Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Where were we?...

Following decades of fretting over “who lost Turkey,” Washington finally seems to have overcome its grief. Having passed through the stages of shock, denial, and anger, the mood is now approaching one of acceptance. Instead of berating Ankara or desperately seeking to win its favor, U.S. policymakers have belatedly abandoned their expectations of securing...

Ahead of the NATO Summit in Washington in July, Rick sits down with Katherine Elgin and Alexander Lanoszka to discuss what alliance membership means for Sweden and Finland. Image: NATO The post Sweden, Finland, and the Meaning of Alliance Membership appeared first on War on the Rocks.

In 2021, George Hovey wrote  “Why Some of America’s Diplomats Want to Quit” in which he argued that the State Department’s hierarchy and culture are driving foreign service officers out of the service. Three years later in the wake of a wave of resignations from the State Department driven by the U.S. government’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict,...

Chris, Melanie, and Zack discuss the nature and extent of China’s engagement in the Middle East. Should the United States be concerned about China’s growing involvement in Middle Eastern affairs? If so, what can and should be done about it? Perhaps just as importantly, what should not be done? Grievances for those who dreamed up the Gaza Pier debacle,...

Attara, Dakka Sebbe, Nienanpela, Dioura, and Ouro Fer — these five Malian towns saw elders murdered, civilians tortured, and property looted by the Wagner Group in January and February of 2024. And they are not isolated cases. Across the Sahel, the Wagner Group and the Africa Corps perpetrate massacres, rape, torture, and arbitrary imprisonment, all...