Geopolitics
Bidoon: Kuwait's Stateless Bedouin Population
The Bidoon (from bidoon jinsiyya, "without nationality") are an estimated 100,000-150,000 stateless residents of Kuwait, mostly descendants of nomadic Bedouins who failed to register during the 1961-1965 post-independence census and were locked out of citizenship ever since.
East Jerusalem: Captured in 1967, Annexed by Israel, Claimed by Palestinians
East Jerusalem is the part of Jerusalem that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed. The annexation is not recognized by most of the international community, which treats the area as occupied territory; Palestinians claim it as the capital of a future state.
Gaza Strip: Geography, History, and Legal Status
The Gaza Strip is a 365 km² Palestinian coastal territory of roughly 2 million people, among the world's most densely populated places. It passed from Egyptian administration to Israeli capture in the 1967 war, saw Israel's 2005 withdrawal of settlers and soldiers, and has been governed by Hamas under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007. The UN and most of the international community regard it as occupied territory.
Golan Heights: Captured Plateau, Contested Sovereignty, and Strategic Water
The Golan Heights is a basaltic plateau in the southwest corner of Syria that Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War and effectively annexed in 1981. The United Nations and almost every state regard it as Israeli-occupied Syrian territory; the United States, in 2019, became the only country to recognize Israeli sovereignty. The Heights are strategically prized for their elevation over northern Israel and for the fresh water that feeds the Jordan River system, and are home to a mix of Israeli settlers and the indigenous Druze community.
Kuwait Mass Citizenship Revocation Campaign (2024-2025)
Beginning in late 2024, Kuwait stripped citizenship from tens of thousands of nationals under a sweeping decree-law, with verified counts ranging from ~35,000 by December 2024 to as high as 200,000 by December 2025 — one of the largest denationalization campaigns since World War II.
EUV as Geopolitical Chokepoint: US-China Export Controls and the TSMC Dependency
ASML's EUV lithography monopoly has become arguably the single most consequential chokepoint in the US-China technology decoupling. Dutch export licenses, coordinated with US policy, have blocked EUV sales to Chinese customers since 2019, while essentially all leading-edge EUV capacity remains concentrated in Taiwan and South Korea.
Civil Death: What Happens When a State Revokes Citizenship
When a modern state strips citizenship, the cascading practical effects — invalid ID, lost healthcare, frozen bank accounts, voided property, terminated education, no right to travel or work — produce what observers call "civil death," the elimination of legal personhood while the person remains physically alive.