Mara E. Karlin

Dec 18, 2024 | foreignaffairs.com | Michael Froman |Andrea Kendall-Taylor |Michael Kofman |Mara E. Karlin

On August 6, 2024, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise cross-border offensive into Russia’s Kursk region—the biggest foreign incursion into Russian territory since World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response was telling. Days after Ukraine’s offensive, Putin railed against the United States and Europe. “The West is fighting us with the hands of the Ukrainians,” he said, reiterating his view that Russia’s war in Ukraine is in fact a proxy battle with the West.

Nov 13, 2024 | startribune.com | John Rash |Mara E. Karlin

That’s tragically apparent in the Mideast, Eastern Ukraine, Sudan and other war-torn areas around the world.

Oct 22, 2024 | substack.news-items.com | John Ellis |Mara E. Karlin

1. Mara Karlin: Every age had its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions, and its own peculiar preconceptions,” the defense theorist Carl von Clausewitz wrote in the early nineteenth century. There is no doubt that Clausewitz was right. When war changes, the new shape it takes almost always comes as a surprise.

Oct 22, 2024 | almendron.com | Mara E. Karlin

Every age had its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions, and its own peculiar preconceptions”, the defense theorist Carl von Clausewitz wrote in the early nineteenth century. There is no doubt that Clausewitz was right. And yet it is surprisingly difficult to characterize war at any given moment in time; doing so becomes easier only with hindsight. Harder still is predicting what kind of war the future might bring. When war changes, the new shape it takes almost always comes as a surprise.

Sep 30, 2024 | brookings.edu | Jeffrey Feltman |Steven Heydemann |Colin H. Kahl |Mara E. Karlin

Israel’s killing of Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon on September 27, 2024 will have ripple effects across the Middle East. Brookings experts reflect on the implications of the Hezbollah leader’s death. Hezbollah is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most successful export. Led by Hassan Nasrallah for 32 years, the “party of God” is the most capable and best-armed non-state armed group in the world. It is Iran’s partner, more than a proxy.