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Barak Barfi

Barak Barfi

28 commentaries

Barak Barfi is a former research fellow at New America and a former visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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  1. Syria’s House of Cards
    barfi28_AnadoluGettyImages_hafez_alassad_statue_downed Anadolu/Getty Images

    Syria’s House of Cards

    Dec 9, 2024 Barak Barfi explains why Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed so quickly, placing most of the blame on Assad himself.

  2. Trumpian Turmoil Is Coming to the Middle East
    barfi27_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_trumpnetanyahu Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

    Trumpian Turmoil Is Coming to the Middle East

    Nov 13, 2024 Barak Barfi thinks that the regional leaders who are cheering now may soon be pining for a less capricious leader.

  3. What Will Follow Hamas’s War?
    barfi26_MOHAMMED DAHMANMiddle East ImagesAFP via Getty Images_gazahamasisrael Mohammed Dahman/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

    What Will Follow Hamas’s War?

    Oct 9, 2023 Barak Barfi foresees an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza and prolonged occupation of the enclave.

  4. The Hollow Saudi-Iranian Agreement
    barfi25_ ATTA KENAREAFP via Getty Images_china saudi iran ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

    The Hollow Saudi-Iranian Agreement

    Mar 14, 2023 Barak Barfi sees a newly announced Chinese-brokered deal as more glitter than gold.

  5. Biden’s Return to Realism in Saudi Arabia
    barfi24AMER HILABIAFP via Getty Images_saudi us AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images

    Biden’s Return to Realism in Saudi Arabia

    Jul 15, 2022 Barak Barfi explains why embracing the status quo in the Middle East, while far from ideal, is the right call for the US.

  1. cnobre2_CARL DE SOUZAAFP via Getty Images_amazonfire Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images

    The Amazon’s Future Will Be Decided in 2025

    Carlos Nobre & Marielos Peña-Claros warn that the world's largest rainforest is reaching a tipping point, beyond which it will largely disappear.
  2. zizek42_Andrej IsakovicGettyImages_serbia_student_protests Andrej Isakovic/Getty Images

    The New Face of Protest

    Slavoj Žižek

    The mass student protests that have swept Serbia since last November are distinctly “apolitical,” because their goal is to create the conditions for a new politics, rather than settle for another version of the same old game. Young Serbs understand that neither justice nor democracy is possible until the tables have been cleared.

    contrasts the pioneering mass student demonstrations in Serbia with widespread private resignation in China.
  3. lee54_Ed JonesGettyImages_korea_elderly_worker Ed Jones/Getty Images

    Reaping Asia’s Silver Demographic Dividend

    Lee Jong-Wha urges governments to develop integrated policies that encourage older adults to stay in the workforce.
  4. ekue1_Peter DazeleyGettyImages_green_jar_coins Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

    Getting Green Investment Where It’s Needed Most

    Serge Ekué & Javier Díaz Fajardo propose a strategy to redirect all financial flows toward the climate transition.
  5. kallot1_pixdeluxeGetty Images_africaAI pixdeluxe/Getty Images

    The Global South Needs to Own Its AI Revolution

    Kate Kallot explains how these countries can advance a community-driven approach to the emerging technology.
  6. adebajo13_Alexis HuguetGettyImages_goma_m23_conflict Alexis Huguet/Getty Images

    Africa’s Year of Warlords and Meddlers

    Adekeye Adebajo foresees growing instability and more foreign interference on the continent in 2025.
  7. basu109_Matt CardyGetty Images_socialmedia Matt Cardy/Getty Images

    Playing at Democracy

    Kaushik Basu explains how a well-known children's game illustrates the logic of today's emerging oligarchies.
  8. gros195_StockbyteGettyImages_deregulation_red_tape Stockbyte/Getty Images

    The Revolt Against Regulation

    Daniel Gros explains why the new push for deregulation in the United States and the European Union may not help either.
  9. sherwin14_Andrew HarnikGetty Images_trump Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    Donald Trump’s Misrule of Law

    Richard K. Sherwin

    By insisting on its own supremacy, the executive branch of the US government under President Donald Trump is effectively seeking to alter America’s constitutional framework of checks and balances among co-equal branches of government. Trump has no authority to execute this change, but that will not be enough to stop him.

    observes that the president's claim of supremacy over the courts amounts to tossing out the US Constitution.

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