In The News

President Shimon Peres and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Mahmoud Abbas accepted an invitation from the leader of the world’s Catholics to participate in peace talks at the Vatican. Many remain skeptical that a “prayer for peace” will have significant impact on a long and bitter conflict. As Benny Avni of Newsweek details, one obstacle is the power differential between the two...

Iran possesses the technology to enrich uranium that could lead to production of nuclear weapons, putting the country in a class with 14 nations including Germany and Japan. Perhaps that was the nation’s goal all along. “It’s possible that a pause in Iran’s nuclear program has become desirable and convenient in the face of the sanctions that undermine the economy and the regime, especially given...

President Barack Obama traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah, and both men “recognize that the geopolitical ground shaped by their common interest in stable oil prices has shifted, creating a new imbalance that could spill over into Mideast security policy,” suggests researcher Joergen Oerstroem Moeller. The so-called shale-gas revolution and eventual self-sufficiency in the United...