A rare and excellent paper on Track II diplomacy design and management with application to US-China dialogues is out by RAND with my input to it. Thx to Amanda Kerrigan rand.org/pubs/research_…

😀😀 “Whether delivering speeches to the Bundestag or answering reporters’ questions live on TV, Olaf Scholz has all the swagger of a chartered accountant frowning over your tax return.” Europe’s most ‘rizz’ politicians, ranked politico.eu/article/ranked…

Excellent paper on options for EU defense funding: - More debts is difficult/costly, - More taxes is counterproductive. - Solutions is: Reallocation of 1% of budget to defense to meet the NATO 2%; and 3% reallocation to reach 3%. cesifo.org/en/node/80141

Great work by Gabriela I. Rosa 👏👏👏

Episode 2 of our CCDP Spotlight Podcast series is out now! In this episode, Research Associate Robert Watkins interviews Pierre Hazan to discuss Hazan's book: “Negotiating with the Devil, Inside the World of Armed Conflict Mediation.” Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/2setHx…

Well, future challenges to Syria will resemble that of the past: building an inclusive political system to represent a multi-ethnic and religious society; and state monopoly on violence to where all armed groups around the country could merge and serve. Old is gold. This article

Now Assad is gone, how the comprehensive #western #sanctions could play a role in the post-Assad transition? Serious and rare opportunity for the West to show that sanctions could bring positive outcomes.... An old article published by ISPI in 2021 is still relevant.

Post-War security is at the heart of any negotiations on Ukraine, and subsequently a priority to agree on within the West before discussions with Russia.

A scenario for Iran’s response: 🔹Trump says Iran’s Fordow facility is gone. Other nuclear sites have been hit. Therefore, he effectively claims his objective, i.e., stopping Iran from getting nukes, is achieved. 🔹But here's the twist: Iran may NOT strike back at the U.S. at

An Interesting take!

Was a pleasure talking to RadioMonteCarlo on the #Alaska_Summit and the European position yesterday. I find European concerns about an unfavorable deal between the US and Russia to be justified, though not yet substantiated. By positioning itself as a mediator rather than