Iran

Trump’s National Security Strategy and America’s Place in the World
Trump’s National Security Strategy and America’s Place in the World

The purpose of a National Security Strategy (NSS) is to explain how each administration views the security challenges facing the United States—and how it plans to address them. Love it or hate it, President Donald Trump’s NSS does this with often-blunt language and an unapologetic defense of the “America First” approach that shaped his campaign and his first year in office.

Don’t Ask Nicely: Breaking Russia’s Alliance with Syria

Russia, Syria, and Iran have successfully defied US interests in the Middle East. It will take significant and aggressive measures to separate these allies.

Missile Defense: Insurance Against Mistakes, Miscalculation, and Madmen
Missile Defense: Insurance Against Mistakes, Miscalculation, and Madmen

As the number of missile-wielding states grows and as the nuclear club expands, the likelihood of a missile being unleashed against the American people or their allies—whether by mistake, miscalculation, or a madman—also grows. Missile defense doesn’t eliminate the danger, but it does give us a fighting chance to confront it.

What You Should Know About Hezbollah
What You Should Know About Hezbollah

Last week, Saudi Arabia accused Lebanon of declaring war against it because of aggression by the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Here’s what you should know about the terrorist group that acts as a “state within a state” in Lebanon.

Just Prudence: Defending Aquinas on Preemption, Prevention, & Decisiveness in War
Just Prudence: Defending Aquinas on Preemption, Prevention, & Decisiveness in War

St. Thomas Aquinas knew more than his modern emendators do about grounding his just war deliberations—and much else—in the cardinal moral virtue of prudence.

Past Religious Conflict Still Haunts Middle East
Past Religious Conflict Still Haunts Middle East

War and religious conflict in the 1600s between Ottomans and Persians still have consequences for politics and beliefs in the Middle East today.

In the Interest of Humanity Humanitarian Intervention Syrian Civil War
In the Interest of Humanity

Determining when and where to serve “the interest of humanity” is not a science. In a broken world, American policymakers must seek the counsel of the heart and the head, aim for the achievable, and choose the least-bad option.

A Moral Bridgehead into Iran’s Destabilizing Extraterritorial Actions (IDEAs)
A Moral Bridgehead against Iran’s Destabilizing Extraterritorial Actions (IDEAs)

Iran’s destabilizing actions across the Middle East require powers like the United States to maintain moral bridgeheads against it.

Love and Defend America: Reflections from Rebeccah Heinrichs
Love and Defend America: Reflections from Rebeccah Heinrichs

Serious praise of America by prominent Christian thinkers was hard to find this Independence Day, but we should be willing to appreciate and defend her.