The countries of the Western Balkans have made varied progress in economic and political transition. One of the region’s countries is now a member of the EU and four have acceded to NATO. But the region’s transition is incomplete and there are signs of backsliding which have alarmed NATO allies.…

In August 2021, Allied and partner engagement in Afghanistan came to a sudden end, culminating in one of the largest airlift evacuation efforts in history. While the 20-year engagement by Allies and their partners in Afghanistan successfully prevented new terrorist attacks against Allies…

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has completely overshadowed the sixth assessment report (AR 6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published shortly after the beginning of the war. However, the IPCC’s message is clear: climate change is at least partially irreversible…

Russia’s illegal and brutal military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 represents a tectonic shift in international affairs that will fundamentally affect the global security landscape. Ukraine stands at the frontline of the democratic world pushing back against a revisionist wave of…

Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine proves that it is not just a threat to, but an active spoiler of European security and stability. Russia, however, is not the only challenge to Euro-Atlantic security, which complicates a longer-term response to Moscow’s reckless assault on the…

Corruption undermines national institutions that are critical to administering states, endangering national stability and deepening international differences. It enables terrorist and criminal networks both by providing vehicles for these groups to finance their operations and by weakening the hand…

While Russia’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy, notably the unprovoked full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is the principal threat to Allied peace and security today, terrorism remains the main asymmetrical threat. Terrorism has been a key challenge for Allies since the al-Qaeda…

The emergence of new trading powers and particularly China has fomented new tensions in the international trading system. At the same time, Russia, a declining and high disruptive country, poses grave and more immediate challenges. These tensions are largely driven by disagreements over which norms…