The Carnegie Endowment — the only U.S. think tank to oppose the war in Iraq before the invasion — offers a large body of up-to-date work on this critical issue.
In the opening years of this century, the world was presented with a historic confrontation between the Western world and the Islamic and Arab world. In this context, Washington's policies--and its attempts to counter the backlash from these policies--have increasingly pushed Arabs away.
By tacitly conceding that there has been no political progress in Iraq since the launch of the surge, Mr. Bush admits it has failed, but asks for more time. He raises some important fears of the consequences of withdrawal (and some wildly exaggerated ones), while saying nothing about the positive reasons to keep on trying. That is what the upcoming debate must address: more time to achieve what?
Morocco conducted elections to the lower chamber of the parliament, the House of Representatives, on September 7. Local and international monitoring groups confirmed that the elections were conducted in a fair and transparent manner. However, voter turnout plunged to a historical low of 37 percent, down from 51 percent in the 2002 elections and 58 percent in 1997.
A series of unusual scenes on the streets of the Middle East nurtured an inspiring story line of an emerging “Arab spring” that mimicked the earlier triumph of democracy from the Philippines to Prague: mass demonstrations in Lebanon; joint rallies of Egyptian Islamists and liberals against the Mubarak regime; and elections in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia.
Vladimir Putin's open attempts to reassert Russia's position as a world power have been met with trepidation from the international community. Further, Russia faces domestic constraints, both economic and military, that will complicate Putin's efforts.
Carnegie's Iran expert, Karim Sadjadpour, a friend of Haleh Esfandiari, talks about the case with NPR's Melissa Block.
Four months before he passed away in July, leading Egypt scholar Alain Roussillon expressed deep concerns over the rising tensions in Egyptian society. They reflected the return of “the social question” in Egyptian politics. The greatest threat to the regime was not the Muslim Brotherhood or any other opposition group but rather the popular attitudes toward it.
As political instability continues to plague the Iraqi government, a more inclusive process that includes both groups outside the government inside Iraq and Syria and Iran is needed.