Policy Analysis

U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace George Mitchell is currently in Jerusalem amid wide expectation that on Saturday the Palestinians will approve proximity talks with Israel. For its part, Israel has already agreed to the talks. Following a phone conversation this past Monday between President Obama and Israeli prime

Two months after nationwide elections, Iraq's government formation process is still on hold. The final voting results have yet to be announced as disputes over recounts and candidate disqualifications linger. Nor is it clear how a governing majority will be formed, and power shared, among the four major party alliances

The rise of the Green Movement following the fraudulent June 12 presidential election, and all that has transpired since, has demonstrated clearly to the Iranian people that the foundational elements of the Islamic Revolution -- the system of velayat-i-faqih (rule of the jurisprudent) and its main implementer, the Supreme Leader

As Israel marks its sixty-second birthday in 2010, U.S.-Israeli relations currently face the sort of tension that has periodically bedeviled the two allies. Indeed, from the very founding of Israel, the concept of creating a Jewish state was widely popular among the American people but deeply controversial among the policymaking

In order to position the Air Force for success in the modern security environment, while continuing to prepare for future conflict, a formal Irregular Warfare structure must be created. The U.S. Air Force is currently organized, trained, and equipped to conduct conventional warfare and has been forced to adjust to

The tempest in a teapot about Gen. James L. Jones's opening joke in his address to The Washington Institute's twenty-fifth anniversary symposium last week diverted attention from the truly newsworthy aspects of the national security advisor's remarks. On five key issues, he made important, substantive, and at times innovative statements

Persian-language radio and television broadcasts are among the main tools of U.S. public diplomacy toward Iran. Yet both of Washington's primary outlets for such broadcasting -- Radio Farda (RF) and the Persian News Network (PNN), an arm of Voice of America (VOA) television -- have been harshly criticized since their

Thomas Friedman, William Kristol, Martin Kramer, and David Makovsky joined in a keynote discussion at The Washington Institute's 2010 Soref Symposium on April 22, 2010. The event honored the Institute's 25th anniversary. Thomas Friedman is chief foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times. He has won three Pulitzer Prizes

Gen. James L. Jones (Ret., USMC), President Obama's national security advisor, delivered the Michael Stein Address on U.S. Middle East Policy at The Washington Institute's Soref Symposium on April 21, 2010. The event honored the Institute's 25th anniversary. Gen. Jones previously served as special envoy for Middle East regional security

In his confirmation hearing in March, Robert S. Ford, the U.S. ambassador-designate to Syria, listed five issues that will be at the core of the Obama administration's engagement with Damascus. Four were familiar: the United States wants Syria to prevent jihadi fighters from entering Iraq, end its support for Hezbollah

Middle East Bulletin, a publication of the Center for American Progress, interviewed Institute Next Generation fellow Andrew J. Tabler about U.S. policy toward Syria. The following is the published Q&A. The recent reports about Syria transferring Scud missiles to Hezbollah have only fed into a fractious debate about what U.S

The most likely scenario for government formation is a government of national unity that will hold together just long enough to appoint a president, prime minister and cabinet. Iraq is likely to witness restrictions on prime ministerial power, ongoing corruption and disrupted governance, although these factors will only slow rather

At the outset of the April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit, President Obama warned that nuclear terrorism is "one of the greatest threats to global security," observing that terrorist groups like al-Qaeda would "surely use" a nuclear device if they were able to obtain one. He further argued that a "new

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak sent officials in Damascus and Washington scrambling when he claimed Tuesday that Syria is providing the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah with Scud missiles whose accuracy and range threaten more Israeli cities than ever before. His unexpected announcement, though vehemently denied by the Syrian regime, threatens

It is widely known that the poor relationship between U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands at the center of U.S.-Israeli tension. Yet, it is hard to be hopeful for a variety of reasons. They relate to differences of outlook between them in three key areas: the

How is the United States working to improve global cooperation and coordination to combat terrorist financing?

On March 28, 2010, Politico's Laura Rozen ran a story citing an anonymous U.S. government source who suggested that Ambassador Dennis Ross, senior director for the Central Region at the National Security Council, "seems to be far more sensitive to [Israeli prime minister Binyamin] Netanyahu's coalition politics than to U.S

As the news broke that his cross-sectarian alliance was leading last month's parliamentary election with 91 seats, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was seen on television, grinning and receiving well-wishers in his Baghdad headquarters. His supporters took to the streets, jubilantly dancing and exchanging congratulatory embraces. It was, however

In October 2008, Colombian authorities arrested thirty-six Lebanese expatriates on money laundering and drug charges. This was more than a standard criminal syndicate, however -- the group was transferring a portion of its profits back to Hizballah. Michael Jacobson and Matthew Levitt discuss how such cases point to a new

In February 2010, tensions spiked between Israel and its northern neighbors. First, Syrian and Israeli officials engaged in a war of words, complete with dueling threats of regime change and targeting civilian populations. Weeks later, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah pledged to go toe-to-toe with Israel in the next war. Then