Brandon C. Patrick

The author is a doctoral candidate in the Strategic Studies department at Johns Hopkins SAIS, where his research focuses on Iranian military innovation in the “maximum pressure” age. Brandon also works as a defense analyst in the D.C. area. He completed undergraduate degrees in Arabic and Middle Eastern / North African studies from the University of Arizona after serving as a linguist in the USAF. He lives with his wife in northern Virginia.

Before the Spark: The Decades-Long Roots of the Syrian Civil War

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was unaware of the coming inferno – one which would rage across North Africa and into the Middle-East, leaving in...

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The New Power Centers of Sports Diplomacy: Cities, Capital, and Code

If power in sport now lives in city halls, boardrooms, and algorithms—not stadiums—how will the U.S. wield cities, capital, and code as it hosts the world’s biggest events over the next decade?

Four Years On, Ukraine’s War Still Refuses to End

Four years on, Ukraine’s war drags across 1,200 km, cities in ruins and millions displaced. Russia entrenched, Kyiv defiant, the West divided—how long can a war of attrition outlast political will before exhaustion decides the peace?

How Timor-Leste Uses Tourism to Cement Its ASEAN Role

After joining ASEAN in 2025, Timor-Leste is leveraging sustainable, high-value tourism to boost soft power, diversify beyond oil, and cement its regional role—positioning itself as Southeast Asia’s next authentic frontier, not its next mass market.

How Far is Cuba From a Total Collapse?

How close is Cuba to collapse? Energy strangulation, fading allies, and Trump’s oil squeeze after Venezuela’s shift have left Havana isolated and rationing. For the first time in decades, the regime’s survival feels uncertain.

The Maghreb’s New Architecture: Beyond the Myth of the Algerian Pillar

Madrid 2026 wasn’t diplomacy—it was redesign. Washington moves past Algeria’s veto politics, backs Morocco’s autonomy plan, and seeds a Tunis-Rabat axis built on energy sovereignty, phosphates, and geo-economic integration. The Maghreb’s balance is shifting.