Month: October 2024

Sledgehammer: The Wagner cult in Syria

In Season 2, Episode 6 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi chats with defense researcher Jack Margolin about his new book on the Wagner Group. They focus on its operations in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the country’s central place within the Wagner subculture. They also discuss the ever-present profit motive

Ukrainian journalist who exposed Russian occupation dies in Kremlin captivity

A Ukrainian journalist who sought to document the Russian occupation of her country has died in Kremlin captivity. The family of award-winning journalist Victoria Roshchyna received notification of her death from the Russian authorities in early October. No cause of death was given, with reports indicating that she died in mid-September while being moved between

Western leaders offer underwhelming response to Zelenskyy’s victory plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finally presented his widely touted victory plan last week, but there is little indication that his ambitious proposal has captured the imagination of Ukraine’s Western partners. Instead, the somewhat muted reaction has underlined the current limitations of Western support for the Ukrainian war effort. Western leaders had the perfect opportunity to

Axis of Autocrats: North Korea’s escalating role in Russia’s Ukraine War

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused North Korea of preparing to send thousands of soldiers to join the Russian invasion of his country, and is calling for a “strong response” from the international community. “In fact, another state is joining the war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy commented during his traditional daily video address on Sunday evening.

The economic and social costs of the war in Gaza

Download PDF A year after the Hamas attacks that led to war in Gaza, there can be no doubt: This latest outbreak of violence in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict has wrought by far the most significant damage, expanding to include attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthis, Israeli operations against Hezbollah in

Israel versus Hezbollah: Not a full-scale war—yet

In 1982, up to six divisions of the Israeli army charged into Lebanon to drive out the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). They reached the outskirts of Beirut in nine days, launching a two-month siege of the Lebanese capital that ended with the departure of the PLO. In the 2006 war against Hezbollah, Israel anticipated that

After Sinwar’s death, what’s next for Iran’s Axis of Resistance?

JUST IN Three hundred and seventy-six days later, he is dead. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of last October’s terrorist attack on Israel, which set off a year of war in the Middle East, was killed by Israeli soldiers today in the Gaza Strip. Sinwar’s death follows Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

Russia is indoctrinating schoolchildren throughout occupied Ukraine

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. The ICC’s allegations made headlines around the world, helping to raise international awareness about the thousands of Ukrainian children who have been abducted by Russia and

Information warfare in the South Caucasus and Moldova

DOWNLOAD PDF The four countries that are the focus of this report— Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova—navigate a complex geopolitical landscape. This complexity is reflected in their information spaces. Their collective legacy bears the indelible imprint of Soviet imperi­alistic rule, yet each is marked by a distinct identity and national trajectory that defy collective general­izations