Today’s Middle East is grappling with failed states, civil wars, brazen autocracies, and terror groups such as ISIS, whose macabre behavior makes even al-Qaeda appear moderate in comparison. Is this the region’s new normal, and is there a viable U.S. strategy to reverse these trends? Two acclaimed authors and longtime observers of the Middle East, the New York Times’ Thomas L. Friedman and the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, joined Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour in a moderated conversation.

This event was co-sponsored by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans.

Thomas L. Friedman

Thomas L. Friedman is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist, as well as the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and the author of six bestselling books, among them From Beirut to Jerusalem and The World Is Flat.

David Ignatius

David Ignatius is the best-selling author of Body of Lies and The Increment, and prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post. He has covered the Middle East and the CIA for more than twenty-five years.

Karim Sadjadpour

Karim Sadjadpour is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joined Carnegie after four years as the chief Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group based in Washington and Tehran.