In The News

Turkey's Kurdish Buffer

Soner Cagaptay July 17, 2014
The rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or IS or ISIS, in conjunction with the civil wars in Syria and Iraq, has put more pressure on both Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurds to work together. The Kurdish people are spread throughout Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. Before 2003, Kurds would have resisted working the Turkish government, which they regarded as oppressive. Kurdish...

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon: Gaza Situation “on Knife-Edge”

July 10, 2014
Israel and Gaza continue an unending cycle of rage and retaliation, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warns the region "cannot afford another full-blown war," reports BBC News. “He demanded that Hamas militants stop firing rockets and also urged the Israeli government to exercise restraint and respect international obligations to protect civilians.” The most recent exchange of...

How to Turn Off the ISIS Tap

Carol E. B. Choksy and Jamsheed K. Choksy July 8, 2014
Wealthy donors and even officials in Muslim nations like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have tolerated terrorist groups that attack religious foes in other nations. Inevitably, the extremists lash back, seeking to control the minds and hands that feed them. Such is the case with the self-proclaimed caliphate known as the Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS or ISIL, which controls extensive...

Last of Syria's Chemical Weapons Shipped Out

July 7, 2014
In the port of Latakia, Syria, a group of ships have departed carrying the last of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons, transferred to the MV Cape Ray for disarmament. The most toxic elements will be destroyed on board in the Mediterranean Sea while the rest of the agents will be eliminated in Finland, the UK and the US. The operation to dismantle these weapons was approved by the Syrian...

As Conflict Grows in Middle East, US-Saudi Gulf Widens

Fahad Nazer June 24, 2014
The 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Arab Spring events have reconfigured the Middle East in fundamental ways. Civil war in Syria spills into Iraq, extremism spreads in northern Africa, and brakes are applied to fledgling democracy in Egypt. The United States and Saudi Arabia, longtime allies, are divided over how to handle unfolding disaster, argues Fahad Nazer: Saudi Arabia, preferring stability...

The Rise of ISIS and the Fall of Al Qaeda

Barak Mendelsohn June 19, 2014
A string of quick military successes for ISIS in Iraq has legitimized the group as a new leader of the jihadi movement. The group controls Tikrit, Mosul and many other smaller towns in Iraq and Syria – and nears Baghdad. The success “could be a harbinger of a tectonic shift within the jihadi movement,” suggests Barak Mendelsohn in Foreign Affairs. By comparison, Al Qaeda’s influence is diminished...

China Says It Will Help Iraq

Rita Brown June 18, 2014
Iraq is OPEC’s second largest producer, and political ineptitude, sectarian violence and impending civil war threaten future oil production and global oil prices. Disruptions in Libyan production have already added to supply problems, and many had hoped Iraqi producers to step up pace. The United States led a coalition to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose dictator Saddam Hussein, and withdrew by the...