Tensions are rising between Turkey and Iraq after the killing of 12 Turkish soldiers by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Sunday. Carnegie's Henri Barkey talks to NPR about the crisis between the two nations.
Carnegie's Henri Barkey discusses the crisis between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party in northen Iraq and argues that the United States missed key opportunities to prevent such a crisis.
With world demand for oil mounting and oil prices so high it’s very difficult to isolate Iran financially these days. Sanctions against Iran will have more impact in Moscow, Beijing, and European capitals than in Tehran.
Economic reform measures in the region have had many flaws. Nowhere have they been part of a comprehensive economic plan that coordinated with social policies and different economic sectors. Nowhere have they been sustained. The reform process suffers from lack of consensus around the meaning and ramifications of reform among key national stakeholders.
Recent economic growth and stabilization in Egypt has been largely fueled by external factors which may not be sustainable. During the same period, Egypt has failed to address pressing social and economic challenges, according to a new paper from the Carnegie Endowment.
Many American commentators tend to identify Middle East democracy promotion as unwise, arguing that the Bush administration should have patiently promoted the growth of institutions, civil society, and the rule of law, instead of insisting on elections in Arab countries. This new canon seems reasonable but has three crucial flaws.
The Bush administration, following its own pronouncements as well as House and Senate legislation, is expected to decide soon whether to classify Iran's most formidable military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a terrorist organization. This would be a serious mistake. By labeling all 125,000 Revolutionary Guards untouchable "terrorists," Washington would forgo the possibility of exploiting the organization's internal divisions and further decrease the likelihood of diplomatic progress with Tehran.
Nothing in Arab politics ought to encourage more hope than gradual democratisation in stable nation states. Sadly, last week's surprising results in Morocco's parliamentary elections, which thrust that country's democratic experience into the spotlight, demonstrates that political reform is under threat because of growing public disenchantment with the distribution of real power.