Policy Analysis

In August 2006, al-Qaeda's second-in-command announced a new alliance with the Algeria-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), with the stated aim of becoming a "thorn in the neck" of America and the West. This radical network -- which is little known in the United States but has become

It is going to be a long, hot summer in Riyadh. True, it normally is. But this year will almost certainly be different. And the rest of the world will need to pay attention. Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Islam, oil. Pick your preferred crisis. The chances are that all will be

One year after Hamas's sweeping electoral victory, Palestinian politics is not only locked in a dysfunctional stalemate, but also marred by increasingly deadly factional violence in Gaza. Since a roadside bomb exploded on January 25 -- targeting a vehicle carrying members of Hamas's Executive Force -- more than thirty-two people

In less than two months, Lebanon will celebrate the two-year anniversary of Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon. Following the February 14, 2005, assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, international pressure forced Syria, thought to be behind the killing, to remove its troops. In Beirut in early 2007, however

For the past five years, U.S. Army and Marine Corps officers have been operating in highly complex combat environments in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Uniformed decisionmakers realized early on that these wars required a wide array of skill sets and areas of expertise beyond those traditionally taught to junior officers

Violent clashes in Beirut on January 25 between students of rival political parties have overshadowed the promising news that Lebanon received pledges of $7.6 billion at the Paris III donor conference on Lebanon's economy. The violence, which was largely along sectarian lines, was the latest in a series of escalating

On January 25, 2007, Institute counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow Dennis Ross testified before the Senate Committee on Armed Services. The following is the prepared text of his remarks. The challenge today in Iraq is internal. Iraq's leaders must find salvation by reaching across sectarian lines, not waiting for their

On January 24, 2007, Washington Institute senior fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process David Makovsky addressed the Seventh Annual Herzliya Conference on the balance of Israel's national security. The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks. What has the United States done to

On January 25, Lebanon will participate in Paris III, the third international donor conference for Lebanon convened by French president Jacques Chirac since February 2001. The top agenda items are grants and soft loans for Lebanon and the economic reform plan of Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora. For Siniora and

On January 10, 2007, Ghaith al-Omari, Mohammad Yaghi, and Dennis Ross addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Dr. al-Omari, a visiting fellow at the New America Foundation, has served as a political advisor to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and as a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating

Syrian president Bashar al-Asad is apparently proposing peace talks with Israel. His aides are knocking at Ehud Olmert's door, from a distance. They exhort him to believe that their intentions are genuine, while out of the other side of their mouths, they issue threats that they cannot wait forever, and

The Washington Institute's 2007 catalog is now available online, offering easy access to information about more than twenty years worth of publications in one handy PDF document. Highlights include recent monographs on key issues such as transatlantic counterterrorism cooperation, a spotlight on the Institute's new online Policy Focus series, and

On January 22, 2007, Washington Institute Wexler-Fromer fellow Martin Kramer addressed the Seventh Annual Herzliya Conference on the balance of Israel's national security. These are his remarks. My role here this morning is to serve as a proxy for "the enemy." Now it might have been more interesting to invite

On January 22, 2007, former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon addressed the Seventh Annual Herzliya Conference on the balance of Israel's national security. General Yaalon was a Washington Institute visiting fellow in 2006 and is the author of the Institute monograph Lessons from the

On January 22, 2007, Washington Institute executive director Robert Satloff addressed the Seventh Annual Herzliya Conference on the balance of Israel's national security. These are his remarks. There are three items on President Bush's agenda, which are Iraq, Iraq, and Iraq -- in that order. Democrats have retaken both houses

Soner Cagaptay appeared on CNN-Turk's Burasi Washington, ("This Is Washington") on January 21, 2007. In an extended interview with CNN-Turk correspondent Yasemin Congar, Mr. Cagaptay discussed issues of critical importance to U.S.-Turkish relations. Read a transcript in Turkish of the interview (PDF).

On January 21, 2007, Soner Cagaptay appeared on CNN-Turk's Burasi Washington program.

On January 16, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Kuwait for a meeting with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—the oil-producing states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. The final stop on Rice’s Middle East tour, the visit

President Bush's address to the nation on Iraq last week dispensed with many of the 79 recommendations included in the 142-page report of the Iraq Study Group. The headline on the speech was the decision to surge 21,000 troops, rather than downsize the U.S. military presence in Iraq as the

As international pressure on the Iranian government toughens, the Iranian regime is facing more fragmentation at home. In an unprecedented action against a sitting president, 150 of the 290 members of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) signed a letter blaming President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad for raging inflation and high unemployment, and criticizing