• Germany Confronts Extremism in Sahel Region

    On her visit to Burkina Faso, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze wants to show a willingness to speak with the ruling military junta. In Benin, she’ll support Germany’s efforts to boost trust in state structures.

  • Analysis of the IAEA’s Iran NPT Safeguards Report - February 2024

    For the first time, the latest quarterly International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards report on Iran’s compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) draws a direct line between Iran’s non-compliance with its comprehensive safeguards agreement (CSA) and concern about Iran’s current ability to make nuclear weapons.

  • Neo-Nazi Music Concerts: Incubators of Far-Right Extremism

    Music’s role within the far-right extremist culture is critical to understanding why concerts and musical gatherings have retained their prominence and have attracted an increasing number of recruits to the racially divisive ideological belief and value system. Such concerts feature bands who promote a bigoted and racist ideology, including one of the most notorious sub-genres within the black metal musical arena, i.e., National Socialist Black Metal or NSBM.

  • Untangling False Claims About Ashkenazi Jews, Khazars, and Israel 

    There has been a noticeable rise in antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the weeks and months following Hamas’s brutal assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. One of the most insidious claims used to discredit both Jews and Israel is that Ashkenazi Jews (i.e., Jews who trace their ancestry to Northern and Eastern Europe) have no historical or genetic relationship to Jewish antiquity in the land of Israel—making Jews “colonizers” with no legitimate claim to the land that makes up the Jewish state.

  • Within Hours of Appeal, Supreme Court Stays Appellate Ruling on Texas Border Bill

    Within hours of a federal appeals court decision Monday allowing a new Texas law to stand that makes illegal entry into the state from a foreign nation a state crime, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito stayed the appellate court’s decision. Alito’s ruling prevents the law from going into effect on March 5, as originally intended, or on March 11, as the Fifth Circuit ruled unless the Supreme Court intervened.

  • The Crisis at the Border: A Primer for Confused Americans

    The volume of migrants arriving at the border without prior authorization—a historic high of 3.2 million encounters in fiscal year 2023—is indeed record-breaking. Migrants now hail from a greater diversity of countries than in the past and consist of more families and children.

  • U.S. Lobbyists Drop Chinese Clients Amid Tightened Scrutiny

    Lobbying firms in Washington are reportedly rushing to drop clients from China as lawmakers look to tighten scrutiny. The push comes in the wake of a surge in Chinese lobbying in recent years and growing concerns about China’s influence. Legislators aim to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from using gray areas to secretly advance policy agendas that harm the interests of the American people.

  • A Careful Rethinking of the Iraq War

    A new book details military operations and political dynamics in Iraq, shedding new light on the challenges of state-building. “The United States wanted to build a new Iraqi state, but what we did was create a situation where multiple and large Shia militia make deals with each other,” says the author, Roger Petersen.

  • Appeals Court Reverses Order Blocking Texas Immigration Law, Setting Up Supreme Court Showdown

    The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Saturday reversed a lower court’s ruling that halted a new state law allowing Texas police to arrest people suspected of crossing the Texas-Mexico border illegally. If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t intervene in the coming days, the law making illegal entry a state crime could go into effect this weekend.

  • The Two-State Solution: an Idea Whose Time Has Come?

    The ‘two-state solution’ therefore appears as an idea whose time has come.  It already figures prominently in all international deliberations on the ‘day after’ – when and if a relatively durable cease-fire is in place, allowing for relief to get to the population, the release of hostages, and a start to the hard work of reconstruction. There is, however, no simple path from where we are now to a viable Palestinian state.

  • Artificial Intelligence Is Game Changer for Election Interference: FBI

    U.S. security officials are bracing for an onslaught of fast-paced influence operations, from a wide range of adversaries, aimed at impacting the country’s coming presidential election. FBI Director Christopher Wray issued the latest warning in a meeting with security professional Thursday, saying that technologies such as artificial intelligence are already altering the threat landscape.

  • Federal Judge Blocks Texas Law Allowing Police to Arrest Migrants Suspected of Being in Country Illegally

    Senate Bill 4 was Texas’ latest attempt to deter people from crossing the Texas-Mexico border amid a surge in migration. SB 4 was scheduled to take effect Tuesday. “SB 4 threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice,” Judge David Ezra wrote.

  • New York Appeals Court Strikes Down Law Allowing Non-Citizens to Vote

    The law, pushed through the Democratic-controlled Legislature last year, was expected to add another 800,000 new eligible voters in New York City, which has a population of nearly 8.5 million. “As there is no reference to noncitizens, and thus, an irrefutable inference applies that noncitizens were intended to be excluded from those individuals entitled to vote in elections,” the court said.

  • Enhancing Preservation of Nuclear Deterrence System Designs

    A new team at Sandia is helping to more consistently track why and when important changes are made during the design and development of nuclear deterrence systems. It takes an average of 10 years to develop a system from design to production. That means a lot of decisions and changes are made along the way.

  • Top Lawmaker Warns U.S. 'Less Prepared' for Election Meddling

    Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner said that the prevalence of artificial intelligence could also make Russia’s interference with the 2016 presidential election look “like child’s play.”