GPI Global Policy Institute

Trump’s Armada Leaves Iran No Military Options (From FOX News)

By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute. February 3, 2025 With the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group on station, U.S. Central Command can call on air and missile defense assets ringing Iran from the destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean to the North Arabian Gulf.  President Donald J. Trump wants action on Iran’s nuclear inspections.  Highlights from the conversation with FOX News Anchor Molly Line, below and full clip here. Molly Line: It was quite a scene, a huge amount of assets being moved to the Middle East. The Ayatollah is talking about a regional war unfolding, potentially, if President Trump strikes, but the President says that they are talking.  What do you make of this? Rebecca Grant: Iran is playing games about allowing nuclear inspections.  But at this point, Iran is taking a really big risk, because Trump’s armada ensures that Iran basically has no military options left. 

GPI Papers Series – Cosmic Intelligence: How AI Is Powering the Future of Space Exploration and Innovation

By Janice Tagoe & Cybel N. Ekpa January 28, 2025 As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, its influence is extending far beyond Earth. From autonomous spacecraft to AI-powered satellites and orbital data centers, machine learning is redefining how humanity explores space and understands the universe. This article examines how AI is transforming every stage of space innovation, from navigation and propulsion to planetary research and astronaut health, marking a new era of intelligent, data-driven exploration. In the 21st century, two of the most transformative forces shaping science and technology are artificial intelligence (AI) and space exploration. Once separate disciplines with distinct goals and challenges, these fields are now converging in extraordinary ways. The intersection of AI and space technology marks a pivotal shift in how humanity explores the cosmos, monitors Earth from orbit, and imagines the technological frontiers of the future.

Check out the highlights from GPI President, Paolo von Schirach’s recent Interview with Real tv

Check out the highlights from GPI President, Paolo von Schirach’s recent Interview with Real tv, where he discusses about "the strategic importance of Greenland ". Read here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjwM41zISpw #GPI #GPInstitute #Greenland

Trump Knows Good Real Estate and He Knows Greenland’s Value to National Security (From FOX News)

By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute. January 20, 2025 Trump lit a bonfire under Denmark and NATO to spur much-needed progress to counter aggressive moves by Russia and China. “The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” President Donald J. Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday. Trump is right.  Grab a globe and look down from the North Pole, or check out this official Pentagon map.  You will see that Greenland is pivotal to the Arctic front.  Greenland’s eastern coast guards the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom or GIUK. This is the entry gate to the Atlantic for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear-armed submarines.  Greenland hosts important early warning radar sites because its field of view covers so much of the bomber and missile flight routes from Russia and China.  No Greenland, no Golden Dome missile shield. Read here and below.

Iran Protests: When the Bazaar Turns Against the State On January 13, the Global Policy Institute hosted an online discussion examining Iran’s evolving protest movement and its broader political implications, with a focus on the growing role of the merchant class (Bazaaris) and what it may signal for the future of the Islamic Republic. 🎙 Speaker: Ahmad Hashemi 🎤 Moderator: Paolo von Schirach #Iran #IranProtests #MiddleEast #ForeignPolicy #GlobalPolicy #GPI

Trump Has Three Options That Would Devastate Iran Targets (From Fox News)

By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute. January 14, 2025 Missile production facilities, space launch sites and drone factories among potential targets as pressure mounts on regime No one is better than President Donald J. Trump at putting maximum pressure on Iran.  As protests against the repressive, murderous regime continue, Trump is talking about military options as another means of adding to the dilemmas for Iran’s government.  “Locked and loaded,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Jan. 2, as the protests by the Iranian people ramped up.  Read here and below.

Texas Offers Practical Transportation Lessons For The U.S. (From InsideSources DC Journal)

By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute. January 7, 2025 The full text of this article is available below and in InsideSources DC Journal at the link here. With travel in America becoming increasingly challenging and congested, it is important to find timely, practical solutions. Texas offers clear and intriguing lessons why expanded air transportation is a compelling alternative to often glamorized high-speed rail. According to the Texas governor’s office, the state’s population increases by 1,500 people daily. After growing faster than any other state over the last two decades, it is now the second-most populous. Texas has added $1 trillion to its gross domestic product over that time. However, the state also faces some serious challenges as it attempts to accommodate millions of new residents. Transportation infrastructure, especially within the Texas Triangle (Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin-San Antonio), is one of its most significant challenges. The I-35 and I-45 corridors, connecting Dallas-Fort Worth with Austin-San Antonio and Houston, respectively, are driving nightmares. More than 50,000 people travel the road between Houston and Dallas daily. Texas Department of Transportation’s North Houston Highway Improvement Project estimates there are 39 million person-hours of traffic delays annually. The project broke ground in 2024 and has a $13 billion price tag. Understandably, there have been many companies attempting to solve the Texas Triangle’s regional transportation problem. The market, with 150,000 daily intercity travelers, generates serious interest for those who believe they can devise automobile-alternate transport modes.

The Strategic Logic of Operation Absolute Resolve (From FOX News)

By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute. January 5, 2025 President Donald J. Trump has taken a bold step in his campaign to yank Venezuela back from the brink and to keep China out of the Western Hemisphere.  Read here and below. Operation Absolute Resolve was a stunning tactical success by U.S. military forces.  Now comes the hard part: remodeling Venezuela without creating a quagmire. Nabbing illegitimate President Nicolas Maduro was another masterpiece orchestrated by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan “Razin” Caine.  Like the Operation Midnight Hammer’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last June, this operation involved over 150 aircraft and built on America’s complete air dominance.  Caine credited the “years of experience hunting for terrorists.”  Intelligence agencies mapped every moment of Maduro’s routine – down to his pets.

Iran’s Regime Change Is Inevitable

By Ahmad Hashemi January 2,2026 As 2025 drew to a close, the Iranian national currency, the rial, plummeted to a record low. This collapse infuriated the Bazaaris (traditional merchants and shopkeepers), triggering a return of the familiar, tragic cycle of protest and crackdown to the streets of Tehran. The Bazaaris were historically close allies of the clergy. They bankrolled the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, the new message from the shuttered storefronts of the Grand Bazaar is clear and quite different. The historic pact between the clerical establishment and the merchant class is broken. Nevertheless, notwithstanding this huge setback, even though the Islamic Republic appears more fragile than at any point in its 46-year history, the mechanics of regime survival remain largely intact. For those watching from Western capitals, the temptation to view the mass street protests as a precursor to a swift, perhaps foreign-assisted, collapse, is high. However, the reality on the ground suggests a more sobering truth: regime change in Iran is not a matter of if, but how it will be carried out—and the "how" depends on internal dynamics that foreign bombs cannot ignite, and exiled voices cannot dictate.

Venezuela Mission Spotlights Amphibious Ready Groups and Improved Ship Maintenance

By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute. December 31, 2025 Operations in the Caribbean are yet more proof that amphibious forces will be in high demand.  In late November, all eyes were on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, racing from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean to join Operation Southern Spear and help put the squeeze on Venezuela’s illicit money machine. But the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) was already on scene.  “Our integrated Navy-Marine Corps warfighters are ready to execute the nation’s business and deliver quick and decisive combat power no matter where we are tasked in today’s complex global environment,” said Capt. Chris Farricker, commodore, Amphibious Squadron 8, as the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) departed Norfolk, Virginia back on Aug. 15. Embarked with the Iwo Jima ARG was the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, a special-operations capable unit with formidable capabilities for “a wide variety of contingency missions,” as the Navy terms it.  Operation Southern Spear has included interdiction of drug boats and the capture of two Very Large Crude Carrier tankers.