A Reawakened Rivalry: The GCC v. Iran

Thomas W. Lippman, Alex Vatanka, Thomas R. Mattair

OMAR M. KADER, owner and founder, Pal-Tech Inc; chairman of the board, Middle East Policy Council

Today we will examine the question of what the Islamic Republic of ...

The United Arab Emirates at 40: A Balance Sheet

Abdulla al-Suwaidi

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has just celebrated its fortieth anniversary as an independent state. Forged, in 1971, of seven autonomous emirates abutting the southwestern coast of the ...

The Mess in the Middle East

Chas W. Freeman, Jr.

A famous expert on the Middle East many years ago was asked to describe U.S. policy there. He replied, "We don't have a policy in the ...

The Egyptian Military, Part Two: From Mubarak Onward

Ahmed Hashim

The assassination of President Anwar Sadat on October 6, 1981, inspired profound fear for Egypt's stability. However, rapid elevation to the presidency of Vice President Hosni Mubarak, former ...

The Troubles in Syria: Spawned by French Divide and Rule

Ayse Tekdal Fildis

The Middle East, as we know it from today's headlines, emerged from decisions made by the Allies during and after the First World War. Great Britain and France ...

Families, Tribes and Cities in the Libyan Revolution

Wolfram Lacher

Since the outbreak of the February 17 Revolution, Libya’s political map has changed beyond recognition. Where before, few players and institutions seemed to matter outside the ...

The Caucasus Emirate: Genealogy of an Islamist Insurgency

Emil Souleimanov

Recent years have seen a series of massive terrorist attacks in Russia, serving as a reminder that on the southwestern periphery of that vast Eurasian country, a de ...

Palestine, the UN and the One-State Solution

James Ron

In fall 2011, observers of Arab-Israeli affairs warned that the Palestinian bid for UN recognition threatened both the United States and the Jewish state. The Palestinians' diplomatic offensive ...

Israel's Palestinian Minority in the Two-State Solution: The Missing Dimension

Dov Waxman

The "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been advocated by the international community (ever since the United Nations [UN] General Assembly passed Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine ...

Israel’s 1979 Nuclear Test and the U.S. Cover-Up

Leonard Weiss

In the wake of the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, the United States launched a series of satellites under the name Vela (after a constellation in the southern ...

Popular Resistance in Palestine / Refusing to be Enemies

Mazin B. Qumsiyeh / Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta

The civil insurrections that overthrew long-entrenched dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt — and have threatened the survival of autocratic regimes in Yemen, Bahrain and Syria — have brought ...

The Politics of Change in Palestine: State Building and Non-Violent Resistance

Michael Bröning

Michael Bröning has presented a well-informed and extensively researched analysis of contemporary Palestinian political structures and movements. He not only shows a deep understanding of the historical, cultural ...

The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda

Fawaz A. Gerges

Fawaz Gerges was one of a handful of serious scholars paying attention to the threat of Islamist terrorism in the years prior to 9/11. He wrote a fine ...

Armenian History and the Question of Genocide

Michael M. Gunter

Anyone writing a book on the Armenian Question obviously likes a challenge, is naïve, or has not done it before and therefore does not know what to expect. ...

Angry Nation: Turkey since 1989

Kerem Öktem

"Angry Book" could also accurately describe Kerem Öktem's provocative and invaluable account of contemporary Turkish history, in particular of the role and the misdeeds of the country's "guardian ...