Policy Analysis

Join us for a conversation with former assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs David Schenker on the challenges and opportunities facing the new Biden administration in the Middle East.

NATO stands ready to increase its commitment in a slow and steady manner consistent with Baghdad’s needs, but careful communication will be crucial, as will a more strategic discussion on how to combine different assistance efforts.

Three Lebanese experts explore Beirut’s precarious politics, Hezbollah’s continued ability to evade accountability, and the Biden administration’s options.

There are several steps the Biden administration can take to strengthen its allies in Syria and promote a peaceful solution.

Members of the political class and the general public are increasingly anticipating and expecting that Palestinian elections will take place due to an unusual convergence of interests between PA president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Hamas.

Given our perpetual crises, we Iraqis rarely look back. But unless Iraqis collectively understand the past and decide how to avoid repeating its mistakes, we are bound to pay these crimes forward as we have in the past.

Even if the growing regional and geopolitical stakes were not sufficient on their own, the regime’s domestic negligence, illegitimacy, and criminality provide ample reason to shake up Washington’s approach.

Good relations with Iraqi Kurdistan are a valuable strategic asset for the United States, but support from the Biden administration should not be unconditional.

The Vatican’s outreach to Iraq is laudable in its goal of decreasing religious violence, but Western officials should be realistic about what engagement with Shia religious leaders can accomplish in the near term.

Designating Iranian-linked media outlets can limit their activities, but a more holistic strategy is needed if Washington hopes to effectively counter the regime’s regional propaganda machine.

Watch an incisive webcast conversation with American and Syrian policymakers as they examine the lessons Syria's decade of conflict holds for the Biden administration.

Iraq's Yazidis need assertive international support to protect their rights and well-being. ​

The omissions in Moscow’s statements on the U.S. operation are as revealing as the predictable hyperbole and hypocrisy.

After more than a decade of feuding, Palestinian factions face an opportunity for change.

The centrist party leader discusses key domestic and international policy issues ahead of the upcoming Knesset elections, with follow-up analysis by political and polling experts.

The new administration seems to regard Khashoggi’s death as merely the best known of the crown prince’s sins, but it is hard to see an alternative successor in the House of Saud.

The operation on the Iraq-Syria border could prove more significant than critics allow, but only if the administration keeps showing that there are limits to what it will tolerate in pursuing a new nuclear deal.

The administration’s early recourse to armed force may have surprised Tehran, but the proxy tests will continue, suggesting the need for sustained U.S. intelligence support and multilateral engagement with partners.

Interviews reveal how Syrian officials are extorting their people.

The administration’s instinct to cancel Riyadh’s blank check is right, but engaging a flawed partner is not the same as confronting a determined adversary.