Policy Analysis

While all eyes are focused on Iraq and Afghanistan,the Islamist insurgency in Algeria is witnessing a period of rapid evolution caused by the increasing sophistication of government counterinsurgency (COIN) operations, and adaptation on the part of the insurgent groups. The government is steadily incorporating intelligence,surveillance, and reconnaissance assets and precision

While Turkey prepares for a make or break year with the European Union (EU), perhaps a not less important issue for Ankara is its relationship with Washington. Over the past year, the U.S.-Turkish relationship has undergone some serious challenges. Despite the positive developments of the past months, today Ankara and

One of the more pleasant surprises to emerge in 2002—an exceptionally dreary year in the Middle East—was the inaugural volume of the Arab Human Development Report (AHDR). That path-breaking document, prepared by a group of courageous Arab researchers under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program, broke the mold

Have onerous post-Sept. 11 visa requirements denied young Arabs access to American colleges and universities? That charge was made by the authors of the "Arab Human Development Report," published last month and prepared by respected Arab researchers under the auspices of the U.N. Development Program. Their condemnation of Washington's alleged

Today, Yemeni authorities announced the capture of al-Qaeda militant Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal. This arrest comes amid a series of statements by Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Salih declaring his intent to release dozens of suspects with links to al-Qaeda in exchange for promises that they would renounce violence. Paradoxically, Salih and

At the heart of this sleepy South American capital of Suriname stand four golden minarets of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam mosque. Next to the mosque stands a stately wooden synagogue representing one of South America's oldest Jewish communities, which came to this former Dutch colony via Holland in the

Last week's suicide bombings in Istanbul -- the first pair on November 15 targeting two synagogues, and a second pair on November 20 targeting the city's British consulate and a high-rise building housing a British-owned bank -- cost Turkey dearly, with 57 dead and more than 700 injured. Many of

Yasir Arafat is the main problem in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not part of the solution. Despite the developments at Oslo, Camp David, and Taba, Arafat does not really want to reach an agreement with Israel. More than three years ago, he made a strategic decision to achieve his goals through

The following is a transcript of the CNN program Insight, from an episode dedicated to the terrorist attacks carried out in Istanbul on November 15 and 20, 2003. Soner Cagaptay's remarks appear in the last portion of the transcript. JONATHAN MANN, CNN HOST: Istanbul again. Turkey suffers another double bombing

President Bush's speech about nourishing democracy in the Middle East was received with predictable derision by state-run Arab media. More disturbing is the fact that the speech has failed to attract much attention in this country. It is dismissed by some as mere political rhetoric and seen by others as

On November 15, 2003, two car bombs exploded in simultaneous attacks on two synagogues in Istanbul during Sabbath services, killing 24 people and injuring more than 300. In an effort to bypass the tight security measures that the Turkish authorities had implemented around the synagogues, the attackers apparently detonated their

Later this month, an oil tanker will leave the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat after taking on a cargo of Russian crude oil pumped through the Trans-Israel Pipeline (Tipline). The pipeline runs between Eilat and Ashkelon, located south of Tel Aviv on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast. The tanker will

The increase in resistance attacks in Iraq is not simply a matter of a few spectacular successes, such as the five coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad on October 27, the downing of a Chinook helicopter on November 2, or the suicide bombing of the Italian base in Nasiriyah on November

On November 3, 2003, Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the UN, delivered The Washington Institute's Sixth Annual Turgut Ozal Memorial Lecture. The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks. Read a full transcript. Turkey is the new frontline state for the United States and the European Union (EU)

A Ceasefire Proposal A cycle of violence has dominated the scene since September 2000. One fact has emerged: Israelis cannot impose on the Palestinians, and Palestinians cannot impose on the Israelis. Strategies of violence have failed on both sides and are producing more victims. However, [although] the Palestinians have issued

Rarely has the reality between Israelis and Palestinians appeared to be so bleak. Terror continues unabated. The Israeli siege of the territories is tighter than ever. And, with the U.S. preoccupied with Iraq, there is no ongoing diplomacy. Israel faces the unpleasant reality that there is not a lot more

What does the future hold for relations between the U.S. and Turkey, so recently viewed by one another as "strategic partners"? The truth is it is too soon to tell. But it is far too soon to despair. Pundits and policy-makers in both countries continue to wrestle with the implications

The first snows are arriving in New Hampshire, but the action for the first of the US presidential primaries is still being played out elsewhere. American voters and news junkies in the rest of the world might be excused for thinking that the political battleground is Baghdad. The nightly news

Even after the extraordinary U.S.-British military display of last spring, rogue states and terrorists continue to threaten U.S. national security. While this observation may seem prosaic, the White House predicted that victory in Iraq would convince our adversaries to fall into line, i.e., moderate their ways to avoid becoming the

Following the official end to the Iraq war, reconstruction efforts have been hampered by increasingly sophisticated resistance from Iraqis hostile to the continued presence of coalition forces. The complexity and scope of Iraqi resistance was illustrated by a range of attacks in the 24 hours following the bombing of a