Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    IranUS Foreign Policy

    Raisi’s Election Creates Opportunities and Pitfalls for Iran’s Islamic Republic

    Jun 25, 2021Daniel Brumberg

    In the weeks leading up to Iran’s June 18 presidential elections, one joke making the rounds was that Ebrahim Raisi, then a candidate and now the winner, was r…

  • Policy Analysis
    Regional Relations and Geopolitics

    US-Russian Cooperation in the Middle East after the Biden-Putin Summit

    Jun 24, 2021Joe Macaron

    The June 16 summit between President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was meant to defuse tensions between the United States and Russia, …

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenUS Foreign Policy

    Attaining the Difficult Peace in Yemen

    Jun 9, 2021Gregory Aftandilian

    After displaying some optimism about reaching a cease-fire and peace deal in Yemen, the Biden Administration is facing the stark reality that these objectives …

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy

    A Tough Nut to Crack: Rebalancing the US-Saudi Relationship

    Jun 2, 2021Charles W. Dunne

    Out on the campaign trail in 2019, presidential candidate Joe Biden made it clear that when it came to a principled US foreign policy, he intended to be the an…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaDemocracy and Governance

    Syria’s Presidential Election and the Absence of the American Role

    Jun 1, 2021Radwan Ziadeh

    On May 26, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth seven-year term in a practically uncontested election. No one was surprised by the original announceme…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaUS Foreign Policy

    The Biden Administration and the GCC Rapprochement with Damascus

    May 27, 2021Joe Macaron

    With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on his way to a fourth term in the Syrian presidential election held this week, Moscow is expected to resume its diplomat…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    The Sheikh Jarrah Intifada: Vital Lessons for President Biden

    May 25, 2021Charles W. Dunne Khalil E. Jahshan Laurie King

    The recent Palestinian intifada instigated in early May by a series of local clashes between Israeli Jewish settlers and Palestinian activists over the anticip…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    The Time Has Come for an American Change on Israel

    May 20, 2021Imad K. Harb

    President Joe Biden has finally uttered the magic word of cease-fire in a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they discussed the o…

  • Policy Analysis
    Women & Gender Issues

    Gender and US Foreign Policy in the Middle East

    May 19, 2021Andrea Sakleh

    On November 17, 2001, then First Lady Laura Bush gave a radio address to the nation that lamented Afghan women as victims of an oppressive terrorist regime. Sh…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyUS Foreign Policy

    The Path to Armenian Genocide Recognition: A Lesson for Palestine Activists?

    May 6, 2021Gregory Aftandilian

    The century-old struggle by the Armenian American community for US recognition that the large-scale massacres and deportations of their people in the Ottoman E…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranUS Foreign Policy

    The Israeli Factor in the US-Iran Nuclear Talks

    May 6, 2021Joe Macaron

    As US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was visiting Israel on April 11, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency orchestrated a mysterious explosion in Iran’s Natanz …

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfUS Foreign Policy

    The United States Ends its Combat Role in Iraq

    Apr 26, 2021Gregory Aftandilian

    At the recent meeting of the US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue, negotiators decided to end the combat mission of US troops engaged in the fight against remnants of th…