EDITORIAL

Allied Burden-Sharing, Escalation in the Middle East, and the Limits of Naval Power in an Era of Concurrent Crises

Demetrios Tsailas (ret Admiral)
(He has taught for many years, operational planning, strategy, and security, to senior officers at the Supreme Joint War College. He is a member and researcher of the Institute for National and International Security)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 18 October 2026

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

Abstract

The growing number of simultaneous security challenges has exposed a fundamental weakness in Western strategic planning. Military commitments are expanding faster than the resources available to sustain them. Tensions involving Iran, threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, renewed Houthi pressure on Saudi Arabia, and Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine have brought this problem into sharper focus. The central question is not whether Western powers possess sufficient military strength, but whether they can employ it selectively without weakening their position elsewhere.... Read more

By Kolokouris

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 11 October 2026

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

1. The economic inversion, 1974–2025

Since the mid-1970s we have witnessed the rise of an economy based on ideas and a corresponding decline of the economy of material goods. The transformation is clearly visible in the S&P 500. Ocean Tomo's Intangible Asset Market Value Study, which measures intangible value as market capitalisation minus net tangible assets, opens its series with the market emerging from the 1973–74 crash: at the end of 1975,.... Read more

Dr. Ahmed Al-Alwani
(Head of the Iraqi Coordination Council and former Member of the Iraqi Parliament. An Iraqi political figure and a prominent opponent of Iran’s policies and its militias in the region, focused on monitoring geopolitical affairs, regional security, and issues of stability and development in Iraq and the Middle East)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 11 October 2026

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

Executive Summary

This analytical policy paper addresses current regional developments and the resulting political and security challenges in the Middle East. It examines the risks of escalation on energy security, international trade, and maritime shipping lanes. Furthermore, the paper highlights the dimensions of uncontrolled arms proliferation and the illicit drug trade as tools used to undermine regional and international stability.... Read more

Ali Ashour
(The Washington Baghdad Policy Council)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 4 October 2026

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

To understand the position of Iraq’s Sunnis today, and their attitude toward the United States, it is necessary to examine the conditions they lived under before 2003 and the difficult years that followed Saddam Hussein’s fall. Their views cannot be separated from decades of isolation and ideological indoctrination, followed by the collapse of state institutions, a leadership vacuum, and the rise of terrorism, militias, and Iranian influence.... Read more

Part I of II

The Long Unfolding of Ideas:From Plato's Forms and Aristotle's Logic to the Age of Artificial Intelligence

By Angelos T. Kolokouris

1. Introduction

Every disruptive moment in human history, from the invention of the wheel to the development of the internet, began as a simple idea in a human mind. Ideas are intangible and can be reproduced without limit. Yet they have the power to reshape economies, alter political and social landscapes, and extend the boundaries of human capability..... Read more

John M Nomikos
(RIEAS Executive Director)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 27 September 2026

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

A new instrument of mind

Every civilization has been shaped by the instruments through which it extends the reach of the human mind: the alphabet, the codex, the printing press, the telegraph, the computer. Artificial intelligence belongs to this lineage, yet it differs in one decisive respect. The earlier instruments stored, copied and transmitted thought; .... Read more