Should we have democracy on demand? In Egypt, protesters who have been in the streets for weeks trying to reverse the outcome of June 30 have been dispersed by bulldozers and bullets, and the future of democracy is no more secure than when they first set up camp. But not only Egypt – Spain, Turkey, Brazil, More »

In his first few days in office, Iran’s new president is setting a determined course for an ambitious target – the middle ground. With his inaugural address, initial cabinet picks, and his first presidential press conference held last week, Hassan Rouhani has signaled that he intends to make good on his campaign pledges to More »

The closing of U.S. embassies throughout the Middle East due to threats from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) indicates that however successful the U.S. drone program has been, the terrorist group continues to be a resilient, adaptable opponent. On July 16, AQAP second-in-command Said al-Shihri was killed by a suspected drone attack in More »

As Hamas voices raise predictable objections to the just-announced resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks, the group is in the throes of one of its most testing crises ever. Over the past year, all of its major pillars of support have eroded to one degree or another, while internally the movement is split by acute policy More »

Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiations have resumed after a prolonged hiatus. Six Middle East trips, and tireless efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made this resumption possible. The talks face three major challenges as a new chapter begins in the twenty year-long saga of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Diplomatic Ambiguity. One fundamental challenge will be More »

The recent battle of Qusair, close to Syria’s border with Lebanon, could be a case study in future training courses on international humanitarian law and action. While fierce fighting raged between Syrian government forces supported by Hezbollah fighters and Syrian armed opposition groups, civilian residents found themselves under siege. While many civilians were able More »

The Egyptian army’s removal of Mohamed Morsi as president was warmly welcomed by the business community, which had viewed the Muslim Brotherhood-led government as both hostile to business and an ineffective administrator. This positive mood will only have been reinforced by the pledging of $12 billion in aid from three Gulf states, which should More »

History, it seems, moves too quickly. Not even three short weeks ago, the world’s pundits were consumed by the question of whether to call the military’s return to power in Egypt a coup, and thus whether to condemn it. Today, they are consumed by the question of how the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will More »

What was supposed to be the Syrian phase of the so-called “Arab Spring” has evolved into one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st century. The once-peaceful opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s deeply entrenched and powerful Ba’ath Party regime has escalated into armed resistance and, finally, a brutal civil war – one that has More »

The killing earlier this month of some 50 Muslim Brotherhood supporters, allegedly at the hands of the Egyptian Army, marked a new low in the ongoing crisis surrounding the July 3 ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. The crisis began ahead of mass protests on June 30 in which millions of Egyptians took to More »

During the decades when Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was a barely tolerated opposition party, it campaigned against the reigning secular autocrats under the banner “Islam is the solution.” With the military’s removal on July 3 of the Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsi, the region’s oldest exemplar of political Islam has lost its best and perhaps only chance More »

The term “Arab Spring” was always a misnomer. There was never going to be a rapid transformation from authoritarian rule to democracy in Middle Eastern countries. Genuine democracy requires not just elections, it requires a political culture of tolerance and respect for minority rights, institutions that provide for the rule of law, a readiness More »

In the aftermath of the Egyptian military’s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, much of the debate in Washington has focused on the question of U.S. aid. Should the United States call the military’s action a coup and suspend aid as demanded by the law, or not? The answer has been hotly debated, with prominent More »

Since the surprise election of Hassan Rowhani as Iran’s next president, most expert commentary has focused on the potential to improve U.S.-Iran relations and resolve the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. However, the replacement of the abrasive Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by a veteran negotiator nicknamed the ‘diplomat sheikh’ could also provide an opportunity to More »

As recently as two weeks before Iran’s June 14 presidential election, it seemed as if the issue of human rights was being swept neatly under the carpet. But then, surprisingly, the issue bubbled up; Hassan Rowhani, the man who ultimately won the election, made a number of promises relating to human rights, to address More »

Kuwait’s long-running series of political crises show no sign of abating. Twelve months after the Constitutional Court cited technical irregularities in the electoral decree paving the way for the opposition-dominated February 2012 election, the same court has ordered the re-running of the December 2012 election; the latter was won by pro-government supporters in the More »

Will U.S. President Barack Obama be content if the Free Syrian Army is able to keep the north of Syria and finish taking Aleppo? Will he decide that the rebels should take Damascus as well, pushing the regime and the Alawite religious group, which predominates within the regime, back toward the western coast-land, where Alawites More »

Organizers of a campaign seeking to force an early presidential election are planning to stage mass demonstrations across Egypt on June 30, the first anniversary of the presidency of Mohamed Morsi. The protests are aimed at showing the extent of popular disaffection with the government. There is a risk that they will result in renewed More »

Reports that U.S. President Barack Obama is inclined to begin arming the Syrian opposition created a lot of buzz at the Brookings Institution’s recent U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar. A number of well-informed people believe he is indeed seriously considering this option. Let’s hope so. The hour is getting late. Last week, Hezbollah conquered More »