Democracy & Reform

The best way to bolster the Trump administration’s new “Quad” initiative is by combining it with a previous Saudi-American platform that already has significant buy-in from the warring parties.

Although the crisis has not yet checked all the boxes that would signal fatal regime vulnerability, the situation could change quickly due to shifting conditions on the battlefield, on the streets, or within the halls of power in Tehran.

An in-depth study of how the Islamic State’s administrative apparatus and activities in its Syrian “capital” affected local residents, and how it sought to instrumentalize the populace in a quest to sustain its wider international state-building project for the long term.

Watch or read an in-depth conversation with three experts who have spent weeks on the ground in Syria and met with the interim authorities who toppled the Assad regime.

Although President Abbas seems more focused on meeting diplomatic expectations abroad than dealing with burning issues at home, officials should still push him to propose something beyond cosmetic change—both to address the reality in the West Bank and, perhaps, to legitimize the PA’s eventual return to Gaza.

As nuclear talks proceed, the president should recall his past acknowledgement that respect for human rights and democracy is “an integral component of U.S. national security.”

The Trump administration needs to quietly but firmly signal Baghdad that enshrining the militia umbrella group as a de facto “Iraqi IRGC” would pose an unacceptable threat to U.S. interests.

Although the unusually bold demonstrations are unlikely to shake the group’s local control, they have cracked the barrier of fear that Hamas nurtured inside Gaza and offer an opportunity to amplify alternative Palestinian voices.

What do Palestinians, Israelis, and external players see as the best option for Gaza and its people now that the first phase of the ceasefire is complete?