Viewpoint

Viewpoint
Recent Arab Moves Deserve Bold Follow-Up
Feb 21, 2025Rami G. Khouri
Four key political actors in the Middle East have recently made surprising moves that offered hints of how Arab…
Viewpoint
An Existential Oval Office Moment for Jordan—and All Arabs
Feb 14, 2025Rami G. Khouri
The scene in the White House on February 11 was startling. King Abdullah II of Jordan listened to President…
Viewpoint
The Gaza War and the Future of Democracy in the United States and Israel
Feb 14, 2025Daniel Brumberg
In a way that few could have predicted a few short weeks ago, the fate of democracy in the…
Viewpoint
Trump’s First Three Weeks in Office: Signs of Disruption and Chaos
Feb 13, 2025Khalil E. Jahshan
In his first few weeks back in office, Donald J. Trump delivered his characteristic ‘shock and confusion’ tactics by…
Viewpoint
The Drama, Delusion, and Dangers of Trump’s Gaza Plan
Feb 6, 2025Rami G. Khouri
Donald Trump displayed his usual combination of disruption and delusion with his proposal for the US to take over…
Viewpoint
Revolutionary Legitimacy in Syria: Sharaa as President
Feb 4, 2025Radwan Ziadeh
In all transitional periods, it is important to move quickly from revolutionary legitimacy to representative legitimacy, which Syria’s new…
Viewpoint
A Blind Spot in Post-Assad Syria: The Fate of State Archival Records
Jan 21, 2025Marwa Daoudy Noureddine Jebnoun
The fall of the Assad regime has highlighted a crucial but often overlooked issue: the fate of Syria’s state…
Viewpoint
Incoherent Ceasefire Deal in Gaza Guaranteed to Fail
Jan 21, 2025Khalil E. Jahshan
After fifteen months of brutal military hostilities in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Israel finally announced their acceptance of…
Viewpoint
The Emergence of Lebanon’s Third Republic
Jan 16, 2025Imad K. Harb
The election on January 9, 2025, of the Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun as the fourteenth president of Lebanon…
Viewpoint
Israel, Syria, and International Law
Dec 26, 2024Jonathan Kuttab
The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has provided Israel with yet more opportunities to brazenly tear apart…
Viewpoint
Deciphering the Quick Collapse of the Assad Regime
Dec 17, 2024Radwan Ziadeh
Many western media outlets have speculated about the quick collapse of the Syrian regime and its military and security…
Viewpoint
Will Assad’s Fall Give Iran’s Reformists a New Lease on Life?
Dec 11, 2024Daniel Brumberg
For Iran, the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and what was left of his regime—together with Moscow’s decision to…
Viewpoint
A New Syria is Born: Hopes and Challenges
Dec 11, 2024Marwa Daoudy
December 8, 2024, marked a historic turning point in Syria and the Middle East region—a day when the Syrian…
Viewpoint
Israel’s Violations of the Ceasefire with Hezbollah Threaten to Undo It
Dec 10, 2024Imad K. Harb
The ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon on November 27 was a welcome development after 14 months of…
Viewpoint
A Preview of Trump’s National Security Team
Nov 19, 2024Ethan Mayer-Rich
Just two weeks have passed since President-elect Donald Trump won the election, and his new administration is already taking shape. Trump’s…
Viewpoint
Trump’s Middle East Team Will Have to Deal with His Unpredictability and Narcissism
Nov 8, 2024Daniel Brumberg
It is very hard to predict the foreign policy that president-elect Donald Trump will pursue because he is deeply…
Viewpoint
Harris and the Arab-American Vote: Election Day Approaches
Oct 31, 2024Ethan Mayer-Rich
The continued peripheralization of Arab-American voices has made it clear that to Harris and her campaign, just as Palestinian…
Viewpoint
Middle East Realities That Require an Escape Route
Oct 17, 2024Rami G. Khouri
The past month may prove to be the most critical moment of geo-strategic transformation in the Middle East since…
Viewpoint
Nasrallah’s Killing Prompts Serious Calculations
Sep 30, 2024Nabeel A. Khoury
Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has shocked many in Lebanon and the region regardless of what…
Viewpoint
Haniyeh’s Assassination: Fallout from Israel’s Latest Killing Spree
Aug 2, 2024Yousef Munayyer
The assassination is the clearest message that Israel is not interested in an actual deal and is using ceasefire…

Viewpoint

Subscribe to our Mailing List