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Veterans: Hurry up and pitch! New writing project begins now

We are looking for former U.S. service members who want to engage in investigative journalism, reporting, and op-eds

Reporting | QiOSK
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Are you a veteran with a story to tell? A journalist covering military or veteran issues? An investigative reporter uncovering critical stories about those who serve? Responsible Statecraft wants to hear from you.

We’re seeking compelling pitches from veterans: storytellers, journalists, and first-time writers with unique perspectives on military and veteran-related topics within a realism & restraint point of view. We especially welcome well-researched investigative pieces. Competitive rates are offered, with higher rates for in-depth, thoroughly sourced investigations.

Examples of Pitch Topics:

  • Is the culture of U.S. Special Forces changing?
  • A week alongside a military recruiter—what I learned.
  • Investigating contaminated water at [X] base.
  • What’s driving the mental health crisis among veterans?
  • What does SecDef Hegseth mean by “going back to basics”?
  • A personal account of military service and its impact on your worldview.
  • Why “ending forever wars” resonates with some veterans.
  • People talk about the military industrial complex, here is what I experienced in it.

Important: Please send pitches, not completed pieces, along with a bio and links to any other published pieces, if available.

Acceptance of a pitch does not guarantee publication of the final article.

Send to veterans@quincyinst.org. We look forward to your stories!


Top photo credit: U.S. Army National Guard Soldiers rest while waiting for the next event at the Region VI Best Warrior Competition, at Camp Rilea, near Warrenton, Oregon, May 5, 2021. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Cpl. Mikailla Brownfield)
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Reporting | QiOSK
Trump's war is a gift to Iran’s hardliners
REUTERS/Imran Ali

Shi'ite Muslims hold posters of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, alongside late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as they take part in the religious procession marking the death anniversary of Imam Ali, son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, during the fasting month of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan, March 11, 2026.

Trump's war is a gift to Iran’s hardliners

Middle East

When the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 — an escalation that has already brought new suffering and uncertainty to millions of ordinary Iranians — the central debate quickly turned to whether the Islamic Republic might collapse. Some analysts argued that decapitating Iran’s leadership could produce rapid regime change, perhaps resembling the leadership removal in Venezuela earlier this year. Others warned that Iran’s political system was far more resilient.

Yet the more important point may lie elsewhere. Given the Islamic Republic’s internal dynamics, war could produce the opposite of what many expect. Rather than weakening the regime, the war may strengthen its most committed supporters — the ideological networks often labeled “hardliners” in Western media — while marginalizing the broader political middle, inside and outside the system, that favors non-violent and gradual change.

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As Iran war rages, Washington opens a new front in Ecuador
Top image credit: Ecuadoran security forces patrol the streets of Manta, Ecuador. (IMAGO/Agencia Prensa-Independiente via Reuters Connect)

As Iran war rages, Washington opens a new front in Ecuador

Latin America

As the world’s attention is focused on the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, the United States has, with little fanfare, opened another front in its expanding campaign against so-called “narco-terrorism” in the Western Hemisphere.

Since this new "war on drugs" began last year, U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats, as well as a direct military intervention in Venezuela, have claimed the lives of more than 250 people. Now, Ecuador, a country on the northwestern edge of South America, has become the latest site of Washington’s reinvigorated “war on drugs.” This escalation risks making the United States complicit in the human rights abuses of a government that is steadily dismantling its own country’s democracy, including by suspending the nation’s largest opposition party.

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Israel’s push for Somaliland base raises fears of wider war
Top image credit: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi participate in a joint press conference during Saar's visit to Somaliland on January 6, 2026. (Screengrab via X)

Israel’s push for Somaliland base raises fears of wider war

QiOSK

Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Israel is in talks with Somaliland officials to form a strategic security partnership, which might include granting Israel access to a military base or other security installation along the Somaliland coast from which it can launch attacks against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

With war raging in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa is a particularly important geoeconomic and geopolitical puzzle piece. Its location near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which connects ships traveling through the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, makes it a strategic location from the perspective of global shipping, 10% to 12% of which travels through the strait annually.

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