In a speech at the Hoover Institution on January 17, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlined a plan to keep US troops in Syria indefinitely, beholden to an unrealistic set of conditions. Although the new policy identifies areas of concern for the US and its allies in the Middle East, the goals outlined lack specificity and are so broad as to be impractical. If the Trump administration does not narrow its goals in Syria, it risks turning Syria into a conflict as open-ended as Afghanistan.    

Maha Yahya, Director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, sits down with Niku Jafarnia to discuss the conditions needed for the safe return of Syrian refugees to their homes and the current tenor of domestic rhetoric around refugees in host countries, involuntary returns, “safe zones,” and shifting territorial control within Syria.

BY CAMERON LINDSAY While Amazon continues to pilot its fully autonomous drone delivery system, Amazon PrimeAir, an autonomous delivery system millions of times larger is occurring at sea. And whether you are the passenger on-board a cruise ship or you hire a shipping company to transport your belongings overseas, in a few years, you will […]

Stretching from the Atlantic coast in the west to the Red Sea in the east, the region of north-central Africa known as the Sahel has rarely figured as a focus of international geopolitics. Yet this semi-arid band of territory, spanning some 14 countries and home to numerous ethnic and religious groups, is emerging as a new arena in the sprawling global battle between governments and jihadist groups.

The stimulant Captagon has been portrayed as a super drug underlying the violence in Syria and Iraq. But the emphasis on the drug’s side-effects, in conjunction with a fear of narcotics bred by the war on drugs, has detracted from a proper analysis of the foundational causes of that violence.

Russia joined the war in Syria in October 2015, sending shockwaves around the world and adding another dimension to the conflict. A closer analysis of Russia’s interests in the Middle East reveals a superpower itching to dominate the world stage.

Extreme weather events made worse by climate change are wreaking havoc on cities worldwide. Al Lim evaluates Singapore’s climate resilience through the lens of the recent MRT flooding incidents, and explores how Singapore can strengthen social resilience as a community.

BY JULIUS LIM For most of us, last Thursday passed by just like any other day. But December 14, 2017, marked the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. Though most of us carried on with our lives unaware of the day’s significance, memorials were held to mourn the tragic loss of twenty children and […]

Early last month, like many other Harvard affiliates, I lined up for tickets to the Harvard Foundation’s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award ceremony at the Sanders Theater. The nominee of the year was no one else but Sir Elton John. Beyond the willingness to support his charitable work on AIDS/HIV, I would guess many there […]

BY ANGELICA QUICKSEY Although quantitative data and analysis can help us design better policies and programs, we have edged alarmingly close to a worldview that suggests the use of data automatically scrubs away ideology and prejudice. This worldview neglects the ways that numbers can reflect human biases and the ways data can be dangerous. Data […]

BY ABE BALDRY True, Monaco doesn’t have a nuclear program. But when the Paradise Papers were leaked in early November, the world learned that tax havens such as Monaco cause as much harm as rogue states. When tax havens help the rich to avoid paying their fair share, every pound that goes uncollected is a […]

President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem undoubtedly complicates the picture; is the Holy City a red-line issue which the Saudis will feel compelled to publicly object to? As guardians of the two holiest sites in Islam, there has historically been an expectation that the Saudis would repudiate such a move. But, in these new times, will the royals bite their tongues, calculating that the Kingdom’s deepening links with the Jewish state are more important than demanding that East Jerusalem be reserved as the future capital of a Palestinian state?