By LtCol Michael von Normann, German Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group, Middle East Branch 9 Feb 2021 Introduction: On December 30, 2020, three precision-guided missiles struck Aden Airport where a plane carrying Yemeni cabinet members had just landed. The strike killed twenty-seven people and wounded over 130. Read More >
Author: Sam Marrero
Iran’s South Korea-Flagged Oil Tanker Seizure: What Does this Action Mean?
By Lieutenant Colonel Youngsuk Lee, Republic of Korea Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 8 Feb 2021 Introduction: On 5 January 2021, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the South Korea-flagged oil tanker M/T HANKUK CHEMI in the Strait of Hormuz. As a justification, Iran cited alleged Read More >
China’s Territorial Ambition in Central Asia
By MAJ Naoki Tajiri, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 4 Feb 2021 Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has restarted China’s revisionism along with their ambition of territorial expansion and accelerated their long-term plans. After World War II, China advanced westward and invaded Tibet in Read More >
Facilitating Stability in Afghanistan
By Lt Col Farhan Ali, Pakistan Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 3 Feb 2021 Introduction: Almost 20 years in, the Afghanistan war has entered a phase where the peace dividend outweighs the potential benefits of continued conflict. Major warring parties have reached a stalemate as NATO cannot Read More >
Impact of India-China Tensions in the CENTCOM AoR
By Lt Col Farhan Ali, Pakistan Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 25 Jan 2021 Introduction: Complex territorial disputes, economic competition, and broader geostrategic competition between India and China cause tensions along the world’s longest unsettled group of borders. The circa 3500 kilometer Indo-China border is divided Read More >
Russian New Historical Discourse
By LTC Arto Hirvela, Finnish Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 19 Jan 2021 Introduction: The Russian regime (Putin especially) has made victory over Nazism a cornerstone of their national ideology and legitimacy. President Putin deems the collapse of the Soviet Union as the major geopolitical disaster Read More >
Algeria at the Center Of Regional Transformations: Prospects for Redeployment
en français Younes Bahri, Algeria. NESA Alumnus; Consultant. Power is often defined as the sum of the assets that enable a state to achieve its goals, even when they clash with the goals and the wills of other international actors. An overview of a tense and complicated decade Whilst the wave of uprisings improperly called Read More >
US Confirms Full Sovereignty of Morocco over the Sahara in Exchange for Recognizing Israel

Moha Ennaji, a NESA Alumnus, is President of the South North Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Migration Studies in Morocco. His most recent books include Managing Cultural Diversity in the Mediterranean Region and Multiculturalism and Democracy in North Africa: Aftermath of the Arab Spring. 8 January 2021 – Following recent developments in the Middle East, Read More >