Foreign Affairs Magazine

“Ultimately, the defense of Europe will not depend on Brussels but on the actions of a few key states.” Read Ethan Kapstein and Jonathan Caverley on how France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom will shape European security in the years ahead: https://fam.ag/4mnf7SZ

“By joining the battle, Hezbollah inextricably tied Lebanon’s fate to the larger war,” writes Maha Yahya. “But it is also clear that Israel is using the war and Hezbollah’s provocations to justify a much larger—and potentially devastating—assault on Lebanon itself.” https://lnkd.in/empyvkW2

“By emphasizing short wars, strategists rely too much on initial battle plans that may not play out in practice—with bitter consequences,” wrote Lawrence Freedman in a 2025 essay. https://lnkd.in/eMdQws_c

To avoid repeating the mistakes it made in Iraq in the 1990s, the United States “should offer Iran a path to diplomatic and economic normalization in exchange for compliance with a clear set of demands,” argue Daniel Chardell and Samuel Helfont. https://fam.ag/4c2SHmC

In Sudan, partition will not bring about peace—it will only “defer the hard work of building inclusive governance while creating two weak states, each facing the same internal divisions that make the country ungovernable today,” argue Francis Deng and Ahmed Kodouda. https://fam.ag/4tDUEM3

“If one has to point to the side that has lost the most as a result of this conflict, I think it is the Iranian people, the cause of democracy in Iran, and it is why the decision to undertake this war was so deeply misguided by the Trump administration,” says Suzanne Maloney. https://fam.ag/3QegS8Y

The way the war in Iran has progressed suggests that “the United States may be able to carry out far more effective operations against China” than U.S. defense analysts assumed, writes Carter Malkasian. https://fam.ag/4skOxLv

“Hungary’s future will turn on the outcome of Sunday’s elections,” write Bálint Madlovics and Bálint Magyar. “If Magyar wins and Orban allows the results to stand, the new government can set Hungary on a path back toward democracy.” https://lnkd.in/edQziGTc

“Two forces could help stabilize Venezuela: boundless natural resources for which the world has an insatiable appetite, and the Venezuelan people’s desire to live in an electoral democracy,” writes Moisés Naím. https://fam.ag/47TiKKv

According to a newly released Arab Barometer survey, the United States’ reputation across the Arab world “tanked when the war in Gaza began, and it has not improved in the time since,” write Amaney Jamal and Michael Robbins. https://fam.ag/4stzkbd