Category: Europe & Eurasia

Turkey is searching for a way out of Syria’s impasse

Turkey’s Syria strategy is at a critical juncture. Facing military deadlock, Russian resistance, and US economic pressure, Ankara is considering political avenues, potentially reshaping its Kurdish policy. Turkey is navigating multiple opposing strategies at once, from engaging with Damascus to eliminate the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria to allowing the imprisoned leader of

Putin is making the most of a distracted and divided United States

Russian President Vladimir Putin is moving on several fronts simultaneously, both military and political, to take advantage of a United States that is distracted and divided ahead of next week’s presidential election. Putin’s risky move to bring thousands of North Korean soldiers to Russia to fight Ukraine, and his doubling down to push for pro-Kremlin

Balancing a culture of secrecy and collaboration: Information sharing with hostage families

Hostage and wrongful detention cases remain a key US national security priority regardless of the fact that they represent a relatively small number of instances, as their impacts reverberate well beyond the hostage and their family. Countries like China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela have adopted the practice of wrongful detention—hostage-taking by state actors—precisely because they

From Dushanbe to Berlin: The emerging ISIS-K threat

Although the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) was officially defeated by coalition forces in 2019, its offshoot branch focused on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia has recently pursued high-profile attacks outside of the region. Central Asian nationals, particularly Tajiks, carried out many of the recent Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) attacks and plots in Europe

Part 3. Defense cooperation: Turkey’s triangular balancing in the Black Sea region

This chapter is part of a report on the prospects for enhanced cooperation between Turkey and Western countries in the Black Sea region in the new geopolitical setting following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Assessing the strategic environment In its Black Sea neighborhood, which includes Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia, Turkey faces a centuries

Risky business: How to save the G7 deal to mobilize $50 billion for Ukraine

Could the Group of Seven (G7) deal to mobilize Russia’s immobilized reserves for Ukraine now be upended by a risk-weighting exercise? Senior US officials have been invited to join this week’s meeting of the European Union (EU) member states’ top representatives in Brussels in one of the last attempts to secure US participation in the

Turkey wants to end the war in Ukraine—and might have a formula to do it

As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to drag on, much is uncertain about its eventual end. But one thing that is clear—and that may greatly influence how the war ends and the regional landscape afterward—is Turkey’s critical role in shaping a cease-fire and post-war arrangement. As a major military and diplomatic power committed both to