Research Library

ISIS-K, a branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, has maintained a steady stream of violent attacks in the country over the last year. But the group may actually be organizationally weak, writes Zwan Visiting Fellow Fazal Muzhary.

With conflict on two fronts, and natural gas squarely in the crosshairs, the US LNG industry will be needed to support our allies in both Europe and Asia this winter, write the authors.

The UK recently announced that it will pursue commercial arrangements with up to 20 individual U.S. states, beginning with Texas. In this brief, fellow David Gantz explores what these arrangements could achieve and the potential legal and constitutional constraints that may limit their reach.

The authors articulate an approach for reducing COVID-19 vaccine inequity through globally distributed manufacturing of vaccines. Read the commentary published in The Lancet.

The Saudi leadership has repeatedly rebuffed requests from President Biden and leaders of oil-importing countries to accelerate production increases. But recent price differentials could signal an intent to quietly steer crude into Europe to replace Russian supplies, writes the author. Read the post on the Baker Institute Blog.  This article originally appeared in the Forbes blog on May 4, 2022.

The authors take a realistic look at what's needed for the global energy transition to succeed and warn that moving away from fossil fuels too quickly could backfire — stranding climate progress in the so-called “valley of death.”

"With the pressures of climate change and the urgency to incorporate alternative energy resources like wind and solar, the fixation on the purported benefits of energy transition technologies overshadows the glaring reality — an absence of strategy around identifying and quantifying other life cycle externalities, such as waste disposal or environmental impacts," write fellow Rachel Meidl and research assistant Mathilde Saada. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog.

As China’s power reaches its peak over the next decade, President Xi Jinping may make a bold move against Taiwan. To protect American interests and the rules-based order, the authors argue that the United States and its allies should immediately mobilize resources to deter Chinese aggression.

Paris and Washington are past the immediate AUKUS crisis, but two major, related issues will remain high on Biden’s foreign policy agenda for the balance of his term, writes fellow Joe Barnes: China’s military expansion in the Pacific and the EU’s role in great power politics. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.

The authors point to several tangible benefits of U.S. LNG exports that go beyond its low procurement cost — including greater security of supply and emissions reductions when used as an alternative to coal.