Policy Analysis

On Wednesday, Iraq announced that the American inspectors of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) had one week to leave the country. For good measure, Baghdad demanded that UNSCOM cease using American U-2 spy planes as part of its efforts to enforce the dismantling of Iraq's weapons of

Iran has been a key issue in this week's U.S.-China summit. Two weeks ago, Beijing promised to halt the transfer of antiship missiles to Iran and, in the run-up to the summit, the Chinese provided written assurances to Washington that it will not initiate any new nuclear cooperation with Iran

Iraq's announcement yesterday banning the participation of U.S. citizens in future inspection missions of the UN Special Commission investigating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program is the latest in a long series of Iraqi challenges to the UN Security Council. Since the end of the Gulf War, however, the Security

Since the attempted assassination of Hamas leader Khalid Mish'al in Jordan and the release of Hamas founder and spiritual leader Shaykh Ahmed Yassin, many observers have predicted that Hamas may have moderated its message, possibly offering itself as a potential partner for peace. However, since Shaykh Yassin outlined a "temporary

Yemen is a very traditional country and society, and to some extent it is characterized by traditional politics. Yemen's past-including its long traditions of trade and diplomacy with surrounding countries-influences its current actions. This century has been a particularly difficult one for Yemen. The North and South were divided, and

A significant loophole in U.S. immigration and national security policy allows students from terrorist-sponsoring countries in the Middle East-Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria-to enter the United States to study subjects that can potentially contribute to their countries' chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. While the majority of foreign students

An ongoing series of shake-ups at the highest levels of the Iranian military and intelligence communities suggest that Iran's new President, Hojjat-ol Islam Mohammed Khatami, may be moving to exert control over the hardline defense establishment. In recent days he has reshuffled the leadership in the Defense Ministry, the Intelligence

Russia and Turkey are partners as well as rivals. Bilateral trade (official and unofficial) amounts to $14 billion. Turkey purchases major quantities of natural gas from Russia. There are 30,000 Turkish workers and some $6 billion invested by the Turkish construction sector in Russia. There is also considerable tourism in

This past weekend, Vice President Gore and the President's special envoy on Russian-Iranian proliferation issues, Ambassador Frank Wisner, arrived in Moscow to meet with Russian Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin and other senior officials. Topping the agenda was a subject of growing concern for U.S. policymakers: Russia's deepening involvement in the proliferation

What I would like to do rather than brief on Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's trip to the Middle East, from which we have just returned, on what she did accomplish and what she did not, is share six observations about where we are and where we may be going

Keynote addresses by Thomas Pickering and Aaron David Miller. With Rajan Menon, Reuvan Merhav, Arnold Kanter, Paul Wolfowitz, Dominique Moisi, Michael Sturmer, and Donald Bandler.

I come before this group at a critical moment in the history of the Middle East. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's recent trip occurred on the heels of two horrific terrorist incidents amidst a fundamental crisis of confidence between Israel and the Palestinians. The situation in the Middle East had

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will find a Middle East of changing expectations and heightened vulnerabilities for United States interests. In Egypt, she will find a country that is facing potential cuts in U.S. foreign aid; Congress has given notice that economic assistance—the symbol of the U.S.-Egypt relationship—is legitimate fare

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit this week to the Middle East may be the last chance for the United States to avert a potential drift toward armed confrontation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), due to the latter's failure to mount a sustained effort to halt terrorism by

Note: In December 1999, the Institute published a Research Note updating this Policy Focus. Six years after revelations emerged that Saddam Hussein sent hundreds of Iraqi students abroad to study subjects that would help Baghdad develop its nuclear weapons program, the U.S. government continues to issue visas to students from

Created after Israel's 1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath, the Israel-Lebanon Monitoring Group (ILMG) was intended to help prevent another escalation to large-scale military operations. Renewed clashes in Lebanon in 1997 placed the body under considerable scrutiny. This paper provides an overview of the ILMG, its activities, and the participants' views

The course of history since the first Zionist convention 100 years ago—World War II, the Soviet breakup, and of course, the establishment of Israel—would leave the first Zionists in awe. Beginning with the founding of Israel as a homeland for Holocaust refugees and ending with the influx of Soviet Jews

Zionism was born of a mixture of desperation, imagination, and sheer coincidence. Theodore Herzl and many of his colleagues wanted only to be accepted into European society, but were rebuffed because of their religion. In the face of such discrimination, Herzl took up the cause of Zionism as his only

Hojjat ul-Islam Mohammad Khatami, who won a landslide victory in Iran's presidential elections on May 23, has scored another stunning achievement with the Iranian Majlis' (parliament) approval of all twenty-two of his cabinet ministers on August 20. The ratification of all-even the most controversial-appointments, was a substantial show of Khatami's

The current standstill in the peace process has created a situation where Lebanon's problems might be viewed as one of the most important components to the overall conclusion of the Middle East peace process. Lebanon now holds the dubious distinction of being the last "satellite" state in the world. Today