Policy Analysis

Economist.com has been hosting an ongoing debate about whether the Obama administration is an honest broker between Israel and the Arabs. The following is the contribution by Michael Singh, the Ira Weiner fellow at The Washington Institute and former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council

The following is an excerpt from "America and the Lebanon Issue," in Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis, ed. Barry Rubin (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). Purchase this book on Amazon.com The U.S. can protect us from another superpower but not from a regional power like Israel or Syria. The U.S

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

On July 17, 2009, Farah Pandith, the State Department's first special representative to Muslim communities, addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss her new role and U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton's approach to Muslim engagement. The following is a rapporteur's summary of her remarks

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

On July 25, Iraqi Kurds go to the polls to vote in a joint parliamentary and presidential election. Although a heated competition in January produced massive change at the provincial level throughout the rest of Iraq, the electoral system produced by the incumbent Iraqi Kurdistan parliament prevents such sweeping changes

When it comes to the Middle East, American presidents like to think big, and President Obama is no exception. His agenda for the region, at the outset, included ending thirty years of enmity between the U.S. and Iran, reviving American popularity among Arabs and Muslims, and resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict

Washington Institute deputy director for research Patrick Clawson testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on July 22, 2009. The following are his prepared remarks. For several years, Iran's economy was cushioned from foreign pressure by the high price of oil. That has changed as oil prices have declined

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

This past week, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for his first official visit to the Middle East since assuming his current position. Although in many respects the Obama administration is off to a bumpy start with Saudi Arabia, Geithner praised Saudi efforts

Two recent pieces of news from overseas deserve Americans' careful consideration: -- Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey signed an agreement last Monday in the Turkish capital Ankara that cleared a key hurdle blocking the construction of the Nabucco natural gas pipeline, designed to stretch 2,000 miles from the Caspian

This is the first in a series of PolicyWatches that will evaluate how the international community's Iran policy choices are being affected by Iranian nuclear progress and developments in Iran's domestic political scene since the June 12 presidential elections. After nearly a month of international focus on the civil unrest

Twenty-two countries have negotiated for European Union membership in its history, and all were ultimately offered accession. But French President Nicolas Sarkozy has long blocked Turkey's entry into the EU, and his objections are no symbolic snag. France is a key EU country, and Paris's veto has frustrated Turkey's EU

During Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's visit to Washington next week, the Obama administration will likely seek to reinvigorate that country's flagging reconciliation process as part of ongoing efforts to establish a stable political order in Iraq. Progress, however, continues to be hindered by ongoing violence, deep-seated suspicions, and partisan

On July 13, Turkey and four other European nations (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria) agreed to build the Nabucco pipeline to transit gas from the Caspian Sea to Austria. When complete, Nabucco will be 3,300 kilometer (2,000 mile) long and cost $11 billion. This major undertaking would link Europe and

On July 13, 2009, Ambassador Robert Jordan and Simon Henderson addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. Henderson is the Baker fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Institute. His most recent Policy Focus, After King Abdullah: Succession in Saudi Arabia, will be

Six weeks before Iran's descent into electoral chaos, the hardline Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami rebuked the United States in his Friday sermon, stating, "You do not want talks!" Ayatollah Khatami (no relation to former president Mohammad Khatami) is clearly not a keen observer of the Washington scene. Given the persistence

On July 8, G8 summit participants issued a statement expressing "serious concern" about the Iranian government's postelection actions; U.S. president Barack Obama characterized the situation as "appalling." Further, both Obama and French president Nicolas Sarkozy emphasized that Tehran will face serious consequences if Iran has not begun to cooperate on

Recent reports suggesting that al-Qaeda fighters are leaving Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the group has suffered serious setbacks, have renewed international concerns that Yemen is reemerging once again as a major terrorist safe haven. Although the assessments of al-Qaeda's resurgence in Yemen are accurate, the deteriorating situation is not due

In this report, reprinted with permission from the proceedings of a conference of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Washington Institute senior fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Matthew Levitt examines in detail the economic impact of support for foreign terrorists and offers specific recommendations for