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Our World, Eleanor, WV (2025)

12/23/2025

USA: On Dec. 4, 2025, the Trump administration published the 2025 National Security Strategy, or NSS. Mandated by the Goldwater–Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, the NSS is used to communicate the executive branch’s national security vision to the legislative branch (Quincy Institute).

Quincy Institute experts offer their individual assessments of this year's National Security Strategy.

12/23/2025

GLOBAL SUMMITS: The return of U.S. President Donald Trump for a second term has spurred significant changes to a post-Cold War international order that was already going through upheaval for myriad reasons, from climate change to great-power competition. He has renewed challenges to U.S. allies and adversaries alike, shaping the scope and ambitions of global summits and other important world gatherings in 2025—particularly in the areas of trade and migration (Council on Foreign Relations).

Major global forums are scheduled in 2026 that will cover diverse topics including climate change, trade, and security. But the Donald Trump administration, as it continues to overhaul U.S. foreign p…

12/23/2025

TUNISIA/IRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s visit to Tunisia earlier this fall, where he met with Tunisian President Kais Saied and Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Nafti, has renewed speculation regarding the North African country’s shifting posture toward Tehran and the broader expansion of Iranian influence in the region. Notably, the two countries are poised to renew bilateral agreements through joint committee meetings and enhanced economic and trade relations, including by reopening direct flights between Tunis and Tehran (Atlantic Council).

Tunisian President Kais Saied sees clear political advantage in drawing closer to Tehran.

12/23/2025

WEST SEA: Under the 2001 Korea-China Fisheries Agreement, South Korea and China established a jointly managed maritime area called the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) in the Yellow Sea (West Sea). The agreement was the first fisheries agreement between the two countries and was designed to temporarily manage overlapping exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claims in the Yellow Sea (Beyond Parallel, CSIS).

Under the 2001 Korea-China Fisheries Agreement, South Korea and China established a jointly managed maritime area called the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) in the Yellow Sea (West Sea).

12/23/2025

NUCLEAR TESTING: US President Donald Trump threw yet another curveball at international norms when, in response to “other countries’” nuclear testing programs, he instructed the US Department of Defense “to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis”. This instruction, revealed in an October 29 social media post, is potentially the president’s most destabilizing intervention to date. It could erode the normative moratorium on testing—a key remaining pillar of post-Cold War nuclear détente—and dial up already heated great-power frictions (German Marshall Fund).

Breadcrumb Home Press Just Say No To Nuclear Testing Insights Just Say No to Nuclear Testing Upping the nuclear ante brings the United States significant risk and few rewards. December 15, 2025 by Robert McKinnon 6 min read Share Security and Geopolitics East Asia Indo-Pacific Photo: Shutterstock Pr...

12/23/2025

IRAN: Christians of many hues have lived in Iran long before 633 CE, when Islam arrived on the heels of the Arab invading army. The Cyrus Cylinder, often considered one of the first declarations of human rights and religious tolerance, is rightly seen as emblematic of the culture of the Persian Empire before the invasion. When the Zoroastrian faith became dominant in that empire, there are sadly many instances when Christians were subjected to brutal suppression and murder. Nevertheless, for centuries, churches and monasteries dotted ancient Iran’s landscapes. Often called “Nestorian” by Westerners, these Iranian Christians not only had a prominent presence in ancient Iran’s capital-- the famous city of Ctesiphon whose architecture, and even pillaged bricks, helped shape Baghdad as the capital of the Islamic caliphate in its “Golden age,” but Nestorian bishops presided over schools that would, even in later centuries, send monks as far as India and China (Hoover Institution).

Christians of many hues have lived in Iran long before 633 CE, when Islam arrived on the heels of the Arab invading army. The Cyrus Cylinder, often considered one of the first declarations of human rights and religious tolerance, is rightly seen as emblematic of the culture of the Persian Empire bef...

12/23/2025

CBRN DISINFORMATION: When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, false claims about “US-run biolabs” began circulating almost immediately through Russian state outlets. Within weeks, those same allegations had travelled far beyond diplomatic chambers in Geneva and New York, eventually appearing on one of America’s most-watched cable news programs, where Tucker Carlson repeated them to millions of viewers. By the time they reached this stage, the narratives appeared sudden and self-contained. But in fact, they were anything but: They had been seeded years earlier, refined through earlier propaganda campaigns, and systematically pushed through a multilayered state-backed disinformation ecosystem before entering mainstream Western discourse (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists).

A new tool allows us to visualize how disinformation campaigns originating in places like the halls of the Russian Ministry of Defence can end up circulating on Fox News or in international diplomatic fora.

12/23/2025

SANCTIONS: Sanctions have long been an important component of the foreign relations toolkit, but the global landscape in which they operate is changing. The response to Russia’s war in Ukraine has involved a complex set of economic statecraft measures—spanning energy, finance, and export controls—and has highlighted both the power and the limits of sanctions in an era of major-power competition and rapid technological change. In this piece, Brookings experts weigh in on how sanctions are being used today, what their effects have been, and how shifts in geopolitics and global markets are shaping their future. In short: Can sanctions change the course of conflict? (Brookings Institution).

Sanctions have long been an important component of the foreign relations toolkit, but the global landscape in which they operate is changing. The response to Russia’s war in Ukraine has involved a complex set of economic statecraft measures—spanning energy, finance, and export controls—and has...

12/23/2025

UKRAINE: As talk of security guarantees picks up, a major component of any attempt to ensure that Ukraine is secure after the fighting stops rests on strengthening its military and improving its security environment. Specifically, the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners should work with Kyiv to design and pursue a multilayered Ukrainian security architecture that emphasizes seven principles: (1) NATO-Ukraine interoperability, (2) long-term training and sustainment, (3) industrial fusion through the Danish model, (4) innovation integration, (5) preservation of sovereign deterrence, (6) the rollback of Russian forward deployments, and (7) Ukraine’s internal military modernization (Hudson Institute).

As talk of security guarantees picks up, a major component of any attempt to ensure that Ukraine is secure after the fighting stops rests on strengthening its military and improving its security environment.

12/23/2025

USA: As 2025 winds down, it’s a good time to look back, step back, and try to see what bigger themes and lessons might be drawn from the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. When Trump was reelected president last year, many Americans believed, for good reason, that he would chart an isolationist course for the country. But one of the biggest foreign policy surprises of 2025 might well be that, one year into this term, Trump has not only eschewed isolationism but established a new brand of American internationalism with Trumpian characteristics (Council on Foreign Relations).

CFR President Michael Froman analyzes President Donald Trump’s busy year of diplomacy and action, which perhaps forged a new brand of U.S. internationalism.

12/20/2025

EGYPT: In the past two years, Egypt has played an active role on several fronts. It has mediated talks over Gaza and Iran’s nuclear programme, as well as working to de-escalate Israel’s military campaign in southern Lebanon. It has also backed the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the war in Sudan. On the surface, this new activism could be seen as restoring Egypt’s relevance and boosting its status as a regional stabilizer. But in reality, the Gaza war and the subsequent regional turmoil have fostered a regional order in which Egypt has been somewhat sidelined as Washington prioritizes its relations with Israel and the Gulf states (Chatham House).

Amid security threats on its borders, Egypt is likely to accommodate Trump’s preferences on Gaza while deepening relations with Qatar and Turkey and focusing on reviving its struggling economy.

12/20/2025

WESTERN SAHARA: Washington has signalled support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara as well as interest in resolving the conflict there. But Moroccan and U.S. hardliners are pushing to dismantle MINURSO, the dedicated UN mission, and label the pro-independence Polisario Front a terrorist organisation, which could undermine chances of a settlement (International Crisis Group).

The conflict between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front in the Western Sahara rages on a half century after it began. The U.S. and Europe must work together so the UN envoy can restart negotiations aimed at a just, lasting settlement.

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