Qatar Looks to Iran and Iraq

by Giorgio Cafiero and Theodore Karasik For decades, Qatar has carefully navigated the geopolitical dynamics shaping relations among its three larger neighbors: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. Qataris have usually perceived one of these three Persian Gulf powers as the… Continue Reading

Libya’s Islamists and Their Qatari Backers Under the Gun

by Giorgio Cafiero and Dr. Theodore Karasik Six years ago, Qatar’s “pro-Arab Spring” foreign policy helped shape Libyan history. As a member of the NATO-led military intervention against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, Qatar attacked the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya’s targets with its… Continue Reading

America and Qatar’s Latest Defense Deal

by Giorgio Cafiero and Theodore Karasik The Qatar crisis has quickly become one of the Trump administration’s most sensitive dilemmas in the Middle East. Since America’s close Sunni Arab allies—Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—took… Continue Reading

Can the UAE Help Libya End Its Civil War?

by Giorgio Cafiero and Theodore Karasik The overthrow of Libya’s longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 plunged Libya into chaos almost three years before the North African country’s ongoing civil war erupted. The power vacuum left by the former regime’s… Continue Reading

Can Trump and Erdogan Agree to Disagree on Syria’s Kurds?

by Giorgio Cafiero and Theodore Karasik Turkey and the US share certain common interests in the Syrian civil war, from defeating the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) and checking Iran’s influence to calling for President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power.… Continue Reading