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Articles by Chas Freeman
A new multi-nodal world is taking shape
In remarks delivered to Chinese participants in the Cambridge Executive Leadership Program, Chas Freeman argues that 500 years of Euro-Atlantic dominance has come to an end. Five hundred and thirty-four years ago, for the first time, the world became one. Christopher Columbus – an Italian adventurer – was looking for a faster way to Asia. Instead, he erased the Atlantic as a barrier between Europe and America. This transformed the globe.
A new multi-nodal world is taking shape
In remarks delivered to Chinese participants in the Cambridge Executive Leadership Program, Chas Freeman argues that 500 years of Euro-Atlantic dominance has come to an end. Five hundred and thirty-four years ago, for the first time, the world became one. Christopher Columbus – an Italian adventurer – was looking for a faster way to Asia. Instead, he erased the Atlantic as a barrier between Europe and America. This transformed the globe.
The implications of the forever war in West Asia
The long-term implications of the Iran war will be a shift in geopolitics, with the decline of Western dominance in West Asia and new regional coalitions. Peace is more than the absence of combat between warring parties. Cicero defined it as ’liberty in tranquility’, a condition in which states and peoples do not use violence against each other to pursue their inherently incompatible goals. There has been no such peace in West Asia since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War.
The implications of the forever war in West Asia
The long-term implications of the Iran war will be a shift in geopolitics, with the decline of Western dominance in West Asia and new regional coalitions. Peace is more than the absence of combat between warring parties. Cicero defined it as ’liberty in tranquility’, a condition in which states and peoples do not use violence against each other to pursue their inherently incompatible goals. There has been no such peace in West Asia since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War.
The Birth, Death, and Prospective Rebirth of the World Order
The Birth, Death, and Prospective Rebirth of the World Order Remarks to a Schiller Institute Conference on the End of the 500-Year Colonial Era Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) >By Video, 30 May 2026 We are witnessing the end of multiple epochs. The world of our parents and our childhood is no more. Never has the dire description of current events attributed to Antonio Gramsci seemed more apt.
The American mis-imagination of China
In a speech to a colloquium on John Hay’s Open Door Policy, former US diplomat Chas Freeman argues that America’s current approach to China is strategically self-defeating and increasingly detached from geopolitical reality. This is the 250th anniversary of America’s declaration of independence and the 243rd anniversary of Great Britain’s acceptance of it. Back then, China was one-third or more of the global economy.
Iran war may accelerate a new Middle East security order
The war on Iran may have far-reaching consequences for Gulf security, regional alliances and the future of the US presence in the Middle East. Eugene Doyle talks with former US Ambassador Chas Freeman, to try and see the road ahead. Whether intended or unintended, the US and Israel are severely damaging the economies of the Gulf States.
Chas Freeman: the US has shifted from protector to predator
In a video address delivered on 12 January 2026, former US ambassador Chas Freeman argues the post-war system of international law and institutions is failing under great power coercion and impunity. He warns that US and Israeli conduct is accelerating global lawlessness, undermining democratic freedoms, and pushing the world toward a more dangerous, unstable order. We are here to avert a tragedy – the apparently inexorable unfolding of foreseeably terrible events.
Ceding the future to China
Delivered as remarks to Brown University’s Watson School during its “China Chat” series, Chas Freeman reflects on China’s return to global prominence and the United States’ accelerating retreat from the international order it once led – and asks what coexistence looks like as power shifts in the 21st century. It is human to imagine that change lays bare the ambitions of those who benefit from it. China has successfully returned to wealth and power.
Peace in Ukraine, Peace in Europe
Peace in Ukraine, Peace in Europe Remarks to a Conference on Strategic Challenges and the Emerging New Order Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) By video, 24 May 2025 In the West, this is a time of forever wars. Forever wars have no defined or achievable objectives. Therefore, they include no plan for their termination or the reconciliation of the parties to their results.
The many lessons of the Ukraine war
_My talk, like the conflict in Ukraine, is a long and complicated one. It contradicts propaganda that has been very convincing. My talk will offend anyone committed to the official narrative.
Finally, the effort to engineer regime change in Syria has been achieved
December 10, 2024 “The first CIA effort at regime change in Syria was in 1947 at the very moment of its inception. And there were multiple efforts to overthrow governments in Syria and well before Bashar Al Assad took power. … They all failed. There were efforts of course to change the Bashar Al Assad regime, to overthrow it.
Iran just destroyed US power in the Middle East
Former US ambassador Chas Freeman argues that Iran’s strike “changes all the rules of the game in the Middle-East”.
Finally, the effort to engineer regime change in Syria has been achieved
“The first CIA effort at regime change in Syria was in 1947 at the very moment of its inception. And there were multiple efforts to overthrow governments in Syria and well before Bashar Al Assad took power. … They all failed. There were efforts of course to change the Bashar Al Assad regime, to overthrow it.
EIR Volume 51, Number 30, August 2, 2024
Volume 51, Number 30, August 2, 2024 Full Issue: (Subscribers only) View Download PDF View High-Res Download High-Res PDF
EIR Volume 51, Number 28, July 19, 2024
Volume 51, Number 28, July 19, 2024 Full Issue: (Subscribers only) View Download PDF View High-Res Download High-Res PDF
Iran just destroyed US power in the Middle East
Former US ambassador Chas Freeman argues that Iran’s strike “changes all the rules of the game in the Middle-East”.
What Can We Learn From Our Forever War in Ukraine?
It has been a while since the United States won a war. It looks as though we are about to lose yet another one – the war in Ukraine. This is a proxy war justified as an effort to “weaken and isolate” Russia. Our strategic defeat in this effort now leaves us with three unpalatable alternatives. We can continue to support Ukraine as Russia grinds it to bits and reduces it further in size and population.
What Can We Learn from our Forever War in Ukraine?
What Can We Learn from our Forever War in Ukraine? Remarks to the Massachusetts Peace Action Campaign Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Visiting Scholar, Watson Institute, Brown University By video, 11 April 2024 It has been a while since the United States won a war. It looks as though we are about to lose yet another one – the war in Ukraine. This is a proxy war justified as an effort to “weaken and isolate” Russia.
The Gaza breakout is like Vietnam’s 1968 Tet offensive
The Hamas attack on Israel was part jailbreak (from Gaza, the world’s largest prison since the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto) but more than that it was a revolt of the hopeless by the hopeless for the hopeless. This war puts paid to Israeli-Saudi normalisation but that was never a real prospect. The Israeli ministry of strategic affairs (i.e. “hasbara” or propaganda) has touted normalisation as a “game changer for the Middle East.” Not so.
The many lessons of the Ukraine war
My talk, like the conflict in Ukraine, is a long and complicated one. It contradicts propaganda that has been very convincing. My talk will offend anyone committed to the official narrative.
The Many Lessons of the Ukraine War
The Many Lessons of the Ukraine War Remarks to the East Bay Citizens for Peace Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Visiting Scholar, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University The Barrington Library, Barrington, Rhode Island, 26 September 2023 I want to speak to you tonight about Ukraine – what has happened to it and why, how it is likely to emerge from the ordeal to which great power rivalry has subjected it; and what we can learn from this.
The Middle East is once again West Asia
The Middle East is once again West Asia Names make a difference. Those who confer them reveal their perspectives on the places and peoples they are naming. Over the course of the 16th to the 19th centuries, Europeans conquered and colonized the world, imposing their self-centered perspectives on its geography. For them, the Ottoman Empire was “the Near East,” a region encompassing West Asia, Southeast Europe, and Northeast Africa.
The Middle East is Once Again West Asia
Opinions published in The Markaz Review reflect the perspective of their authors and do not necessarily represent TMR. We’re no longer talking about “the greater Middle East,” but a swath of West Asia that increasingly operates outside the geopolitical influence of the United States. Chas Freeman Names make a difference. Those who confer them reveal their perspectives on the places and peoples they are naming.
From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back
Opinions published in The Markaz Review reflect the perspective of their authors and do not necessarily represent TMR. Chas Freeman For the past two centuries, the West Asian and North African sub-region we call the Middle East has been the playground of external empires and great powers. But for millennia it was itself the birthplace of its own great empires and religions.
U.S. China Policy: A Case of Self-Harm
U.S. China Policy: A Case of Self-Harm Remarks to the American Academy of Diplomacy Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Visiting Scholar, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University By video to Washington, DC, 7 February 2023 Two hundred thirty-four years ago, the people of this country wisely decided “to form a more perfect Union” by adopting a new constitution.
How the US and China can shape a new East Asian Order, together
This is part four of four, adapted from remarks to the U.S. National Defense University’s College of National Security Affairs (Nov. 16, 2022), and remarks to the China Centre, Jesus College, Cambridge University (Nov. 30, 2022).
Asian countries wise up, don't depend on US to balance China power
This is part three of four, adapted from remarks to the U.S. National Defense University’s College of National Security Affairs (Nov. 16, 2022), and remarks to the China Centre, Jesus College, Cambridge University (Nov. 30, 2022). The first step in devising more fruitful approaches to stabilizing the Indo-Pacific must be to reexamine the conventional wisdom, set aside delusions based on obsolete realities, and look at the world as it now is.
Why Taiwan’s dependence on the US is not a safe bet
This is part two of four, adapted from remarks to the U.S. National Defense University’s College of National Security Affairs (Nov. 16, 2022), and remarks to the China Centre, Jesus College, Cambridge University (Nov. 30, 2022) The regional vacuum the United States filled after World War II has long since ceased to exist. This is a sea change that demands a change in U.S. policy and the regional security architecture.
Refashioning a new East Asian order
This is part one of four, adapted from remarks to the U.S. National Defense University’s College of National Security Affairs (Nov. 16, 2022), and remarks to the China Centre, Jesus College, Cambridge University (Nov. 30, 2022) When Deng Xiaoping opened China to the world four decades ago, Americans were ready to do what we most enjoy doing – showering foreign countries with insistent, well-meaning advice about how to conduct themselves at home and abroad.
How China Transformed Itself
Global Bite Previous Next How did Communist China manage to become so fiercely competitive? Takeaways Cadre capitalism creates self-interested, selfish partnerships between local officials and business people. Cadre capitalism makes doing business in China quick/easy for those who get it and hard for those who don’t.
The Chinese Colossus, Really?
Global Bite Previous Next Can China displace the United States as a military colossus in command of global affairs? Does it want to do so? Takeaways Chinese history has made Chinese leaders risk-averse. They cannot afford errors at home or abroad. The Chinese see "foreignness" as the natural condition of foreigners. It's not worth it to change them. China’s human and natural history as well as its geography make its leaders risk-averse.
The United States, China, and great power competition in the Middle East
The world’s leading powers, including Washington, have lost their grip on the Middle East. So what will come next in the ever-changing region? By Chas Freeman It’s official. The Biden administration agrees with the Trump administration that almost everything that happens in world affairs can be explained by two interlocking zero-sum contests. One is geopolitical, as in ‘great power rivalry.’ The other is ideological, as in ‘democracy vs.
The United States, China, and great power competition in the Middle East
It’s official. The Biden administration agrees with the Trump administration that almost everything that happens in world affairs can be explained by two interlocking zero-sum contests. One is geopolitical, as in ‘great power rivalry.’ The other is ideological, as in ‘democracy vs. authoritarianism.’ The so-called ‘Middle East’ is a subregion of West Asia that occupies the strategic space where Africa, Asia, and Europe collide.
How China and the US Threaten Each Other
The Sino-American relationship is proof positive that, if you disregard a country’s interests or treat it like an enemy, you can and will make it one. For most of human history, China was the wealthiest and most powerful society on the planet. Over the past four decades, it has sought to restore itself to this status without challenging the United States, which has enjoyed a century of global primacy.
Some Implications of the Sino-American Split
Some Implications of the Sino-American Split A chat with the Peer Global Fundraisers Group Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Visiting Scholar, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University By Video from Washington, DC, 5 August 2022 There’s a good deal going on between China and the United States now, but I want to discuss three subjects with you today before we get into current events: First, how does China threaten America or America, China?
US Interests and Pretenses in a Changing Middle East
In June 1974, cornered by Watergate, Richard Nixon set off on a quick tour of the Middle East. This is something presidents seem to do when they’re in trouble back home. In no foreign region is U.S. statecraft so inseparable from domestic politics. But the unpalatable realities of the Middle East have made it the unchallenged center of diplomatic hypocrisy and double standards. It is where the values-based foreign policies that our domestic politics demands go to die.
Ready, Fire, Aim: US Interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria
I have been asked to join my fellow panelists in speaking about U.S. interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. For some reason, our government has never been able to articulate these interests, but, judging by the fiscal priority Americans have assigned to these three countries in this century, they must be immense – almost transcendent.
Ready, Fire, Aim: US Interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria
I have been asked to join my fellow panelists in speaking about U.S. interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. For some reason, our government has never been able to articulate these interests, but, judging by the fiscal priority Americans have assigned to these three countries in this century, they must be immense – almost transcendent.
Outcompeting China to “Win the Future”
Outcompeting China to “Win the Future” Remarks at the Metropolitan Club of Washington, DC Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Visiting Scholar, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University 5 May 2022 About five years ago, the United States decided to set aside previous efforts to cooperate with China.
In the Middle East, impacts of Sino-American rivalry remain minimal – Responsible Statecraft
Recent regional developments are being driven by local dynamics, not great power rivalry. But China’s role in the Middle East is sure to grow. This article has been adapted from remarks delivered to the Middle East Policy Council. The gods of war in Washington have decreed that the international situation is now being shaped by two transcendent forces: great power rivalry (especially between our country and China) and authoritarian efforts to dismantle democracy.
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University By video link from Washington, DC, 10 January 2022 I’d like to thank the Washington International Diplomatic Academy for inviting me to speak about diplomacy as an instrument of statecraft. I envy you the practical training in diplomatic work you are receiving here.
China in the Middle East
China in the Middle East Remarks to a Panel of the Middle East Policy Council Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr., (USFS, Ret.) Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University By video link to Washington, D.C., 21 January 2022 The gods of war in Washington have decreed that the international situation is now being shaped by two transcendent forces: great power rivalry (especially between our country and China) and authoritarian efforts to dismantle democracy.
How Could the U.S. Deter Military Conflict in the Taiwan Strait?
A military crisis in the Taiwan Strait would take a huge toll on everyone involved, but the consequences for Taiwan would be catastrophic. Avoiding war is in Taiwan’s paramount interest. That should go without saying, but it doesn’t. Too many Americans talk about war in the Taiwan Strait as if it were some kind of potentially necessary evil—a price “we” may have to pay to restrain Beijing’s influence in the region.
The Sino-American Split: At Sea with a Broken Compass
The Sino-American Split: At Sea with a Broken Compass Remarks to the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr., (USFS, Ret.) Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University By video link from Bristol, Rhode Island, 10 September 2021 The United States and China are no longer on speaking terms.
How the coup is destroying Myanmar’s economy
23 June 2021 Authors: Htwe Htwe Thein, Curtin University and Michael Gillan, UWA The military coup in Myanmar in February has reversed or put at risk a decade of gradual economic progress. In the last decade, the Myanmar economy benefited from significant economic and political reforms, achieving above 7 per cent annual growth, reduced poverty and a significant increase in international investment.
Reconciling the rhetoric and reality of Biden’s trade policy
23 June 2021 Author: Shihoko Goto, Wilson Center Even as the Biden administration continues to tout cooperating with allies to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific, the United States is unlikely to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) anytime soon.
Maximising Indonesia’s demographic dividend
22 June 2021 Author: Anne Booth, SOAS In January, Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik) published the first results from the 2020 population census. While these initial figures are still preliminary, they raise important questions about Indonesia’s demographic and economic future. The data shows that Indonesia’s total population sat at 270.2 million in September 2020 after an annual average growth rate of 1.25 per cent in the decade 2010-2020.
Ensuring the Davis Aerodrome doesn’t become a geopolitical own goal
21 June 2021 Authors: Alan D Hemmings, University of Canterbury and Donald R Rothwell, ANU In May 2018, Australia announced its intention to build a paved runway at Davis research station in the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT). Additional funding to advance the design and development of the ambitious ‘Davis Aerodrome Project’ was approved in December 2019. But the project has created a ticking environmental issue for Australia with major geopolitical implications.
Biden’s climate leadership hinges on mobilising private finance
21 June 2021 Author: Editorial Board, ANU More than US$35 trillion in investment will be required over the next decade to win the battle against climate change. Most of the world’s governments have nowhere near the fiscal space to fill that gap.
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