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The Israeli raid on the flotilla headed for Gaza continues a pattern of diplomatic disasters that are increasingly isolating Israel on the international stage and do not augur well for its future.
Egypt’s role in the Middle East is falling as perceptions grow that the former power is preoccupied with its own domestic affairs. The election cycle currently under way will help define the extent to which those perceptions become reality.
The only good thing that can come out of this tragedy is that the Israeli public will hold the government accountable for poor decision-making and incompetent execution that has handed Hamas and its allies the victory of their lifetime.
The Gaza flotilla incident highlights not only the unsustainability of the closure of Gaza, but also the unsustainability of the U.S. position discouraging reconciliation between the Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas.
Carnegie experts respond to Israel's raid on a flotilla of humanitarian aid ships bound for Gaza, warning that it threatens to destabilize relations between key actors in the region.
During the last two decades, Egypt has distanced itself from Africa and the countries of the Nile basin by de-prioritizing them within a foreign policy framework and limiting its economic, commercial, and cultural ties with them.
If Turkey manages to continue with improved relations with Iraq, Iraqi Kurds, and its own domestic Kurdish population, then it will have overcome the one of the most important obstacles to its stability.
As the number of countries with the ambition to play a role in world affairs increases, Washington must decide whether to deal with them as legitimate global players or treat them as meddlers to be dismissed.
The formation of a new Iraqi government may still be months away, not because the issues to be negotiated will take time, but because serious negotiations do not appear to have started yet.
While President Obama’s landmark speech in Cairo called for a new beginning in America’s relations with the Muslim world and created fresh hope for better relations, the results are not yet apparent on the ground.