Conn Hallinan

Conn Hallinan is a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus.

Dispatches from the Edge: the Drift Towards War with Iran

Is US National Security Advisor John Bolton just blowing smoke when he talks about regime change in Iran? Possibly, but it is a good idea to take the neo-conservatives at their word.

Conn Hallinan
By Conn Hallinan
Iran | Veteran's Day Parade

Keeping track of the Trump administration’s foreign policy is like trying to track a cat on a hot tin roof: We’re pulling out of Syria (not right away). We’re leaving Afghanistan (sometime in the future). Mexico is going to pay for a wall (no, it isn’t). Saudi Arabia, Russia, the European Union, China, Turkey, North Korea—one day, friends, another

Read Full Article

The Emerging Russia-Turkey-Iran Alliance Challenging NATO in the Middle East

An unusual triple alliance coming out of Syria could change the regional balance of power and unhinge NATO — if it holds together at all.

Conn Hallinan
By Conn Hallinan
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, front, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrive for a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran say they stand against "separatist" agendas that would undermine Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

An unusual triple alliance is emerging from the Syrian war — one that could alter the balance of power in the Middle East, unhinge the NATO alliance, and complicate the Trump administration’s designs on Iran. It might also lead to yet another double cross of one of the region’s largest ethnic groups, the Kurds. However, the “troika alliance”

Read Full Article