SETA DC

NATO will adopt its new Strategic Concept at the 2022 Madrid Summit. As part of the preparations for the new document, an official report titled “NATO 2030: United for a New Era” shared the new priorities of the Alliance with the public in November 2020. The report recommends to the allies to update the Concept regarding the emerging challenge of China, terrorism in all its forms, and increasing r...

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last month, breaking their long-standing neutral status following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As fears about potential Russian military actions in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region reached their highest levels in years, Türkiye has voiced its reservations about Finland and Sweden’s membership applications. Citing the two Nordic countries’ stances on ter...

Eurasia’s major powers—China, Iran, Russia, and Turkey—increasingly intervene across their borders while seeking to pull their smaller neighbors more firmly into their respective orbits. While analysts have focused on the role of leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in explaining this drive to dominate neighbors and pull away from the Western-dominated international system, they...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv during the highest-level visit by U.S. officials to Ukraine since the start of the war. The priority of the US and Western countries in the current phase of the invasion has turned to quickly arming Ukraine against Russia in addition to sanctions. As the West seeks to bolster Ukraine’s mil...

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered a strong and a somewhat surprisingly unified NATO response. The US policy has focused on supporting Ukraine through economic and military aid foreclosing any direct confrontation with Russia. Despite different interests and diplomatic relations of member countries within NATO, the alliance has been able to sustain its cohesion although this may...

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has already triggered fears for a new world war with far-reaching geopolitical implications. The war is likely to define the European security structure in the years to come. While NATO and European allies have been united in opposition to the invasion and exacting serious costs on Russia, they have yet to deter Russian leader Putin. Individual NATO allies s...

During his visit to Kyiv last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated Turkey’s support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity as he repeated his offer to mediate between Russia and Ukraine to resolve the current crisis. Having inked a series of agreements aimed at deepening economic ties and defense cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine, President Erdogan highlighted the importance o...

The ongoing Russian military buildup along the Ukrainian border, military exercises in Belarus, US military support to Ukraine and NATO’s asset deployments to Eastern Europe all point to increased likelihood of war in Europe. Following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the seemingly impending invasion of further Ukrainian territory by Russia has serious implications for regional security. Russian...

Last year, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought for six weeks over Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions in a conflict that took more than 6,500 lives. On November 9, 2020, the two sides signed an agreement brokered by Russia to end the fighting and work towards a comprehensive solution. The 2nd Karabakh War ended a decades-old frozen conflict by reversing the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani te...

Since the foundation of the AK Party on August 14, 2001, Turkish-American relations have gone through major regional and global challenges. The relationship has ebbed and flowed over the past two decades of AK Party governments under the leadership of President Erdoğan and different administrations in Washington. The Middle East has undergone major geopolitical transformations that the US and Turk...

Since the failed coup attempt on July 15th, 2016, Turkey’s foreign policy has changed dramatically. Turkey intervened militarily in multiple countries such as Syria and Libya to protect its security and geopolitical interests. Having proven to be a stabilizing actor in these countries and beyond, Turkey has also made major investments in its national defense. Turkey’s acquisition of air defense sy...

U.S.-Turkey relations have gone through a rocky period over the past few years and there continue to be areas of disagreement between the two NATO allies. Issues such as Ankara’s purchase of the S-400 air defense systems and Washington’s Syria policy remain critical points of tension. At the same time, the two allies cooperate on a number of strategic matters within the NATO framework. The US-Turk...

The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host a book talk with Author Kathryn Stoner on “Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order.”

For much of recorded history, China was a leading science and technology power. But just as the West rose, China turned in on itself, and missed the Industrial Revolution. The result was the 'Hundred Years of Humiliation', and a long struggle for a modern, yet distinctly Chinese, civilisational identity. Today, technological innovation has returned to the core of national pride and ambition. Since...

SETA Foundation at Washington DC's Research Director Kilic Bugra Kanat speaks with Michael Pembroke, the author of "America in Retreat: The Decline of US Leadership from WW2 to Covid-19".

President Biden inherits a strategy from the Trump administration, which was largely a continuation of the Obama policy on Syria. Both Obama and Trump justified U.S. involvement in Syria on countering ISIS, and U.S. policy appears in need of a new framework in the post-ISIS era. In the past, some of the current Biden administration officials have criticized “deployment of troops in endless and unw...

As the new Biden administration enters Washington, the President-elect is poised to employ a different tone toward the rest of the world. The Trump administration has defined its foreign policy in “America First” terms, but Joe Biden has made it clear that he will work to foster relationships with allies and bring the US back to a leading role in global affairs. Biden’s cabinet nominees are lookin...

For most of its history, the United States avoided making political and military commitments that would entangle it in European-style power politics. Then, suddenly, it conceived a new role for itself as the world’s armed superpower—and never looked back. In Tomorrow, the World, Stephen Wertheim traces America’s transformation to the crucible of World War II, especially in the months prior to the...

In late September 2020, the twenty-six-year-old frozen conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh heated back up. Beyond the battlefield, the conflict has been punctuated by attacks on non-military targets. For example, the ballistic missile attacks on the Azerbaijani city of Ganja resulted in civilian casualties. Seven weeks into the current conflict, Azerbaijan made some gains in capturing its occupied land...

Since the end of World War II, the United States has set out to oust governments in the Middle East on an average of once per decade―in places as diverse as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan (twice), Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The reasons for these interventions have also been extremely diverse, and the methods by which the United States pursued regime change have likewise been highly varied, ranging from dip...

In his Farewell Address of 1796, President George Washington admonished the young nation "to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." Isolationism thereafter became one of the most influential political trends in American history. From the founding era until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States shunned strategic commitments abroad, making only br...

Long simmering tensions between powers in the Eastern Mediterranean have recently escalated to crisis levels. Competition between Turkey, Cyprus and Greece over gas discoveries, long-standing maritime border disputes, and regional rivalries have led to heightened tensions in the region. With bilateral attempts at negotiation remaining stalled, efforts to reduce tensions within NATO and the Europea...

Turkey’s role in regional and global affairs has generated much debate in recent years. Turkish foreign policy initiatives as well as the country’s humanitarian diplomacy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to shape regional dynamics. Turkey’s continued presence in northern Syria, for instance, has provided stability in the aftermath of the US (partial) withdrawal. Turkish support for th...

Since the end of the Cold War, American-Russian relations have waxed and waned, depending on the administration in Washington, following a pattern of a ‘reset’ and then decline with each successive presidency. Although President Trump sought better relations with Russia, the bilateral relationship has been difficult due to a number of security and geopolitical issues. Strategic competition has bee...

Since its establishment 19 years ago, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has transformed the country’s politics, economy, and culture in many different ways. As a result of its consistent electoral and referenda successes for nearly two decades, the party has become the dominant party in Turkish politics in unprecedented ways. As the party sets out to tackle long-standing eth...