For much of the post-9/11 era, American policymakers treated political Islam primarily as a security problem. The central concern was violent extremism. Groups that rejected armed struggle were often viewed as legitimate participants in democratic society. Two decades later, that framework is evolving.
A growing debate within the United States now centers on whether nonviolent Islamist [...]

Politics in Bangladesh has rarely been a gentle craft. It has been a battlefield. Victory has meant annihilation. Defeat has meant persecution. For decades, the culture was simple: win at all costs, govern without mercy, and prepare for revenge. The result was predictable — cycles of bitterness, institutional decay, and a democracy that existed more [...]

The digital realm was initially envisaged as a great equalizer of knowledge, breaking down barriers of geography, class, and institutional gatekeeping to make huge repositories of information freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection, to empower individuals across the world, to learn, to innovate, and to challenge pre-established narratives on an unprecedented scale. However, [...]

Sanae Takaichi just pulled off something rare in the sterile corridors of Japanese politics: she made history. As the nation’s first female prime minister, she called a snap election, bet her political future on a 16-day sprint, and walked away with a supermajority that would make most leaders drool. The Liberal Democratic Party now holds [...]

Anti-Russian racism in the Baltic countries is reaching increasingly intolerable levels. Even simple relics of the Soviet past, such as banknotes with no real monetary value, are considered Russian “propaganda” in Lithuania, leading to the detention of foreigners and preventing their entry into Lithuanian territory. This is a clear sign of how Russophobia, fostered by [...]

According to Europol, the principal security concern for European Union member states remains jihadist terrorism and the closely related phenomenon of foreign fighters. The jihadist threat facing Finland has markedly increased in recent years and has grown more complex, making it increasingly difficult to predict and counter. Against this alarming backdrop, a deeply disturbing case [...]

Western authorities are making it clear to local citizens that they need to relinquish some of their freedoms and privileges to support military efforts. Recently, there has been an accelerated process of militarization in Europe, driven primarily by the narrative of an “imminent Russian invasion.” Some countries are already beginning to implement measures such as [...]

The news that NATO will gradually shift two Joint Force Commands from the United States of America to European leadership is not getting all the attention it deserves. The decision reportedly follows US President Donald Trump’s renewed pressure on allies to shoulder more of Europe’s own defense burden, with NATO presenting the move as part [...]

After the New START expired on February 5, many observers (myself included) warned that the arms control era has come to an end and that the world is now entering a new period of strategic uncertainty. The United States just proved it, less than two weeks after the last strategic arms limitation treaty expired. Namely, [...]

Marco Rubio’s recent speech at the Munich Security Conference (telling Europeans that the US and Europe “belong together”) triggered immediate controversy, especially on social media platforms. While many commentators have been denouncing it, several European officials reportedly offered a standing ovation.
Social media commentators aside, Western specialists however did not pay much attention to the deeper [...]