RESEARCH AREAS

Riaan Eksteen, Ph.D.
(Research Associate, Department of Political Studies and Governance, Faculty: The Humanities, University of the Free State, South Africa)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 8 March 2026

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

BRICS members pose critical geopolitical and geo-economic challenges to the dominance of Western institutions. BRICS is essential in the Global South's endeavor to reform the Western-centric global order. The notion of multipolarity is more prevalent, especially as the BRICS states spearhead the creation of a more varied and inclusive global framework that enhances economic prospects and diminishes dependence on Western countries and institutions. ... Read more

Bouzemouri Achraf
(RIEAS Senior Analyst based in Morocco)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 8 March 2026

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

When Donald Trump revived the language of a “war on drugs,” he did more than repackage an old American policy framework. He reframed narcotrafficking as an external invasion, one that justified border fortification, economic pressure, and even the rhetorical possibility of designat-ing cartels as terrorist organizations, the term narcoterrorism. While Washington speaks of in-vasion, the geography of the drug trade tells a different story. ... Read more

Εvangelia Akritidou
(RIEAS Senior Analyst)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 29 March 2026

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

The “12-Day War” (June 13–25, 2025) was a short military confrontation between Israel and Iran, involving Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, followed by Iranian retaliation. Despite its intensity, the conflict remained relatively contained both geographically and operationally. The current escalation differs markedly from that phase.... Read more

John M Nomikos
(RIEAS Director)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 1 April 2026

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

Note: The author wishes to thank the participants of the project on Israel-Greece-Cyprus defense relations for their insightful remarks. This project was funded by Israel’s Ministry of Regional Cooperation and conducted in 2025 through a collaboration with Tel Aviv University and the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). The views expressed in this piece are solely those of the author.

Introduction

As the intelligence community inexorably concludes the first quarter of the twenty-first century and looking forward, it faces an unprecedented array of security and intelligence sharing information challenges. The chaotic world environment of the post-Cold War Era (Hamas attacks against Israel-2023, Israel – Iran war-2025, Ukraine-Russia war-2014, Libyan civil war-2014, Syrian civil war2011, India-Pakistan conflict-2015, break up of Yugoslavian crisis-1990 and Iraqi crises – 1991, 2003) offers a wide range of different issues to be understood, and a variety of new threats to be anticipated. The rapidly developing information age presents advanced and complex information technology and methodologies to be mastered and integrated into the intelligence process. ..... Read more

Prof. Dr. Ilias Iliopoulos is currently teaching International Relations and History at the University of Athens. He was awarded his Ph.D. (Dr. phil) from the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. He had long been a Professor of Grand Strategy of the Great Powers, Naval History, and Strategy and Geopolitics of Sea Power at the Hellenic National Defence College and the Naval War College, and an Associate Professor of History of Western Civilization, Diplomacy, and Maritime History at the American College of Greece – Deree College

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 13 April 2026

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

In 1991, the then-Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Eyskens famously retorted that “Europe was an economic giant, a political dwarf and a military worm”. 
His dictum has been ascertained during the latest Iranian crisis. For the real story of the conflict is not in the Middle East, but in what this conflict has once again revealed about the so called European Union: the EU did NOT shape the conflict, could NOT protect critical maritime chock-points and vital energy routes, and played NOT the least role either in the course of warfighting or in securing the ceasefire. Albeit all bombastic declarations of Brussels’ nomenclature about “Europe” being a “global power,” “geopolitical actor,” or even “superpower”, it is a plain fact that the EU is NOT a Great Power – nor shall it become one in the years to come. .... Read more

Evangelia Akritidou
(RIEAS Senior Research Analyst)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 19 April 2026

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

A strategic shift is underway, in which geography, deterrence, and regional architecture have quietly re-positioned Greece from the margins to the center. For years, Greece was not considered a central variable in Israel’s strategic environment. The dominant analytical focus remained on the Gulf, the Levant, and Iran’s expanding network of proxies. That analytical framework is no longer sufficient to describe the current regional reality.... Read more