Aaron Balshan, at The Blogs

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Dec 3, 2014, 8:22 PM

ISIS will devour Lebanon

As the whole world watches ISIS in Kobane and Kirkuk, Sunni militant groups are about to make a big play on Lebanon, a far less publicized ISIS front. Extremist detachments scattered over the western border of Syria make near daily...

Oct 7, 2014, 11:22 PM

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of backpacking across Turkish Kurdistan. From the banks of the Euphrates to the birthplace of Abraham, Eastern Anatolia is rich with illustrious culture, and history. Drifting eastward from Batman, my travel...

Sep 13, 2014, 3:36 PM

Eilat of Potential

Eilat at night (photo credit: Moshe Shai/Flash90/File)

Keeping the southern tourism city VAT-free is a good start, but Israel could be doing a lot more with the city

Sep 2, 2014, 9:30 AM

Foreign policy checkmate

Bill Gaede, a famous Soviet spy during the last breaths of the Cold War, worked in America as a high-level computer engineer and programmer. Always one step ahead of his Western handlers, he famously bragged that in chess “a...

Jun 10, 2014, 9:45 PM

Bennett’s Dirty Tactics at the Herzliya Conference

For the past three days, I had the pleasure of attending the Herzliya Conference. When I skimmed over the program book, one event immediately caught my eye- a political debate about the peace process with the heads of five...

May 27, 2014, 5:22 PM

Identifying Gender Barriers in the IDF

I recently read several articles on how women have successfully been integrated into Israel’s military. The IDF touts itself as the only western democracy with full inclusion of women into its ranks, serving in both combat and non-combat roles....

May 23, 2014, 9:34 PM

A new model for Israeli Arab identity

A unique educational experiment aims to empower students to take responsibility and leadership

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About Me

Aaron Balshan is an Intelligence Analyst for the Levantine Group, a Middle-East based geopolitical risk and research consultancy firm. He is a former Argov Fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya and staff sergeant in the IDF.