U.S. Policy

The recent decision by Ariel Sharon, Israeli prime minister, to bolt from the Likud party has shaken Israeli politics to its core, where Likud has dominated for 20 of the last 28 years. Now Palestinians and Israelis will be going to the polls within two months of each other in

For years, President Bush has prematurely heralded missions accomplished and corners turned in Iraq. But now it is Bush's critics who are peddling an implausibly rosy forecast: namely, that Iraqis are ready to stand on their own and could do a better job of stabilizing the country without an American

On November 29, 2005, Edward Morse, David Goldwyn, Simon Henderson and Paul Simons addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. The forum, titled "Where Are Oil Prices Headed in 2006?" marked the publication of the Institute's policy focus, Reducing Vulnerability to Middle East Energy Shocks: A Key Element in Strengthening

Read Part I of this two-part series. Amir Peretz's decision to pull the Labor Party he leads out of its national unity government with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon set Israel's new political calendar and precipitated Sharon's decision to bolt the Likud Party and consent to elections in March 2006. Peretz

On November 8, the State Department released the International Religious Freedom Report, its annual survey of religious freedom across the world ( read the report online). Several of the designated "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) are in the Middle East: Iran, Sudan, and embarrassingly, in light of longstanding close diplomatic

On November 8, 2005, Robert Pape and Martin Kramer debated the origins of suicide terrorism and the proper responses to it at The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Dr. Pape is professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of

The November 10 meeting at the White House between U.S. president George W. Bush and Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh will be the third time the two men have met since the September 11 terror attacks on the United States. Yemen is an oft-forgotten close U.S. ally, arguably as crucial

Exploring continuities and changes, this book provides the historical backdrop crucial to understanding how Iranian pride and sense of victimization combine to make its politics contentious and potentially dangerous. From the struggle between the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini to the current tension between the reformers and traditionalists, a central issue

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas returned to Ramallah from Washington last week having missed a key opportunity to spur President George W. Bush to reengage in the Roadmap. Instead, the October 20 joint press conference at the White House concluded with Bush acknowledging that his presidency may not witness the creation