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US sailors conduct routine maintenance on a jet blast deflector on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on July 9, 2025. (US Navy)
Middle East
Middle East
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Christopher Hitchens poses during a portrait session on May 22, 2010 in Australia. (John Donegan/Getty Images)
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Then-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Russia's president Vladimir Putin give a press conference in Istanbul on December 3, 2012. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)
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Damaged icons inside the church of the monastery of Saint Takla in the ancient Christian town of Maalula, May 14, 2014. (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) greets his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad (L) during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 20, 2015. (ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Tamar drilling natural gas production platform 25 kilometers West of the Ashkelon shore on March 28, 2013 in Israel. (Albatross via Getty Images)
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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaking of Vermont at a town meeting at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona, July 18, 2015. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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A police officer inspects a vehicle after a bomb went off near Gulbahar Police Station in Peshawar, Pakistan, April 24, 2015. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have claimed responsibility for the attack. (Asianet-Pakistan / Barcroft Indi via Getty Images)
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US Vice President Joe Biden (L) gestures next to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a meeting at Yildiz Mabeyn Palace on January 23, 2016 in Istanbul. (SEDAT SUNA/AFP/Getty Images)
Experts
James Barnett
Research Fellow
Michael Doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
