Politics

Will Trump’s Iran Strategy Work?

2018-06-11

While cost imposition works by making the other side pay for its policies, it ultimately targets the domestic economy and the popular support of the opposing regime.

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South China Sea Issue is Heating Up

2018-06-10

The United States and China disagree on ownership of the South China Sea region

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Will Iran Agree to Be Kept Away From the Golan Border in Syria?

2018-06-08

A regular survey of experts on matters relating to Middle Eastern and North African politics and security.

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Riyalpolitik and the Art of Influence in Trump’s Washington

2018-06-07

Americas Arab allies have always wanted to buy direct access to U.S. foreign policy, and they finally found a seller.

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Overcoming the Politics of Pessimism

2018-06-06

Pessimism afflicts those who have lost out economically

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Iran and Europe Prepare for Sanctions

2018-06-04

Everyone is waiting for Europe to make its move even as European companies in Iran are beginning to prepare their exit from the country

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Iraq’s election may have had widespread voter fraud

2018-05-28

It is a truism that Iraqis disappointed in their results often imagine cheating rather than acknowledge their own failures to appeal to a broader electorate

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Iraqi politicians look to calm tensions in wake of US withdrawal from Iran deal

2018-05-25

The US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal poses questions about the role of the Iran-backed Shiite armed factions in bringing the US-Iranian confrontation into Iraq.

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The battle for the Iranian nuclear deal: China approaches a watershed

2018-05-24

Fault lines in the Middle East have hardened because of Israel, Saudi and United Arab Emirates assertiveness, emboldened by both a US administration that is more partisan in its Middle East policy

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Iraq’s Top 10 Potential Prime Ministers

2018-05-23

Will it be the Harvard- and MIT-educated mandarin, the coveralls-wearing man of the people — or someone else the world has never heard of?

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Trapping Trump?

2018-05-23

The hardliners on the nuclear deal with Iran are leaving the U.S. president with one option, namely war.

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What Democracies Can Learn From Malaysia

2018-05-21

Sometimes the real promise of the system is simply the power to remove leaders.

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The Man Who Could Shape Iraq's Future

2018-05-19

Moqtada al-Sadr, who once led part of the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq, may pick the next prime minister.

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How Iran Will Respond to New Sanctions

2018-05-04

Even before US President Donald Trump began threatening to re-impose sanctions on Iran, foreign investors looking to do business there were wary. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani failed to get his pro-market agenda off the ground

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Why Democracy Doesn’t Deliver

2018-04-28

Endless elections, unqualified leaders, uninformed voters, and short-term thinking are impeding economic growth.

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Iran Nuclear Deal: What Merkel Fears Might Happen if Trump Walks Away

2018-04-27

Trump decision to revisit the deal and to pressure the allies to help fix it

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Saudi Arabia wants to dump nuclear waste on the Qatari border to make its archenemy an island

2018-04-10

The two nations have been locked in a crisis since the imposition of a Saudi led diplomatic blockade on Qatar

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Trump Can’t Afford to Forget About Iraq

2018-04-06

Having won the war, will the United States end up yet again squandering the peace?

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No Brexit for a Eurozone Britain

2018-04-02

How much harder would Brexit have been had the United Kingdom adopted the euro back in 2000?

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Yemen Carries Out Massive Missile Strike Against Saudi Arabia

2018-04-01

The missile attack was timed to coincide with the third anniversary of the war and the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Salman to Washington

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Yes, Turkey has definitely become a rogue regime

2018-03-26

Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has turn toward terrorism is well established

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Where Is Barack Obama?

2018-03-11

The former president reticence in the Trump era is only hurting his party

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Preventing Atrocity in the Age of Trump

2018-03-09

The Obama administration set out to create a future free of genocide. Does that future still have a chance?

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Kushner, Business Entanglements, and Security Clearances

2018-03-04

The process for getting a US government clearance was so difficult that there have been reports that people who would normally not be eligible for a TS clearance have been cleared

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