Geopolitics is the discipline of understanding how geography, power, and strategic interest shape the decisions of states and the conflicts that result. In an era of accelerating multipolarity — where US primacy is contested by China and Russia while middle powers assert independent strategic agency — rigorous geopolitical intelligence has never been more valuable to governments, corporations, and institutions navigating an uncertain world.
CommandEleven’s geopolitical analysis applies the tools of intelligence tradecraft to the biggest structural questions of the current order: How is the US-China competition reshaping the Indo-Pacific and global supply chains? What does Russian strategic doctrine mean for European security and NATO’s eastern flank? How are middle powers — India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan — positioning themselves in a world where alignment is increasingly transactional? And where do the flashpoints lie that could tip regional tension into direct great power conflict?
This category collects CommandEleven’s broader geopolitical and strategic analyses — pieces that operate above the tactical and operational level to examine the systemic forces and long-range trajectories that define the security environment our clients must navigate.
Let’s recall our memories of a speech of a senior Pak Army official that he delivered as the chief guest at a military educational institution in Rawalpindi on India’s Republic Day in 2014, asserting that India poses no greater threat to Pakistan but extremism/terrorism does.
Let’s recall our memories of a speech of a senior Pak Army official that he delivered as the chief guest at a military educational institution in Rawalpindi on India’s Republic Day in 2014, asserting that India poses no greater threat to Pakistan but extremism/terrorism does.
While there have been constant attempts by New Delhi and Kabul to undermine these successes by continuing to wage terrorism in Pakistan from Afghan soil while employing their assets in media for systematic disinformation, anyone who wants to witness these successes with their own eyes can visit Pakistan and do so.
For decades, Pakistanis have been told that Afghanistan is a “brotherly Islamic country” with cultural and people-to-people ties with Pakistan. For decades, Pakistan has also consistently faced long and short waves of terrorism and crimes, a good proportion of which have been traced to Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia, in a first move to pressure mostly Muslim states to join its campaign against Qatar, has persuaded six sub-Saharan African nations with threats of reduced financial aid and restricted quotas for the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, to follow its lead in taking punitive steps against Qatar.
Buried in the Gulf crisis are two major developments likely to shape future international relations as well as power dynamics in the Middle East: the coming out of small states capable of punching far above their weight with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, a driver of the crisis, battling it out; and a carefully managed rivalry between the UAE and Saudi Arabia that has weakened the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and aggravated suffering in war-wracked Yemen.
Saudi King Salman’s appointment of his son, Mohammed bin Salman, as crown prince at the expense of his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, could prove to be a mixed blessing for a kingdom in transition that faces significant international challenges of its own making.
A two-week old conflict in the Gulf goes to the core of key issues in international relations that hamper the fight against political violence and govern diplomatic relations: the absence of an agreed definition of terrorism that allows autocrats to abuse efforts to counter extremism by repressing non-violent critics and the ability of small states to chart their own course and punch above their weight.
The stakes for both sides of the Gulf divide could not be higher. Saudi Arabia and the UAE cannot afford to fail in their effort to force Qatar’s hand after leading several Arab and non-Arab states in a rupture of diplomatic relations and declaring an economic boycott that also targets Qatar’s food supplies.
Cracks have appeared in a Saudi-led, US-backed anti-terrorist political and military alliance days after US President Donald J. Trump ended a historic visit to Saudi Arabia. The cracks stem from Qatar’s long-standing fundamental policy differences with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates about Iran and the role of political Islam.
