Three years after October 7, Israel faces its first election since the attacks, with questions of accountability and institutional distrust overshadowing its military campaigns and international credibility crisis, writes Daniel B. Shapiro. Read more ⤵️

“The departure of US troops represents an opportunity to turn the page on the United States’ complicated history in Iraq, but it should not lead to an end of American engagement with Iraq,” write Victoria Taylor and Alina L. Romanowski. Read more ⤵️

FAST THINKING: President Trump announced a security deal with Denmark and Greenland on Friday. Atlantic Council experts unpack what we know and what to expect from the deal:

The stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz calls for a new approach. “A Gulf maritime cooperative mechanism could offer the Trump administration an off-ramp from the Hormuz crisis and open space for other channels of deconfliction,” writes Alia Brahimi

Canada and the US are parties to one of the world’s largest free trade agreements. Madeline Chalecki unpacks how US trade policy is increasingly exposing the limits of such deals:

CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s recent unannounced visit to Moscow has raised speculation about Russian plans to escalate attacks. Read the latest analysis from Atlantic Council experts on where and how Russian President Vladimir Putin might escalate next:

Russia’s new AI law puts domestic models under state control. Moscow now wants to sell the same model abroad. But buying Russian AI likely trades one dependence for another, writes Eto Buziashvili.