MES Insights to MCU Insights: Larger Scope With our first issue of the 16th volume, we are rebranding the Middle East Studies (MES) Insights as Marine Corps University (MCU) Insights to recognize the expanding scope of our scholarly analytical pieces and to provide a venue for broadened analysis of topics of interest to the MCU community. MCU Insights will continue to partner with Marine Corps University Press (MCUP) as it has done since volume 13. MCUP, offering an open dialogue between scholars, policy makers, analysts, and military leaders and crossing civilian-military boundaries to advance knowledge and solve problems, will continue to publish MCU Insights. This partnership has allowed Insights to expand its reach and readership and capitalize on MCUP’s expertise, while opening MCUP to a wider network of scholarship, research, and professional military education communities. The MCU Insights team will continue to create and provide varied analytical pieces and maintain editorial control over these works in cooperation with MCU. MES Insights started publication in January 2010 as part of the efforts of MES at MCU. MES was established in 2007 and was originally envisioned as an open-source professional military education resource and center of excellence, with a focus on the Islamic Republic of Iran, for MCU and Fleet commanders. With changing requirements on the ground, MES expanded its teaching and research foci, serving as MCU’s center of expertise on the interconnected broader Middle East, inclusive of South and Central Asia and their maritime domains, including the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, and Horn of Africa regions. MCU Insights will continue to feature short analytical pieces, inviting contributions from MCU faculty and students as well as the professional military education and related educational and research communities in the United States and abroad. April 2025 Major Charles-Antoine Royal, French Army, "Calibrated Pressure: Exploiting Iran’s Mediterranean Setbacks while Preventing Nuclear Escalation," MCU Insights, vol. 16, no. 2. February 2025 Clément Therme, "Vladimir Putin as a Mediator between Iran and the United States: Russia’s Return to the Middle East through the Iranian Door," MCU Insights, vol. 16, no. 1.
