What Will It Take to Push Iran and Saudi Arabia to Talk?

by Jean-François Seznec and Samer Mosis Saudi Arabia and the other OPEC members have made it abundantly clear that their priority is to aggressively defend market share, not stabilize global crude prices. Consequently, prices are low at the pump and… Continue Reading

No, Iran Isn’t Destabilizing the Middle East

by Paul R. Pillar As the nuclear negotiations with Iran enter what may be their final lap, diehard opponents of any agreement with Tehran have been leaning more heavily than ever on the theme that Iran is a nasty actor… Continue Reading

Why Is the Islamic State So Resilient?

by Emile Nakhleh As the Islamic State continues to conquer territory in Iraq and Syria, and as the Assad regime teeters on collapse and the Iraqi government loses credibility, many in the West are wondering why the Islamic State (ISIS… Continue Reading

Why Does ISIS Hate Shi’a?

by Graham E. Fuller ISIS has particularly targeted Shi’a as a key part of their brutal onslaught against any practice of Islam that does not conform to their narrow ahistorical interpretation view of their religion. We hear a lot from… Continue Reading

The US and a Crumbling Levant

by Emile Nakhleh The international media is currently mesmerized by the advance of Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) on the Syrian city of Kobani near the Turkish border, but Arab states and the US need to look beyond Kobani’s fate and… Continue Reading