{"id":42,"date":"2007-02-11T13:28:13","date_gmt":"2007-02-11T12:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/?page_id=42"},"modified":"2026-03-07T18:39:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:39:59","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a fellow at the Ideological Defense Institute<\/a> (IDI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that equips policymakers, the Church, and the public to counter ideological threats to Western civilization.<\/p>\n

I am also the senior analyst for European politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estrat\u00e9gicos<\/a> \/ Strategic Studies Group, the oldest private think tank in Spain.<\/p>\n

Previously, I was a writing fellow at the Middle East Forum<\/a>, a Philadelphia-based think tank that promotes American interests in the Middle East and seeks to protect Western values from Middle Eastern threats.<\/p>\n

My academic specialties are American foreign policy, European politics and transatlantic defense- and security-related issues, but in recent years I have devoted much of my time to studying <\/span>the rise of Islam in Europe.<\/p>\n

I am a regular commentator about European affairs for newspapers and radio programs on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

I also speak about current events and the geopolitics of Islam at conferences, seminars and churches in Europe and North America.<\/p>\n

I advise European and American companies on geopolitical risk, and <\/span>teach courses on diplomacy and international relations at universities in Spain and the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been a contributing analyst for Jane\u2019s Information Group<\/a> on Basque and Islamic terrorism in Spain and France, and my work has been published in specialized intelligence publications such as Jane\u2019s Intelligence Review<\/a>, Jane\u2019s Intelligence Weekly and Jane\u2019s Terrorism and Security Monitor.<\/span><\/p>\n

My foreign policy analyses have been published by the American Enterprise Institute<\/a>, New York Times<\/a>, Oxford Analytica<\/a>, World Politics Review<\/a> and the Weekly Standard<\/a>, among others. A full list of my published works can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have been a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute<\/a>, a non-partisan foreign policy think tank based in New York City, as well as the senior analyst for transatlantic relations at the Madrid-based Elcano Royal Institute for Strategic and International Affairs<\/a>, the largest think tank in Spain. I served in the US Air Force<\/a> (stationed in Germany) during the last decade of the Cold War, and worked as a defense analyst at Science Applications International Corporation<\/a> (SAIC), one of the leading corporate think tanks advising the Pentagon on nuclear non-proliferation. I was also the Washington-based managing editor of Arms Control Today<\/a>, a strategic affairs monthly magazine.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I graduated with a degree in diplomacy and international security from the School of Foreign Service<\/a> at Georgetown University<\/a> in Washington DC, and also studied Middle Eastern history and geopolitics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have visited more than one hundred countries, including all of those in Europe and most of those in the Middle East. The most fascinating place I have ever been to is Iran, a country rarely seen by outsiders and enchanting beyond belief. It is home to astonishing landscapes, truly amazing food, and some of the most hospitable people in the world.<\/p>\n

I am a dual citizen of the United States and Germany. I am fluent in English, German and Spanish, and have a working knowledge of Dutch, French, Italian and Portuguese. I am married to my best friend M\u00f3nica and we live in Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a fellow at the Ideological Defense Institute (IDI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that equips policymakers, the Church, and the public to counter ideological threats to Western civilization. I am also the senior analyst for European politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estrat\u00e9gicos \/ Strategic Studies Group, the oldest private think tank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-42","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am a fellow at the Ideological Defense Institute (IDI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that equips policymakers, the Church, and the public to counter ideological threats to Western civilization. I am also the senior analyst for European politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estrat\u00e9gicos \/ Strategic Studies Group, the oldest private think tank […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-07T17:39:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/about\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/about\\\/\",\"name\":\"About - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-02-11T12:28:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-07T17:39:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/about\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/about\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/about\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/\",\"name\":\"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\",\"description\":\"Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"About - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"About - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","og_description":"I am a fellow at the Ideological Defense Institute (IDI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that equips policymakers, the Church, and the public to counter ideological threats to Western civilization. I am also the senior analyst for European politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estrat\u00e9gicos \/ Strategic Studies Group, the oldest private think tank […]","og_url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/","og_site_name":"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","article_modified_time":"2026-03-07T17:39:59+00:00","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/","url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/","name":"About - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-02-11T12:28:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-07T17:39:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/about\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"About"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/#website","url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/","name":"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","description":"Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":54,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8206,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions\/8206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}