Policy Analysis

The small Persian Gulf state of Qatar is emerging as a significant international player in the Libyan crisis and a crucial supporter of U.S. policy. But its relationship with the United States has often been difficult, and its standing in the rest of the Arab world is questionable. For Washington

Although the Muslim Brotherhood favors Egypt's new political parties law, some intellectuals and liberal parties are questioning whether it represents a substantial improvement on the old one.

Even more than the conflicts in Tunisia, Libya, and Bahrain, and perhaps even more than the fall of Mubarak in Egypt, the recent violence in Syria has posed a challenge to the Obama administration's strategy in the Middle East.

Teaching the Holocaust to Palestinians is a way to ensure they do not go down the blind alley of believing their peace process with Israel is as hopeless as one would have been between Nazis and Jews.

Ten days after millions of Egyptians voted in the first post-Mubarak election to approve nine constitutional amendments, the country's Supreme Military Council (SMC) has announced it will soon issue its own "constitutional declaration," effectively superseding the existing constitution. This raises the question as to why Egyptians were asked to vote

More than a month after President Hosni Mubarak was removed from power, Egypt's jails are again filling up, but this time with senior officials of the fallen regime.

Operation Odyssey Dawn is having telling effects on the military situation in Libya. Air operations by NATO and the coalition of countries opposing the Libyan government are degrading regime capabilities substantially and bolstering the rebels' ability to conduct both defensive and offensive operations. For the Qadhafi regime's part, its capacity

The lesson of the AKP experience for the Arab world and likely Muslim Brotherhood governments is that religious orthodoxy is an ideological beauty contest, in which the winner is always the ugly guy.

Beyond further coordination of humanitarian efforts, the United States and its allies should seek to accomplish several important political goals at the London conference on Libya.

With anti-Asad regime protests in Syria raging for a seventh straight day, with reports of significant numbers killed, the United States should consider designating under Treasury Department sanctions Mahar al-Asad, Bashar's brother and head of the elite units of the Republican Guard.

On March 22, 2011, Jean-Pierre Filiu and Mehdi Khalaji addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss whether the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist offshoots -- not only in Egypt but across the Arab region and beyond -- can respond to a more open political environment

March 24 marked the sixth straight day of protests against Syria's Bashar al-Asad regime in and around the southern city of Deraa, where the regime crackdown thus far has claimed at least sixteen lives, with unconfirmed reports putting that number much higher. As the death toll mounts, the issue of

Iraq is evincing growing confidence and ambition to use its political experience as a regional model for countries emerging from dictatorships.

Much has been achieved in the first few days of Operation Odyssey Dawn: in the east, the regime's advance on the opposition capital of Benghazi has been decisively checked, and conditions have been set for policing of a no-fly zone across Libya's coastal belt. But the zone is merely a

In view of the major, unexpected mass protests in Arab societies -- from Tunisia and Egypt to Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and now even Syria -- it must be asked whether similar protests could break out in the West Bank, Gaza, or both. On March 15, approximately 10,000 Palestinians demonstrated in

Yemeni president Saleh's long reign has been marred by corruption and despotism, presenting a less than ideal partner for Western governments, but the pedigrees of some of the most prominent candidates positioning themselves to replace him may be no better.

The ongoing allied intervention in Libya, dubbed Operation Odyssey Dawn, represents a major change in the military situation, but perhaps not a decisive one. It has definitely been a blow to the regime and a boost for the rebels. Nevertheless, UN Security Council Resolution 1973 and its implementation to date

On March 21, several key figures reportedly defected from Yemeni president Ali Saleh's ruling coalition, including Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, commander of the 1st Armored Division and Northwest Military District. Saleh has faced growing criticism since March 18, when as many as fifty-two protesters were killed and hundreds more

Using its unbridled control over the executive, legislative, and now judicial branches and the media, the AKP has eliminated Kemalists, and now aims to shape Turkish society in its own narrowly conservative and authoritarian image.

On March 20, during his annual speech marking the Iranian New Year, President Obama crystallized recent shifts in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic. Tellingly, this year's message was addressed to "the people of Iran" rather than to the government, in sharp contrast to Obama's 2009 declaration "I would like