Thematic Archives
In order to stress the thematic value and cohesion of my work, you can find every article written on The Perch by category below. Do note, given the inextricable association between so many contemporary and historical events, there might be some overlap or room for error in the assignment of article by category.
Russia and Eastern Europe:
Broadly speaking, Eastern Europe is my area of greatest interest and academic focus. I have produced a wide array of work exploring the ever-changing strategic outlooks of Poland, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation—both in past and present. You will find that much of my writing supports a general assertion that Russia’s strategic overextension in Ukraine since 2022 has fundamentally altered its role as a regional hegemon in the post-Soviet sphere while also galvanizing many of its western neighbors to assume effective leadership over Europe’s collective security.
It is in this latter point that historical precedent finds its most potent application to my work. I’ve conducted extensive longform research outside of The Perch on the foreign policies of Poland and other Eastern European states during the Interwar Period (1918-1939), so you may very well find parallels between past and present in the essays listed below!
Russia and the “Iran Question,” June 20, 2025
Moldova at the Brink: A Crisis of Isolation and Interdependence, June 30, 2025
The Intermarium Revival, July 5, 2025
Kursk, Korea, and the Internationalization of the Ukraine Conflict, July 11, 2025
Washington’s Patience with Putin is Wearing Thin, July 16, 2025
“Word” War III, August 3, 2025
Pursuing Peace? August 17, 2025
Romania and NATO’s Eastern Flank, August 25, 2025
A Powder Keg Once More, August 29, 2025
Finland’s “Winter War” of 1940 in Modern Politics, September 2, 2025
Where Do Things Go from Here? September 13, 2025
Drones and Oil, October 8, 2025
Transcarpathia, 2025: The State of Hungary-Ukraine Relations, October 11, 2025
The American-Russian Summit in Budapest, October 25, 2025
“Europe’s Last Dictatorship,” November 7, 2025
Pokrovsk, Ukraine, November 14, 2025
Niepodległości, November 17, 2025
The “28-Point Plan” for Peace in Ukraine, November 25, 2025
Bulgaria, the Euro, and the Mob, December 12, 2025
Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland’s “Lublin Triangle” Compact, February 1, 2026
A Trial by Fire, February 8, 2026
(More) Trouble in the Balkans, February 23, 2026
A Two-Way Street, March 18, 2026
Hungary’s 2026 Parliamentary Elections, March 25, 2026
Orban Ousted after 16 Years in Power, April 27, 2026
America and the Three Seas Initiative, May 4, 2026
The State of the Russian War Economy, May 11, 2026
Russia’s Armed Forces in 2026, May 20, 2026
Putin’s Succession and the Fate of the Periphery, May 22, 2026
The End of Russia’s “Near Abroad,” May 25, 2026
The Siloviki after Ukraine, May 29, 2026
The Middle East:
The Middle East is a region that, with great consequence, sits at the intersection of both the global economic order and a heated great power contest between local players, Europe, Russia, and the United States. My outlook on the Middle East centers around the emergence of Turkey as a regional power, Russia’s strategic retreat from the region, and the implications which a significantly altered Iranian regime might have for its neighboring states.
Russia and the “Iran Question,” June 20, 2025
The “12 Day War” and What Might Happen Next, June 26, 2025
Are Israel and Syria at War? July 20, 2025
The Legacy of Lozan, July 25, 2025
Do the Saudis Have the Bomb? September 28, 2025
Afghanistan and Pakistan Trade Blows, October 15, 2025
Kazakhstan joins the Abraham Accords, November 10, 2025
Washington’s F-35 Deal with Saudi Arabia, November 21, 2025
A Rivalry within a Rivalry, January 5, 2026
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Days are Numbered, January 11, 2026
The Worst is yet to Come for Tehran, January 26, 2026
War Erupts across the Middle East, March 1, 2026
The Linchpin of the World Order, March 4, 2026
Iran and the Turkish Question, March 6, 2026
Boots on the Ground?, March 12, 2026
A Two-Way Street, March 18, 2026
Trade Routes in Disarray, April 20, 2026
The Egyptian Intermediary, April 24, 2026
The Ceasefire That Isn’t? May 1, 2026
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Central Asia, the region comprising the post-Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, is one of the most grossly unexplored regions in the Anglophone geopolitical tradition. And yet, the impetus to explore the nuances of these rapidly emerging nations that hold some of the world’s largest mineral, oil, and agricultural outputs could not be more important.
The nations of Central Asia sit at the tenuous intersection between Europe, Russia and China. The largely circumstantial relationship of Beijing and Moscow has largely concealed what will soon reveal itself to be one of the most important regions for the coming century. My writing primarily focuses on the emerging geopolitical heavyweight which is Kazakhstan, a nation has adopted a unique non-aligned platform as a “Middle Power” at the heart of Eurasia. It is my hope that exploring the geopolitical trajectory of this nation could serve as the best case study anywhere for the geoeconomics and great power rivalries that will shape Eurasia’s future.
I have also spent some time, with great interest, exploring the radical political shifts which have occurred in the post-Soviet Caucasus republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the past few years. Despite the small size of all three, their mutually diverging foreign policies, combined with a quiet power struggle between Turkey, Russia, and many others for control over this corridor into the heartland of Eurasia makes for a topic whose relative obscurity betrays its importance.
A New Silk Road, July 30, 2025
The Legacy of Lozan, July 25, 2025
A T.R.I.P.P. to Nakhichevan, August 10, 2025
Kazakhstan: The Next Ukraine? October 1, 2025
Kazakhstan joins the Abraham Accords, November 10, 2025
A Bad Day for the Baikonur Cosmodrome, December 3, 2025
In with Washington, out with Moscow... February 14, 2026
Iran and the Turkish Question, March 6, 2026
Azerbaijan’s Regional Balancing Act, March 20, 2026
Caught in the Crossfire, April 4, 2026
A Meeting Gone Wrong? April 17, 2026
The End of Russia’s “Near Abroad,” May 25, 2026
The Turkic World, After Russia, June 1, 2026
Armenia at the Brink, June 6, 2026
Global Perspectives
Not deviating from the thematic core of The Perch, on occasion I will write on matters of importance elsewhere in the world that contribute an added layer of perspective to Eurasian geopolitics.
This typically involves commentary about the foreign policies or geopolitical trajectories of global powers like the United States or China, neither of whom have shied away from asserting their strategic interests across the Eurasian landmass. Of course, given that I write from an American point of view, you will most certainly find insights into American foreign policy in many of the above articles, yet the few listed below are largely tangential to the thematic mission of The Perch.
Kursk, Korea, and the Internationalization of the Ukraine Conflict, July 11, 2025
Not a Good Look... September 9, 2025
The Trump-Xi Summit, November 4, 2025
Russia, China, and the Question of Venezuela, December 21, 2025
The Smokescreen Has Lifted, January 24, 2026
Reciprocity over Revisionism?, February 21, 2026
Trade Routes in Disarray, April 20, 2026