Nigerian Terrorism: Causes and Solutions

by Emile Nakhleh Boko Haram’s recent kidnapping of schoolgirls in northern Nigeria has focused the world’s attention on Islamic radicalism and terrorism in West Africa and the Sahel countries. Although the growing terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria has replaced… Continue Reading

Iraq: Get a Grip, Tread Carefully

by Wayne White Coverage of the Iraqi crisis from the media to Capitol Hill has been characterized by scary worst-case scenarios and exaggerations of the military capabilities of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIL or ISIS). Yet this… Continue Reading

The Real Causes of Iraq’s Problems

by Shireen T. Hunter The beleaguered Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, is the latest in the long list of the West’s favorite political leaders turned into pariahs. The conventional wisdom now is that Maliki’s flaws and wrong policies, especially… Continue Reading

The Fall of Mosul

Marches of Folly by James Russell Painful as it is to watch black clad Sunni extremists marauding their way through Mosul — a city that Americans died defending — we should all be required to take a dose of the… Continue Reading

Pro-Regime Talking Heads Spin Bahrain State Department Report

by Emile Nakhleh The State Department’s Inspector General’s report on the US Embassy in Bahrain, which I have been asked to comment on, has generated much reaction, both among the pro-government factions and within the opposition. The opposition fears that a… Continue Reading