Policy Analysis

Watch experts discuss the potential fallout from the September 25 independence vote in Iraqi Kurdistan.

A former ambassador offers concrete guidelines for engaging in regional interventions when necessary, and for avoiding the disastrous mistakes of the past.

October 03, 2017 The startling news that Saudi Arabia plans to let women drive aroused surprisingly mixed reactions among key kingdom-watchers. There is general satisfaction that Riyadh is really reforming at long last, but also some apprehension about a possible reactionary backlash. This points to a larger issue that is

The findings strongly suggest that, to maintain his popularity, the emir should seek a middle-ground exit from Qatar's standoff with other Arab states.

This weekend's embassy attack demonstrates that Brotherhood-aligned militants are becoming a more formidable threat, so Washington should designate them accordingly.

October 2, 2017 Seven years after the Jasmine Revolution toppled the graft-ridden dictatorship of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, corruption remains one of the top concerns of average Tunisians. With the launch of Prime Minister Youssef Chahed’s “war on corruption” in May 2017, many Tunisians hope that they may finally see

The Iraqi Kurds have angered their neighbors, but imminent punitive measures could quickly strengthen Iran and disrupt the campaign against the Islamic State.

The ongoing Gulf crisis is seen as an almost childish indulgence in Washington and Europe, but diplomacy and PR campaigns have made little progress in bringing it to an end.

The recent reveal indicates strong technical cooperation with Pyongyang, raising concerns that Iran might be on the path to developing a nuclear-capable ICBM down the road.

A woman's right to drive has much to say about the influence of the kingdom's hardline clerics and the prospects for deep, lasting reform.

September 26, 2017 A 2015 report estimated that in addition to an extensive network of local women, 550 Western women left their homes to travel to Syria and Iraq in order to join the Islamic State. A separate study in 2016 revealed that an average of 17 percent of as

The Russian leader has achieved most of his goals in Syria at minimal cost, and he will continue to have his way there so long as Washington keeps deferring to him.

A veteran diplomat reflects on how Jews have been perceived within the national security apparatus over the years, and why false presumptions only impede efforts to formulate better policies in the Middle East.

To garner support for a return to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Washington needs to show that it will counter the Iranian threat in the region even as it coordinates tangible first moves by Saudi Arabia and the two parties.

Iran wants its local allies to create a Shia political bloc or Hezbollah-like arrangement next door, but Washington can curb such ambitions so long as it does not repeat its vanishing trick of 2011.

September 23, 2017 The question of independence is a heated discussion topic in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), claims that the defeat of the Islamic State will change the map of Iraq and the Middle East and offer Kurds an opportunity

September 23, 2017 Seen from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, U.S. and other foreign pressure to postpone the September 25 referendum on independence is, as Talleyrand once said, “worse than a sin – it is a mistake.” Popular enthusiasm for independence, and moral arguments about Kurdish

Tehran has several means of putting military and economic pressure on the Iraqi Kurds following the independence referendum, but taking action on its recent warnings could widen Kurdish discontent at home.

September 22, 2017 Iran is increasingly nervous about Iraqi Kurdistan’s bid for a referendum on an independent Kurdish state. This nervousness arises because of two factors. First, declaring an independent Kurdish state would encourage Kurdish separatism within the Islamic Republic of Iran. Second, a new Kurdish state would undermine Iran’s

International pressure has raised the stakes of the planned referendum, but the Kurds have made their case even if the vote is canceled.