online-Opinion: Sanctions are gradually transforming from classical financial instruments into complex mechanisms for the containment of technology, data, and global supply chains.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus is an attempt to redefine France’s role in Syria following the recent political developments in that country; an effort pursued within the context of great power competition and the country’s security challenges.
Strategic Council Online – Note: Middle powers such as India, Turkey, Australia, and some Persian Gulf countries are no longer marginal actors, but are redefining global power equations through balancing diplomacy.
Strategic Council Online – Note: In today’s global politics, the creation of narratives has become as important as territorial control and economic management, and has turned into the main tool of great power competition.
SCFR Online – Interview: Three months have passed since the operation by US special forces in Caracas – an operation in which Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was abducted and transferred to New York. To examine the legal, political, and economic dimensions of this unprecedented event and its consequences, we have interviewed Soroosh Salami, an expert on Latin American affairs.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: A Latin American affairs expert believes that, although the United States of America is trying to impose “new colonialism” on the Latin American region, a new form of resistance, protest, and nationwide uprisings will likely emerge.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: An American affairs expert stated that in recent weeks, U.S. policy toward Venezuela has undergone a distinct redefinition, shifting toward hard power tools. According to media reports, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the White House reviewed options for military operations “against drug cartels”. It even introduced a deadly attack on a suspected boat leaving Venezuelan waters as the beginning of a new phase of its campaign. This approach has been reinforced by the deployment of significant military assets to the Caribbean periphery, including cruisers equipped with cruise missiles and attack submarines, as well as the stationing of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. It is complemented by labeling Nicolás Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and doubling the bounty for his capture.
Although Trump, when asked about “regime change,” said, “We’re not discussing that,” by linking Venezuela to the anti-drug mission, he has effectively redefined the “maximum pressure” strategy within a security-military framework. At the regional level, the resurgence of the old concept of “gunboat diplomacy” in America’s backyard sends a deterrent message to Caracas and its allies on one hand, while increasing the risk of sliding into proxy and attritional conflicts on the other. At the structural level, the merging of U.S. domestic considerations, including the “crackdown on drug trafficking” agenda, with geopolitical calculations to control energy resources and routes of influence, indicates that the Venezuela issue is not merely a criminal-security matter but rather a reflection of great power competition and a test of the resilience of the Latin American regional order—an order that, with each crisis escalation, simultaneously creates opportunities and threats for both extra-regional and regional actors.
Strategic Council Online – Interview: Former head of the Logistics Headquarter of Afghanistan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Taliban is now only thinking of consolidating its international position; said: So far, there is no evidence of the efforts of the leaders of that group to create an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnic groups.
Strategic Council Online – Note: The policy that Russia is currently pursuing in Afghanistan is an effort to fill the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from the country by strengthening its presence and influence through political mechanisms and security processes, unlike China, which uses mechanisms of economic, development, and investment programs in Afghanistan’s infrastructure in an effort to fill in the said gap.
Hamid Khoshayand – Analyst of International Affairs
Strategic Council Online: As Trump’s maximum pressure to attract US public opinion, and change the course of international development of corona pandemic towards China, by introducing this country as the origin of the virus, and make Beijing responsible for this pandemic by any means, French diplomacy is on a mission to continue this trend and to increase a controlled pressure on Paris-Beijing relations.
Abolghasem Delfi – Former IRI Ambassador to France
SCFR Online – Opinion: The Ukraine war was not merely a European crisis, but rather the starting point for the rearrangement of the global balance of power and a shift in the strategic behavior of great powers.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Great power competition is now pursued more in trade, currency, technology, and global supply chains than on the battlefields of military confrontation.
Strategic Council Online – Note: By disregarding Iran’s deterrence capabilities and political economy leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has reached a strategic deadlock from which military means are unable to extricate it.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Foreign policy analysis is valid when it evaluates decisions based on the information and circumstances prevailing at the time they were made, not on the basis of outcomes that only become apparent after the crisis has ended.
SCFR Online-Opinion: Sanctions are gradually transforming from classical financial instruments into complex mechanisms for the containment of technology, data, and global supply chains.
SCFR Online – Opinion: Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus is an attempt to redefine France’s role in Syria following the recent political developments in that country; an effort pursued within the context of great power competition and the country’s security challenges.
Strategic Council Online – Note: Middle powers such as India, Turkey, Australia, and some Persian Gulf countries are no longer marginal actors, but are redefining global power equations through balancing diplomacy.
Strategic Council Online – Note: In today’s global politics, the creation of narratives has become as important as territorial control and economic management, and has turned into the main tool of great power competition.