Policy Analysis

U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has decided to skip the Forum for the Future in Abu Dhabi this weekend, a move that will deepen concerns surrounding the Bush administration's Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) Initiative. Although Deputy Secretary John Negroponte will attend the forum -- an annual

On October 6, 2008, The Washington Institute honored former secretary of state Henry Kissinger with its 2008 Scholar-Statesman Award.

On October 3, 2008, Matthew Levitt, Ghaith al-Omari, and Dennis Ross addressed a Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to honor the launch of Dr. Levitt's new book, Negotiating Under Fire. Dr. Levitt is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute and the director of the Stein Program on

On October 6, 2008, The Washington Institute honored Dr. Henry Kissinger with its 2008 Scholar-Statesman Award.

In early September, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) -- the highest court in the European Union -- ruled that the EU's application of UN sanctions against Yasin Qadi and the al-Barakaat International Foundation infringed their basic rights, and declared the action illegal under EU law. Although the judgment applies

On September 23, 2008, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Giora Eiland and Ambassador Martin Indyk addressed a Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute. General Eiland is former head of the Israeli National Security Council and currently a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. Ambassador Indyk

Last week, Lebanese president Michel Suleiman met with President Bush at the White House -- the first visit by a Lebanese head of state since 1996 -- and reportedly pressed for a continued U.S. commitment to the bilateral military assistance program. Since the program's revitalization after the election of the

This past Monday, a Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) transport was targeted by a car bomb that killed five soldiers and wounded twenty-five others. The strike was the third on the LAF since June and occurred in increasingly violent northern Lebanon. In fact, violence in and around Tripoli, the largest city

For the past several years, Turkey has balanced its relationship with the West with its relationship with Iran and Russia -- just as Finland balanced the West and Russia during the Cold War. Finland, at the time, paralleled Western policies but remained intimate with Moscow. In this Turkish-language interview, Soner

On Friday, September 26, The Washington Post asked various foreign affairs analysts and other experts for their evaluation of what the two presidential candidates should discuss in their first televised debate, which took place that evening. Afterward, the Post asked those analysts to share their assessments of the debate. The

On September 22, the Iraqi parliament belatedly passed a provincial elections law, ending a long and costly deadlock. Parliament ratified the initial version of the law on July 22, but it was later vetoed by two members of Iraq's presidency council. This time it is likely that the bill will

Conventional wisdom holds that when Iran's supreme leader says, "Jump," millions of Shiites, from the Beirut slums to the Saudi oilfields, ask, "How high?" But a recent meeting in Baghdad between a wealthy Lebanese Sunni politician and an ascetic Shiite theologian twice his age suggests that there is a move

Last week, al-Qaeda affiliates attempted to storm the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, leaving seventeen dead, including one American woman. The attack highlights the ongoing problem of terrorism in Yemen, where the United States has struggled to achieve an adequate level of counterterrorism cooperation. The challenge for U.S. policymakers is

In the wake of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's narrow Kadima party victory over Shaul Mofaz last week, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert resigned on Sunday night. The following day, Israeli president Shimon Peres asked Livni to form a new governing coalition, but if she is unable to do so in

For the last six years, the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, Tusiad, has been a crucial source of support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The pro-business, pro-European Union group provided the party with domestic and international legitimacy, and armed it with the means to fight off accusations

Download the complete proceedings. On September 21, 2008, Jackson Diehl and Jeffrey Goldberg addressed The Washington Institute's annual Weinberg Founders Conference. Mr. Diehl is deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post. Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for the Atlantic. The following is a rapporteur's summary of their remarks

Download the complete proceedings. On September 21, 2008, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Isaac Ben-Israel, Kassem Jaafar, and Anthony Cordesman addressed The Washington Institute's annual Weinberg Founders Conference. General Ben-Israel is a member of the Knesset representing the Kadima Party. Mr. Jaafar is a Britain-based analyst and advisor on strategic and diplomatic

Download the complete proceedings. On September 21, 2008, Soner Cagaptay and Philip Gordon addressed The Washington Institute's annual Weinberg Founders Conference. Dr. Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at the Institute. Mr. Gordon, a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Brookings Institution

Download the complete proceedings. On September 20, 2008, Richard Clarke -- a senior foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama -- addressed The Washington Institute's annual Weinberg Founders Conference. Mr. Clarke's three decades of government experience include service as special assistant to the president for global affairs

Download the complete proceedings. On September 20, 2008, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Giora Eiland and Marwan Muasher addressed The Washington Institute's annual Weinberg Founders Conference. General Eiland is a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and director of its Program on IDF Force Structure