The Long-Term Political Fallout of Coronavirus

As the coronavirus spreads, so does its likely political fallout. For authoritarians and autocrats, this is likely to be a mixed bag. Some will benefit from invasive tracing and monitoring of those affected by the virus, which is likely to boost the evolution toward a “Big Brother” surveillance state as well as nationalist economic policies propagated by populists and nationalists like Donald Trump. Others are seeing perceived government failures to effectively confront the virus undermine already shaky public trust, which can fuel demands for greater transparency, accountability, and freedom of expression.

The Struggle for Israel’s Jewish Soul

The possibility of an Israeli minority government that relies on the Joint Arab List underscores the clear and present danger of accommodating political parties and movements that reject the existence of the Jewish state and propagate Israel’s transformation into a Palestinian Arab (Muslim) state.

Contradictions in France’s Fight Against Antisemitic Violence

France’s aspiration to fight the rise in antisemitic violence on French soil, which has reached levels not seen since WWII, has not produced the desired results. Despite its awareness that the perpetrators of this violence are mainly radicalized members of the Muslim community, France frames its fight against antisemitism within the wider struggle against racism and homophobia, which dilutes its effectiveness. And while France is keenly aware of the correlation between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, it either joins or abstains on biased, discriminatory international resolutions that aim at isolating and de-legitimizing the Jewish state.

Russia’s Shift from “Greater Europe” to “Greater Asia”

Though analysts tend to portray Russia’s foreign policy as truly global (that is, independent of Europe, the US, and China), the country is plainly tilting toward Asia. The Russian political elite does its best to hide this development, but the country is accumulating more interests and freedom to act in Asia than in Europe or anywhere else.

Dangerous Streamlining in the IDF

Combat in well defended built-up areas and in underground fortified facilities requires a large-scale order of battle quantitatively greater than anything known in the past. Meeting this challenge depends on the right integration of an elite, top-quality strike force with a large-scale quantitative mass at a medium level of quality. And while the IDF has been renewing and strengthening itself in those regards, when it comes to ground combat, where a quantitative mass is critical, a worrisome gap is widening.

Post-Soleimani, Russia’s Role Will Grow in Iran’s Geopolitical Thinking

US-Iran relations reached a nadir following the killing by US drone strike of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. As Iran’s isolation grows, its link to Russia is likely to strengthen. Moscow can use Iran’s geopolitical weakness to its own economic advantage by making large sales of Russian military hardware to the Islamic Republic and encouraging deeper cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and Tehran. At the same time, Russia will use the death of Soleimani to constrain Iranian troop activities on the Syrian battlefield and will generally limit Damascus’s dependence on Iran.

Taiwan and Israel: Don’t Recognize, but Collaborate

More than 8,300 km separate Taiwan and Israel, but there are nevertheless important connections between the two small countries. They do not officially recognize each other, but over the past two and a half decades, they have found ways to collaborate.

Kastellorizo: Tiny Island, Colossal Dispute

Burak Bekdil
March 11, 2020
Paper No. 1479

Sitting just 2 km away from the Turkish coast and containing a population of only 500, the island of Kastellorizo, the tiniest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, is the focal point of a multinational maritime dispute. No one seems to have found a way to resolve the quarrel between Turkey and the EU + US + Israel + Egypt over this island.

The Dark Universe of Antisemitism

The acceptance of a non-legal working definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2016 was an important step forward in the battle against this widespread hatred. It included 11 examples of antisemitism, several of which concerned anti-Israelism. Yet no definition can fully encapsulate the dark and expanding universe of post-modern antisemitism. It includes hate statements and positions by Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, former German Socialist leader Sigmar Gabriel, and many others.

Iran Works to Overcome the Loss of Soleimani

Yaakov Lappin
March 10, 2020
Paper No. 1477

The killing by US drone strike of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on January 3 has the potential to seriously dent Iran’s malign activity in the Middle East and beyond. But how long this effect will last is still very much an open question. The answer depends on how the US responds to future tests.

Perspectives Papers