Great Power Competition and the MBN Advantage

Dear Colleagues,

Leila and I join Min today as she briefs the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Members of the Commission are interested in MBN’s work tracking Chinese influence in the Middle East and North Africa. That’s become an MBN niche.

We’ve seen a pattern around the world: Chinese financing eroding national sovereignty; Chinese-funded infrastructure projects with commercial cover that serve Communist Party security objectives.

Members of Chairman Randy Schriver’s bipartisan U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission have been sounding the alarm.

Min’s China Tracker is making a mark.

The Middle East is key to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing uses investments in transportation, infrastructure, ports, and industrial zones to challenge U.S. influence in the region. Chinese money is moving into the Gulf.

Propaganda, too. “Armed with cutting-edge technologies, artificial intelligence-powered smart solutions, and cost-effective products, China’s medical sector is turning heads in the Middle East,” says one Chinese outlet reporting on a recent Dubai conference.

Iraq, Gaza, Iran

Andres’s Iran Briefing is gathering followers at a terrific pace. Ditto another MBN newsletter, MBN Agenda, our weekly briefing — in Arabic and English — on what’s driving events in the Middle East and Washington. Thanks to Joe, Rami, Ghassan, and Andres for this week’s fine edition. 

We’re covering the difficult formation of a new government in Iraq. We’re reporting on Gaza, the Peace Board, and the thorniest of issues — Hamas disarmament.

Talks on Iran’s nuclear program resumed yesterday in Geneva. Israel is skeptical. Rubio says “we’ll try.” Iran wants ballistic missiles excluded, and now says it’s seeking a pact that provides benefits for Washington — in areas with quick economic returns such as oil and gas fields, and mining investments.

This, while the brave Iranian people yearn for Western support and political change. Iran’s clerical regime has killed and detained thousands in these first weeks of 2026.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Jim Risch (R-ID), Ranking Member and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have expressed solidarity with the people of Iran.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke in Munich last weekend to a rally of some 250,000 Iranian expats, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic. The U.S. military buildup in the region continues.

Our audiences across the Middle East and North Africa have an insatiable appetite for accurate and reliable news and information. That’s our distinct competitive advantage. They want to know what Americans are thinking. That’s core to the MBN mission.

Dennis Ross breaks down the U.S.–Iran talks this week with MBN’s Washington Bureau Chief Joe Kawly. You can watch the episode here.

On March 4, we’ll host a salon with Elliott Abrams, Roya Hakakian, and our Andres Ilves. 

Across platforms and forums, we’re getting the word out.

And we’re looking ahead.

Turkey, and Great Power Competition

Is Erdogan’s Turkey becoming the new Iran? We know about steady radicalization, the stifling of civil society and independent media, support for Hamas, and deepening  hostility toward the United States and Israel.

Randa reports on how Ankara is trying to reshape geopolitics through massive infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Turkish construction firms have completed over 2,000 projects across the continent valued at nearly $100 billion. With multifaceted strategies that combine military exports and soft power, Ankara is yet another power out to build itself up by cutting America down.

Russia, China, and Iran have just deployed naval vessels for joint exercises in the Strait of Hormuz. The ultimate aim according to one Russian official? A “multipolar world order on the oceans” to block Western hegemony. Adversaries keep chipping away.

MBN Mindset

MBN has become a nimble, agile, digital-first media group. We’re passionate about an entrepreneurial, start-up mind set.

We’re grateful to Congress — and are absolutely determined to be good stewards of precious resources.

We’re committed to principles of accountability, but without the onerous, invasive regulation and bureaucracy that undermine the impact American taxpayers care most about.

We’re fully aware: It’s the integrity and credibility of MBN’s work that carries the day.

It’s exciting to tell the MBN story.

Last week, we were with Mark Dubowitz and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy. We hosted Ken Pollack at the National Press Club, and journalist Marc Rod for a virtual discussion.

Yesterday, we had Rob Satloff for a conversation on his new graduate school program, a partnership with Pepperdine University. We’re ready for new interns!

A next round of exchanges is in the works — with the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the Council on Foreign Relations, and PEN America.

MBN Young Professionals hosted PEN America Co-CEO Summer Lopez last fall. The free speech organization dates back to 1922. PEN membership comprises novelists, journalists, nonfiction writers, poets, publishers, editors, and translators from around the world — including in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, and Iraq.

There’s work to do. There’s lots to look forward to.

Great traction and gains all of you, across departments.

Thanks, dear colleagues.

Sincerely, Jeff