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  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Twenty Years after “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq: A Critical Assessment

    May 2, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    The crisis had been building for months when, on March 20, 2003, this author stood with a group of military officers deep inside the Pentagon, watching a telev…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Israel’s Normalization with Arab States Slows as Repression of Palestinians Rises

    Apr 19, 2023Gregory Aftandilian

    Israel’s extreme right-wing government and its draconian policies toward the Palestinians have slowed down efforts to expand the so-called Abraham Accords, a p…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    The United States’ Weak Response to the Netanyahu Government

    Apr 12, 2023Douglas Christensen

    In December of last year, Benjamin Netanyahu once again returned to the position of prime minister in Israel, leading a new far-right governing coalition that …

  • Policy Analysis
    IranSecurity and Defense

    Iran’s Nuclear Program Poses Challenges for China and the United States

    Mar 29, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    Now that China has brokered a renewal of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it must translate that achievement into real tangible benefits. After all, fo…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Iraq 20 Years since the 2003 US Invasion

    Mar 24, 2023Imad K. Harb Patricia Karam Abdulwahab Al-Qassab Rend Al-Rahim

    On March 20, 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq supposedly meant to halt its development of weapons of mass destruction. Lacking the support of th…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    US Middle East Policy: The Trump-Biden Doctrine in Action

    Mar 22, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    All US presidents, it seems, need their own foreign policy “doctrine.” President James Monroe famously started the trend in 1823, and many others—Truman, Eisen…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Unfinished Business: Nation-Building in Iraq Since 2003

    Mar 21, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    Nothing so perfectly expresses the failure of nation-building in Iraq as the cry of protesters in 2019, when they chanted, nureed watan, “we want a country.” T…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaSecurity and Defense

    Syrian Kurds Are Hoping for, but Not Banking On, Continued US Partnership

    Feb 24, 2023Gregory Aftandilian

    The massive earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria has given the Syrian Kurds a reprieve from a possible Turkish military invasion of ar…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    Washington Doubles Down on Middle East Ties

    Feb 15, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    Reducing US commitments in the Middle East and pivoting to Asia has been a hot topic among foreign policy analysts and Middle East experts since the idea was p…

  • Policy Analysis
    AlgeriaUS Foreign Policy

    US-Algeria Relations Remain Troubled, but Neither Side Wants a Break

    Jan 25, 2023Gregory Aftandilian

    Relations between Washington and Algiers have remained at a low point ever since the Trump administration, in its last month in office, recognized Moroccan sov…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    The Biden Administration and the Middle East in 2023

    Jan 4, 2023Khalil Al-Anani Yara M. Asi Amal Ghazal Imad K. Harb Khalil E. Jahshan Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    The first two years of the Biden administration, although short, have offered insight into the ways in which the reality of governing can clash with declared h…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    The Gordian Knot: A Bird’s Eye View of US-Israel Relations

    Dec 20, 2022Nabeel A. Khoury

    Nabeel Khoury takes a broad view of American-Israeli relations, highlighting the issue of robust US military aid to Israel and intelligence sharing between the…