U.S. Policy

During the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Syria's Assad regime was helping insurgents to cross the border and kill Americans. In response to the Syrian provocation, the Bush administration considered a broad range of policy options. But one family of options always remained off the table: regime change or any combination of pressures that might destabilize Damascus. At the Department of Defense, we held a dissenting view.

China has arrived in the Greater Middle East and appears determined to stay awhile. Over the past decade, deeming energy security too important to be left to market forces alone, Beijing has prioritized the issue as a matter of national security. From new pipeline and infrastructure projects to increased naval

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.

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.

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

The Bahrain crisis reveals that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are no longer on the same page: Riyadh perceives the White House as demanding universal freedoms from its friends, but not from its adversaries like Iran.

The turmoil sweeping the Middle East could be the crucible in which a new U.S. foreign policy is forged, one that champions political and economic freedom at the cost of short-term tradeoffs.

In the heyday of the Oslo peacemaking era, it would be the work of American diplomats to prevent Israeli outrage over the horrific murders Friday evening of five civilians in this West Bank settlement. But today there is little peace process to protect.

Is Israel an asset or liability to the United States? This question -- which goes to the heart of U.S. policy in the Middle East -- has emerged as a focus of intense debate. If Israel is judged a net asset to the United States, then the U.S.-Israel partnership is