In The News

Putin’s Plan: Moscow Handles Syria, US Looks After Iraq

Raghida Dergham September 21, 2015
Policymakers in the West had anticipated immigration to bring terrorism to their shores, but the reverse has occurred. Hundreds of thousands refugees flee homes in the Middle East and parts of Africa to escape brutal extremism and failed governance. Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to intervene on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria while the United States assists Iraq. US President...

Can Trade Keep Iran in Line?

Jamsheed K. Choksy and Carol E. B. Choksy September 17, 2015
Iran has large oil and natural gas reserves, and after years of debilitating sanctions imposed for the country’s nuclear weapons program, the population of more than 75 million is eager to join the global marketplace. A plan of action between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany is supposed to curtail Iran's nuclear research program and end sanctions. This...

Border Chaos: Europe Reacts to Syrian Refugee Crisis

Chris Miller September 15, 2015
Thousands of families flee Syria, a nation devastated since 2011 civil war, a dictator’s crackdown with chemical weapons and infiltration by brutal extremists. Millions more people wait in barren refugee camps, lacking work and schools, near Syria’s borders. In just a week, more than 100,000 people fled to Europe, resisted by poor, conservative nations like Hungary and welcomed by others like...

The King and ISIS

Daniel Benjamin September 15, 2015
The United States and Saudi Arabia disagree on many issues including a deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for an end to sanctions. “Papering over differences is one of diplomacy’s finer and more useful arts,” writes Daniel Benjamin for Foreign Policy, adding that Saudi Arabia may pose more challenges for the US than Iran does. “Saudi Arabia’s energetic propagation of Wahhabism –...

Why Aren’t the Gulf States Taking More Syrian Refugees?

Marc Owen Jones September 11, 2015
Alarm over the Syrian refugee crisis prompts questions about why Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other wealthy Gulf states that share cultural characteristics do not do more to assist. Amnesty International reports that 3.8 million of the Syrian refugees live in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. Analysts, criticizing Saudi funding the export of radical programs like Wahhabism, suggest that the...

Struggling Germany Urges Neighbors to Do More to Ease Refugee Crisis

Paul Carrel and Georgina Prodhan September 8, 2015
Tens of thousands of refugees flee conflict and head to Europe. Millions are displaced from fighting in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and northern Africa and seek secure places to settle. Refugees crossing Europe’s borders encounter varying welcomes – ranging from volunteers opening homes and distributing free meals to beatings and tear gas. The issue triggers sharp political divides for...

Image of Drowned Syrian Boy Echoes Around World

Joe Parkinson and David George-Cosh September 4, 2015
Families in the Middle East are risking all to flee the violence. The photograph of a policeman, carrying a 3-year-old Kurdish boy from Kobani, found dead on a beach in Turkey, portrays the desperation. An aunt in Canada was trying to help two brothers and their families from a distance. “The images of the toddler’s lifeless body on a Turkish beach have reverberated across the globe, stirring...