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Engineering the Mekong: How Upstream Dams are Reshaping Cambodia’s Flooded Forests

Examining how dam driven river changes are harming a Mekong flooded forest and how smarter water management could help reverse losses

By Brian Eyler, Regan Kwan

Grand Strategy

Fit for Purpose? Assessing American Alliances

Christopher Preble | Kelly A. Grieco | Emma Ashford

Human Security & Governance

Bridging the Gap Between UN Special Envoys and the Protection of Civilians

Julie Gregory

Asia & Indo-Pacific

The Time is Ripe for Next Steps on US-Japan Military Shipbuilding Cooperation

Steve Brock and Andrew Oros

Trade & Technology

Securing the Future: Building the US Nuclear Security Workforce Pipeline

Christina McAllister

Iran War: Month Three

Israel Cannot Achieve Normalization with Lebanon by Bombing It

An updated armistice agreement could pave the way for a serious conversation about border demarcation and an end to all wars that use South Lebanon as a launching pad.

Karim Safieddine • Jad Shahrour

Defense Policy & Posture

Iran Isn’t ‘Flailing’ — It’s Executing a Coercive Risk Strategy

Understanding Iran’s military strategy in response to Operation Epic Fury

Middle East & North Africa

How to Read the Houthis’ Late Entry Into the Iran War

Given the month-long delay, the Houthis’ missile launch reads less as an operational decision than as a political one

Middle East & North Africa

Beneath the Strait: Iran Could Threaten Gulf Data Centers, Undersea Cables

Masha Kotkin

Podcast

Is There an End in Sight for the US War in Iran?

Christopher Preble • Melanie Marlowe • Zack Cooper

Defense Policy & Posture

Five Things to Know About Iranian Minelaying

Kelly A. Grieco • Marie-Louise Westermann

Middle East & North Africa

Impacts of the Iran War on North Africa, the Sahel, and Mediterranean

Hafed Al Ghwell

Why Strategic Superiority (Still) Doesn’t Matter: Nuclear Crises and the Failure of Theory

“Crises are not governed solely by heads of state consulting force ratios. They are shaped by exhausted submarine commanders operating on incomplete information, by intelligence failures and miscommunication, by bureaucratic momentum and domestic political constraints — in other words, fear, fatigue, and the fog of near-war.”

Christopher Preble and Lucas Ruiz

Trade & Technology

Conventional Arms

Japan’s Tentative Entry Into a Shifting Global Arms Market

Andrew Oros • Elias Yousif

CONVENTIONAL DEFENSE

What to Know About Emergency Arms Sales to the Middle East

Elias Yousif

COUNTERING CYBER SCAM OPERATIONS

Breaking Silos to Beat Scams: Why Holistic Law Enforcement Matters

Courtney Weatherby • Allison Pytlak

Security & Strategy

DEFENSE POLICY & POSTURE

USS Gerald Ford limps out of hot war and into embarrassment. Why?

Dan Grazier

NATIONAL SECURITY REFORM

The United States Is Self-Destructing Amid Empire Collapse

Julia Gledhill

REIMAGINING US GRAND STRATEGY

Why Strategic Superiority (Still) Doesn’t Matter

Christopher Preble • Lucas Ruiz

Human Security

PEACEKEEPING

Bridging the Gap Between UN Special Envoys and the Protection of Civilians

Julie Gregory

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE, JUSTICE, AND SECURITY

Attempting to Silence a UN Voice

Rebecca Snyder

INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The United Nations Was Built to Deliver Accountability. Can It Still Do So?

Justin Snyder

Natural Resources

ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY

Navigating Seabed Mining in the Cook Islands: A Conversation with John Parianos

Featuring Mahlet Mesfin & John Parianos

CRITICAL MINERALS

Current Geopolitics Shift Deep-Sea Mining Debates

Mahlet Mesfin

RESILIENCE & SUSTAINABILITY

In Context: Erika Weinthal and Jeannie Sowers on the Middle East Conflict’s Impacts on Civilian Infrastructure

Lauren Herzer Risi • Erika Weinthal • Jeannie Sowers

Our Programs Shaping Global Policy

The Stimson Center advances practical, nonpartisan solutions to global security and governance challenges through collaborative research, policy innovation, and partnerships that strengthen peace, security, and international cooperation worldwide.

Experts In The News

Associated Press

Rare earth mining is poisoning Mekong River tributaries, threatening ‘the world’s kitchen

Featuring

Brian Eyler

Bloomberg

Pentagon's $25 Billion Price Tag for Iran War May Miss Key Costs

Featuring

Kelly Grieco

Foreign Policy

The Iran War Is Tearing Trump’s Coalition Apart

Featuring

Emma Ashford

Business Insider

The Real Reason America's Weapons Are So Expensive

Featuring

Dan Grazier

The Guardian

Pakistan seeks to raise its global standing in push for Middle East peace

Featuring

Elizabeth Threlkeld

Al Jazeera

Falklands claim: Can Argentina’s Milei use Trump ties to challenge the UK?

Featuring

Benjamin Gedan

Podcasts

Featured Episode

Can the UN Be Reformed?

The Trialogue

Listen Now - 49 Minutes

Federico Petroni: Italy’s National Interests

Federico Petroni, senior analyst at Limes, Italy’s leading geopolitical journal, joins the Trialogue to discuss Europe’s anger over the U.S. attack on Iran, NATO’s fraught future, Italy’s Mediterranean strategy, and its regional rivalries with France and Turkey

Peter Slezkine

Listen Now - 60 Minutes

Zhao Hai: What Would China Do?

Peter Slezkine

Listen Now - 53 Minutes

Mathew Burrows: Forecasting the Next World Order

Peter Slezkine

Listen Now - 70 Minutes

Trialogue Live: The Expiration of New Start

Peter Slezkine

Listen Now - 48 Minutes

Curt Mills: Conservative Anti-Interventionism

Peter Slezkine

The Net Assessment

Listen Now - 56 Minutes

Can the UN Be Reformed?

On this show, Melanie, Chris, and Zack consider whether the porcupine strategy that Taiwan is currently implementing is the best plan to deter or defend against China. What could Taiwan be doing better, and how can the United States and other friendly countries help? And have we learned any lessons from the situation in the Strait of Hormuz that are relevant to a Taiwan conflict?