السياسة العربية والإسلامية

Even as the group conducts a public-relations blitz for tactical gains, it continues to advance its strategic goals through ongoing terrorist activities, robust radicalization, and the elevation of hardline militants to leadership positions.

In June 2009, an Israeli Dolphin-class submarine sailed from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea via Egypt's Suez Canal. Given the 30-year peace between the states, Israeli vessels in the canal -- even submarines -- wouldn't ordinarily make headlines. But the submarines and the Israeli SAAR V-Class warships that passed

In his July 31, 2009, column in the Palestinian Authority (PA) daily al-Ayyam, Washington Institute Lafer international fellow Mohammad Yaghi expressed reservations about Fatah's bylaws and political plan, both of which are to be presented at the movement's sixth conference opening today in Bethlehem. The following are excerpts from Yaghi's

It is obvious that the current situation in Iran spells that the regime intends to continue its nuclear program. While that is the target of the Obama administration's agenda in the Middle East, the reinstitution of Mahmoud Ahmedinajad to the Iranian presidency will also cause nuclear and conventional weapons proliferation

Born in Qom, Iran, as the son of an ayatollah, Mehdi Khalaji knows what the long path to Shiite scholarship looks like. His father dreamed that he might someday join the ranks of these high scholars as an ayatollah, and from 1986 to 2000, Khalaji studied theology and jurisprudence in

Six weeks after the pro-West March 14 coalition defeated the Hizballah-led alliance in Lebanon's parliamentary elections, no new government has been formed in Beirut. Although March 14 leader Saad Hariri was given a mandate back in early June to become prime minister and form a cabinet, he has still not

There are three categories of countries in international politics: global powers that can afford to do nearly everything they want; small and weak states that need to latch on to large states to protect their interests; and middle-sized states, which, though they are not powerful enough to shape global affairs

Several new polls suggest that the United States is gaining ground in the Arab street, and that President Barack Obama's latest overtures, specifically his June 4 speech in Cairo, were well received by some important Arab constituencies. Although a great deal of skepticism remains, students of Arab public opinion would

Eighteen months have passed since the Paris donor conference, where members of the international community promised the Palestinian government $1.45 billion in assistance for its 2009 budget. The Palestinian Authority (PA), however, has received less than a quarter of this amount, and Arab governments in particular have fallen short, contributing