Iranian Strategy in Syria Could Make Peace Possible

by Henry Johnson The group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS), beyond its doctrinaire propaganda and lurid beheadings, is beginning to uproot the foundations of order in the Middle East, and the United States has decided to not sit… Continue Reading

Iran and the United States: An Insider’s View

by Peter Jenkins Seyed Hossein Mousavian, the lead author of Iran and the United States: An Insider’s View on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace, has two objectives: to help American readers understand the Iranian perspective on the… Continue Reading

Explainer: The Oil Price Plunge

by Sara Vakhshouri In the past several days—despite the conflicts affecting Iraq, Syria, Iran and Russia—oil prices have been on a downward trend, hitting their lowest number in the past four years. As of October 2014, oil prices are more… Continue Reading

Bookends of America’s Broken Regional Policy

by James A. Russell It’s hard not to cringe watching the United States careen around the Middle East these days, dispensing bombs, money and political fealty in various doses depending on the crisis of the day to a series of… Continue Reading

Talking Turkey on ISIS, the Kurds, and Kobani

by Derek Davison Turkey, nominally a member of America’s new anti-ISIS coalition (well, maybe), has for some time now been refusing to allow Kurdish reinforcements and weapons to cross its Syrian border into the besieged city of Kobani. Due to… Continue Reading