Search The Council

Our weekly roundup of the week's top news and research in food, agriculture, and global development.

Check out our weekly roundup of the week's top stories in food, agriculture, and global development.

Over the weekend, North Korea launched a new cruise missile. It's unlikely to shift American public opinion.

The Biden administration emphasizes strengthening ties with America's global allies and partners. Which countries do Americans view as their allies—and adversaries?

While the public would prefer diplomacy with Iran, they are not taking more aggressive options off the table.

It's been a busy 2021. Recap the year with the survey team's analyses of public opinion on the most critical issues at home and around the world.

“An end to NATO enlargement or withdrawing forces from the east will not stop Putin. Only full support of Ukraine can do that,” writes Ivo Daalder in the Financial Times.

Economic sanctions: what they are, how the US has used them in foreign policy, and considerations for current policymakers.

While government officials reaffirm the importance of the US-Saudi relationship, the American public expresses generally chilly feelings towards Saudi Arabia.

Reports that Iran is nearing the point of capably developing a nuclear weapon are causing alarm, but they are still a ways away from building a bomb.

The majority of countries polled in a recent 53-nation study hold negative views of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

"Hossein Taeb’s sudden removal from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is part of a wider project to install a new generation of zealots," writes Saeid Golkar.

Paul Poast analyzes the criticism towards President Biden's Saudi Arabia visit during his recent Middle East trip.

If the United States and China are competing over global public opinion, who’s winning, and where?

The small Caucasus country challenges the idea that the world is splitting into democratic and autocratic camps, Dan Drezner argues.

In the event of Iran developing nuclear weapons, the US public wants to tighten economic sanctions, and most support a return to the JCPOA.

A majority support using US troops to defend Seoul should North Korea invade, Council polling shows.

As rumors spread, Saeid Golkar argues why it's unlikely that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, succeeds his father.

What's the historical context for protests in Iran? Nonresident Senior Fellow Saeid Golkar explains on NBC News Now with Joshua Johnson.

"Iranians have protested several times against the Islamic Republic, and every time they have been silenced, every time they have been repressed, brutally."