الديمقراطية والإصلاح

The United States should take advantage of the latest blow to Assad's inner circle, hastening his demise while preventing worst-case follow-on events.

As the crisis in Syria heats up, so too has talk of a possible Iranian role in resolving it. Visiting Tehran last week, U.N. envoy Kofi Annan asserted that "Iran could play a positive role" in Syria. Two weeks earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov lobbied for Iran to be

UN envoy Kofi Annan's latest plan to end the violence in Syria -- perhaps better labeled the Annan-Assad plan -- is a bad one. It extends yet another lifeline to the regime, undercuts the armed opposition's growing effectiveness, and substitutes diplomatic bustle for progress toward ousting Bashar al-Assad. Like Annan's

One of the more charming aspects of post-Mubarak Egypt is the frequency with which political debate erupts spontaneously between ordinary pedestrians, who are then quickly surrounded by dozens of on-listeners eager to hear competing points and, more often than not, interject their own. These deliberative blobs are the best indication

In the 18 months since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood has risen swiftly from the cave to the castle. It founded the now-dominant Freedom and Justice Party last April, won a massive plurality in the winter parliamentary elections, and, last week, celebrated as its candidate, Mohamed Morsi

The struggle for supremacy between the Islamists and the military is second to a more important political battle: what kind of Islamic state Egypt will become.

As post-revolutionary Egypt slowly shapes a new political landscape, it faces a resurgent security challenge from extremist groups. David Schenker examines recent incidents, security force capabilities, and the extent to which Islamist political blocs might influence the country's domestic and regional security posture. The following is a summary of the

Yet another dimension of the Syrian imbroglio is the role of the Kurdish population.

In the stultifying, 100-plus-degree heat of Tahrir Square on Sunday, where tens of thousands gathered to hear the results of Egypt's first relatively free presidential election, the sweaty, and occasionally fainting, masses were morbidly grim. Many in the Islamist-dominant crowd were convinced that Egypt's military junta would anoint former prime