Farideh Farhi on Iran’s Power Dynamics

by Reza Akhlaghi via Foreign Policy Association With less than two months into the elections, what is your assessment of this year’s election dynamics and of the absence of key presidential contenders in the country’s faction-based political system? In the upcoming… Continue Reading →

AfPak Insider Dissects Obama’s Policy Missteps

by Robert E. Hunter Publication this month of Vali Nasr’s The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat, could not have been better timed. The US and the NATO allies are in the process of disengaging from Afghanistan — however… Continue Reading →

Obama’s Subtle Message To Israel: You’re Not My Top Priority Anymore

by Mitchell Plitnick All was not as it seemed during President Barack Obama’s appearances in Jerusalem and Ramallah, where he addressed audiences of Israelis and Palestinians. On the surface, it looked like Obama was swearing fealty to Israel, and pledging… Continue Reading →

The US in the Middle East Today

by Charles Naas Not even a month in office, Secretary of State John Kerry took his first official trip to the troubled Middle East and immediately felt first-hand the pressures and metamorphosing power relationships in the region. He began his visit… Continue Reading →