More than a decade separates the announcement of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from the announcement of the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) in September 2023. For the new initiative, this is an advantage: it can learn from the Chinese experience. Rather than viewing IMEC merely as an alternative to the BRI, this article examines what lessons can be drawn from the latter’s successes and failures. The Chinese experience points to the advantages of gradual and flexible development, which could enable...
The new Gaza roadmap, formulated within the framework of President Trump’s Board of Peace, seeks to translate the 20-Point Plan and UN Security Council Resolution 2803, having approved it from a conceptual framework to a detailed implementation plan. On the one hand, it modifies some of the security assumptions on which these documents were based; on the other hand, it may represent the only practical framework for transferring power from Hamas and establishing an alternative governing authority in the Gaza Strip. As the framework...
Following American pressure, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presented an ambitious plan to disarm the pro-Iranian militias. He even set an ultimatum for its implementation: September 30, the date on which the U.S.-led international coalition’s mission against ISIS is scheduled to conclude. As the deadline approaches, the magnitude of the challenge is becoming increasingly apparent amid internal divisions among the militias. While pragmatic militias, whose leaders seek to strengthen their own political influence, have...
In recent weeks, talks have been underway in Cairo on the formation of an expanded national list ahead of the Palestinian Legislative Council elections scheduled for November. This list would include Fatah figures opposed to Abu Mazen alongside Hamas members, and possibly Palestinian Islamic Jihad as well. The composition of such a list would effectively allow Hamas to integrate into the Palestinian political system without being required to recognize the agreements signed between the PLO and Israel or place its weapons under the...
The Trump administration’s announcement of “Operation Economic Outcast” marks a transition to a new phase in the campaign against Iran. After roughly six months of fighting, during which Tehran suffered severe damage, the full picture of the campaign remains incomplete: maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has not returned to normal, and the nuclear issue remains unresolved. In light of this, Washington is seeking to shift the center of gravity: relying less on further expansion of the military campaign and leaning...
On the night between August 17 and 18, 2026, the Israeli Air Force conducted an unusual strike deep inside Syrian territory, a mere 60 km from the Turkish border. Eight missiles struck the runways at the Abu al-Duhur military airfield in Idlib Governorate. The Prime Minister’s Office de facto confirmed the strike, clarifying that the deployment of Turkish forces on Syrian soil constitutes a red line for Israel. According to the Prime Minister’s Office statement, a security status quo had formed between the countries,...
The Threat Perceptions Index recently published by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) presents a troubling paradox. Only 14 percent of the public view a large-scale natural disaster as one of the three main threats to Israel over the next five years, and only 5 percent regard it as the most significant threat. Among the experts surveyed, the figures are even lower: 10 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Yet when the public was asked what would happen if such a scenario were to materialize, 64 percent estimated that...
In recent years, the competition between China and the United States in the field of artificial intelligence has expanded beyond the race to develop advanced models. It now extends into distribution, institutional design, standards, value chains, and partnerships that will shape the industry’s future. While the United States seeks to preserve its advantage through over key technologies and in collaboration with its allies, China is advancing a control strategy that relies on open models, reduced costs, infrastructure, and...
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan on August 7, includes a mutual defense clause and links three major Muslim states. The agreement has raised concerns in Israel and other countries, including Greece and India. However, its viability as a close military alliance is questionable due to divergent threat maps, competition for Sunni leadership, and the complex relations that both Turkey and Pakistan maintain with Iran. Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal lends the alliance deterrent weight but...
Since October 7, a lively debate has been underway in professional circles regarding the need to update or revise Israel’s national security strategy. As is well known to those engaged in the field, Israel does not have, and has never had, a national security strategy in the full sense of the term—one that is written, approved by the political leadership, and made public. In practice, the term “security strategy” is used in Israel as a tool that those who invoke it define as they see fit and employ for their own purposes. Yet in the...
Artificial intelligence is not only altering the processing capabilities of computers, but also creating a new economy based on the token as the central unit of measurement for model usage, the demand for computing power, and the economic cost of operating them. The token reflects the scope of inference work—the processing performed by the model in real time—and therefore serves as a direct metric for the consumption of computing resources, including graphics processing units (GPUs), data centers, and energy. In this sense, the token...
Saudi Arabia seeks to adhere to its détente with Iran while taking a more resolute stance against the Islamic Republic’s proxies. While maintaining channels of dialogue with Tehran, in recent weeks Riyadh has demonstrated a willingness to employ military force against the Houthis in Yemen and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, and has even launched a regional security initiative to protect maritime shipping routes in the Red Sea. However, historical experience suggests that Saudi military assertiveness, which the Kingdom has sought to...
