Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The U.K. Elections (May 18, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady The May 7th elections in the U.K. shocked pollsters, who had predicted a hung parliament. Instead, the Conservatives (Tories) won an outright majority of seats in the legislature, allowing the party, led by David Cameron, to form a government without a coalition. In this report, we will begin by recapping the election… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Next Generation (May 11, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady On April 29th, Saudi King Salman announced a set of changes to his cabinet and to the order of royal succession. We believe these changes are very significant, perhaps the most critical since the first royal succession in 1953. In this report, we will detail the changes announced by King Salman. To… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Can Assad Survive? (May 4, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady Since the beginning of the year, rebels in Syria have been making steady gains against forces loyal to the Assad regime. Over the past six weeks, these gains have accelerated. The recent rebel victories are raising questions about the Assad regime’s ability to survive. In this report, we will recap the problems… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Ideology of IS (April 27, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady The March edition of Atlantic Magazine published an article about Islamic State (IS) that examined its theology and ideology. This article along with a paper from the Brookings Institute on the ideology of IS form the basis of our report this week. In this report, we will examine the intellectual foundations of IS, showing… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The AIIB (April 20, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady China has founded an infrastructure bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to compete with the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The U.S. has opposed the creation of this bank but, despite administration opposition, 57 nations have joined it, including 14 members of the G-20. A chorus of… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Ideology of IS (April 13, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady On April 2, the P5+1[1] negotiating team and Iran announced a framework to deal with Iran’s nuclear program. The framework is a “roadmap” to establishing a final agreement in June. Negotiations on this issue have been underway for years; this framework could be a major step toward delaying Iran’s entry into the… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The New World Order: Part IV (April 6, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady In this final installment of our four-part series on The New World Order, we will examine how, in light of winning the Cold War, policymakers have been unable to settle on a set of key priorities and offer what we see as “glimpses” of a new policy emerging. In a sense, the… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The New World Order: Part III (March 30, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady In this third installment of our four-part series on The New World Order, we will examine how policymakers coped with the new superpower role. First, we will examine how policymakers attempted to resolve the tensions created between the desires of its domestic constituencies and foreign superpower obligations. There are going to be… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The New World Order: Part II (March 23, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady This report is the second installment of our four-part series on The New World Order. This week we will focus on two themes. First, we will examine the global public goods the superpower provides, and second, we will analyze how the U.S. has provided those goods. The global hegemon will often face… Read More »