WORLD ROUNDUPHow to Avoid Nuclear Escalation in the Middle East | The Strategic Battle to Secure Undersea Cables | Bibi's Post-War Plan, and more
· How to Avoid Nuclear Escalation as a Confident Iran and Insecure Israel Square Off
It is time to change course, find alternatives to the ineffective current policies, and avoid a strategic mistake that will enable Iran to get closer to a nuclear weapon
· International Watchdog Investigation Finds Islamic State Used Mustard Gas in 2015 Attack in Syria
The mustard gas, also known as sulfur mustard, was used during attacks on Sept. 1, 2015, as Islamic State attacked the town of Marea
· Navigating the Depths: The Strategic Battle to Secure Undersea Cables
To ensure digital resilience across NATO, the organization must develop a unified approach to undersea cable protection
· Bibi’s Post-War Plan: No Reconstruction in Gaza Without Demilitarization
Israel will only allow reconstruction to take place after the enclave is demilitarized.
· Taiwan’s Wait for $19 Billion in US-Made Weapons Compounds China Threat
The gap between the self-ruled island’s and China’s military capabilities continues to widen
· Chinese ‘Monster’ Ship Keeps Pressure on Vietnam’s Oil Fields
The world’s largest coast guard vessel returns for a fresh patrol tour near Vanguard Bank in the South China Sea
· Return of the Triptiz Trap: Is Indian Ocean Becoming Another South China Sea?
Chinese territorial expansion is often viewed as the modern-day equivalent of the British East Indian Company by many Western critics
How to Avoid Nuclear Escalation as a Confident Iran and Insecure Israel Square Off (Assaf Zoran, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
Last November, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provided insights into the sustained and unprecedented progress of Iran’s nuclear program, including the alarming update about a speed-up in its uranium enrichment. While the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to capture both regional and global attention, the IAEA report serves as a striking reminder that the Iranian nuclear challenge persists, and with it a substantial risk of regional escalation.
Two opposing dynamics are at play in the region: a growing Iranian confidence in its long-term strategy, and the erosion of Israeli confidence in maintaining its national security. These create fertile and perilous ground for a potential direct confrontation, in which the nuclear issue would be central.
It is time to change course, find alternatives to the ineffective current policies, and avoid a strategic mistake that will enable Iran to get closer to a nuclear weapon.
International Watchdog Investigation Finds Islamic State Used Mustard Gas in 2015 Attack in Syria (Mike Corder, AP)
An international investigative team said Thursday that its probe into a 2015 attack in Syria found “reasonable grounds to believe” that the Islamic State group used mustard gas, the latest finding of use of poison gas and nerve agents in Syria’s grinding civil war.
The report by the Investigation and Identification team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found that mustard gas, also known as sulfur mustard, was used during attacks on Sept. 1, 2015, as Islamic State attacked the town of Marea.
The investigation “established that the chemical payload was deployed by artillery from areas under the control of ISIL, and that no entity other than ISIL possessed the means, motives, and capabilities to deploy sulfur mustard as part of an attack in Marea,” its report said, referring to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
