In The News

New Statesman: Day in the Life of an Aid Worker Under the Blockade in Yemen

Johan Mooij November 29, 2017
Saudi Arabia, intervening in the Yemen civil war, has imposed a blockade with periodic openings to allow humanitarian aid. The war and the blockade adds to the challenges of delivering emergency relief, and New Statesman published the description of a typical day for Johan Mooij, the country director for CARE in Yemen. Basics like water, electricity, fuel, health services and food are in short...

Saudi Arabia Shifts Policy From Risk Averse to Downright Dangerous

Bruce Riedel November 28, 2017
Saudi Arabia as absolute monarchy and the United States as democratic republic are polar opposites in terms of political governance and culture. Yet the two nations have had close ties since 1943 when pragmatic leaders focused on shared security concerns. More than seven decades later, the relationship appears strong though less pragmatic. Each country, with internal divisions and long-term...

The Washington Post: In the Middle East, The Dream of Democracy Is Dead

Asli Aydıntaşbaş November 27, 2017
In 2010 a Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest harassment that limited his ability to earn a living. His action triggered region-wide populist uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa that became known as the Arab Spring. Fleeting hopes for radical reconstruction of state and society now seems dead, buried and even forgotten. Asli Aydıntaşbaş observes...

Deutsche Welle: Putin, Erdogan, Rouhani Hold Talks on Syria as Opposition Gathers in Riyadh

November 23, 2017
In advance of UN-backed peace talks for Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi. The group claims the success against the Islamic State and foreign-backed opposition while giving little credit to Kurdish troops backed by the United States. “Turkey has been one of the main backers of the Syrian...

The Wall Street Journal: Strategy for the Post-ISIS Middle East

Suzanne Maloney and Michael O’Hanlon November 8, 2017
As the war against the Islamic State winds down and territory is regained in Syria and Iraq, regional and international leaders ponder the next steps. Many challenges remain: combatting other extremist groups and pinpointing sources of extremism, securing oil shipments through the Persian Gulf waterways, calming conflict among coalition partners like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and ending divisive...

The New York Times: Iraqi Forces Sweep Into Kirkuk, Checking Kurdish Independence Drive

David Zucchino October 17, 2017
The Kurds voted overwhelmingly in a referendum for independence from Iraq. Three weeks later the government of Iraq responded by sending the military to the oil-rich region. “In clashes that pit two crucial American allies against each other, government troops seized the vital city of Kirkuk and surrounding oil fields, ousting the Kurdish forces who had controlled the region for three years in...

Diplomat: How North Korea Could Win War With US

Franz-Stefan Gady October 11, 2017
The United States may represent 36 percent of the world’s total military expenditures and North Korea does not approach 2 percent, with most military analysts assuming the smaller country would quickly be defeated. Such assessments focus on the quantifiable, such as hardware, rather than less tangible factors like leadership and motivation – overlooking military stalemates the larger power...