In The News

UN: Aleppo Risks Becoming Giant Graveyard

December 1, 2016
Rebel forces and civilians in Aleppo are surrounded and under siege from Syrian government troops, Russian airstrikes and Iranian-backed militias. Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city, is now at risk to become a “giant graveyard,” UN envoy Stephen O’Brien advised the UN Security Council during an emergency meeting. The civil war began with protests, associated with the Arab Spring, followed by a...

Russia Sets Out to Bring the Middle East Under New Order

Chris Miller November 8, 2016
With a combination of low-cost intervention in Syria, counterterrorism resources and support for Iran, Russia is making strides in bringing the Middle East into multipolar balance. “Moscow is eyeing a new order,” explains Yale scholar Chris Miller. “The main fracture dividing the Middle East will not be between US allies and insurgent groups, the Kremlin hopes, but between fluctuating coalitions...

The Secret Eye Inside Mosul

Robin Wright November 2, 2016
The coalition fighting the Islamic State has reached the outskirts of Mosul, an Iraqi city seized in 2014. A clandestine blog, Mosul Eye, has documented life in Mosul under the terrorist group in terse lists and describes a city in ruins. Scholars suggest that the blog is written by someone in Mosul, providing details that could helpful coalition forces. ISIS has sent messages to the account,...

Old Enemies Elect Aoun as Lebanon's President

Tom Perry and Laila Bassam October 31, 2016
A 29-month standoff ended after the Lebanese parliament elected former army commander Michel Aoun as president. He is a Maronite Christian with ties to Hezbollah. As part of the deal, Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri, will serve as prime minister – he is son of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri who was assassinated in 2005, a death blamed on Hezbollah and Syria. “Hariri's decision to endorse...

Germany Struggles to Find United Stance on Russia

Christiane Hoffmann, Peter Müller, Ralf Neukirch, Christoph Pauly, Christoph Reuter, Mathieu von Rohr and Christoph Schult October 27, 2016
Politically divided nations struggle to present a strong front on foreign policies. The United States supports sanctions against Russia for supporting Syria’s dictator, attacking civilians, delaying negotiations, as well as annexation of Crimea. Such sanctions are ineffective without solid European support. German Chancellor Angela Merkel governs with a coalition government, and German Foreign...

Is a Better World Possible Without US Military Force?

Shadi Hamid October 24, 2016
Under President Obama, the United States adopted a “do no harm” foreign policy in contrast to Bush-era military interventionism. Shadi Hamid in The Atlantic describes this as a Leftist tendency to avoid intervention, allowing other countries to exercise agency without American interference. He argues the policy has not led to a safer and more just world. For instance, Obama has maintained a non-...

Battle for Mosul: Why Troops Reaching ISIS Stronghold Is a Delicate Balance

Matt Bradley October 21, 2016
The Islamic State took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in summer of 2014. Coalition forces have surrounded the city and include Kurds, Iraqis, Turks, advisers from the United States and elsewhere, as well as many militias of varying ethnicities. Multiple challenges are in store: “The Kurdish Peshmerga are only one piece of a complex patchwork of religious and ethnic identities that...