Deep strategic analysis and opinion focused on incentives, second-order effects, and long-term implications.
Islamic State fighters are escalating attacks as Niger's junta struggles to hold the tri-border zone, and the group's center of gravity may be shifting toward Niamey. Plus the week's other stories.
Simon Whistler · August 6, 2026 · 17m
Iran just torpedoed its own Hormuz deal, the US is quietly admitting it's out of missiles, and Saudi Arabia is somehow getting squeezed from three directions at once. Big week.
Fronts Staff · August 6, 2026 · 1h 5m
Kyle Moran · August 5, 2026 · 16 min read
With Hormuz shut, Houthi strikes closing in on the Bab el-Mandeb, and oil past $100 a barrel, the panel weighs Washington's shrinking options — from a renewed blockade to a ground invasion.
Fronts Staff · July 26, 2026 · 1h 10m
Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have dropped even the pretense of a vote, cementing a family dictatorship with their opponents jailed, exiled, or silenced — and the region looking away.
Simon Whistler · July 26, 2026 · 17m
Fuel theft has become the cartels' second-biggest business — draining billions from Mexico's treasury, seeping into US supply chains, and outpacing every crackdown Washington and Mexico City can mount.
Micky Braeger · July 25, 2026 · 12 min read
In the Central African Republic, Wagner repelled a rebel raid within days; in Mali, Africa Corps surrendered the north — proof that nationalizing Prigozhin's empire gutted what made it work.
Casus Belli · July 24, 2026 · 11 min read
After months of quiet following the Gaza ceasefire, the group has resumed attacks on Red Sea shipping — with a larger arsenal, better targeting, and ambitions that now reach beyond Yemen's coast.
Simon Whistler · July 22, 2026 · 13m
Wilfred Waimiri talks to Julia Steers of Lighthouse Reports, whose new documentary traces the UAE's weapons, Colombian mercenaries, and RSF training camps through eastern Libya.
Fronts Staff · July 21, 2026 · 1h 5m
An assassination attempt on the French president in Damascus exposes the fragility of Syria's transition and raises hard questions about who stands to gain from driving foreign powers out.
Simon Whistler · July 20, 2026
Since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, many countries have opted to buy cheap Soviet-era legacy surplus hardware from its successor states. But the Ukraine War means those stockpiles are finally drying up.
Jompy · July 20, 2026 · 17 min read
Evan Moloney, Kyle Moran, and Wilfred Miner on the MOU's collapse, US strikes creeping north, ill-conceived island invasion plans, and the wave of Iranian nationalism Washington never saw coming.
Fronts Staff · July 20, 2026 · 1h 0m
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