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Many issues will force themselves onto the new administration’s Middle East agenda. This commentary will only focus on security in the Arabian Gulf in view of Iran’s nuclear program and Obama’s exit strategy from Iraq. For 30 years the Gulf region has been volatile for two reasons: the imbalance of military power, which is the result of strictly political factors, and the U.S. military presence.
The most important issue to test how differently Obama will approach foreign policy is Iran and its nuclear program, both of which top U.S. and Middle East priorities. Obama’s willingness to hold direct talks with the Iranians is one reason for the positive perception of him among Arabs.
Just as Guantánamo's legal and geographic isolation from the United States denies its prisoners recourse to the American judicial system, it also denies its military administrators the benefits of the most current research on how to de-radicalize prisoners and reintegrate them into society.
Following the Pakistani terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the international community should respond by declaring that parts of Pakistan have become ungovernable and a menace to international security. This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty will begin to show the world that states that harbor terrorists cannot take their sovereign rights for granted — these rights need to be earned.
One of President-elect Barack Obama's top priorities will be to rethink the "war on terror" from the ground up. That means following through on his campaign promises to close the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo, which would be a major symbolic achievement. Transparency, due process, and legality are some of the strongest weapons in the struggle against violent extremism.
In the wake of the Russia-Georgia conflict commentators often ask whether the U.S. and Russia can cooperate. The urgency of nuclear threats around the world, including Iran's ambitions, requires both countries to “wall off” their nuclear discussion from other issues that might hinder progress on finding solutions to common security challenges.
More than one-third of the remaining 255 detainees at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay are Yemenis, representing the single largest national contingent.
In recent years, as foreign policymaking power has shifted from the State Department to the White House, giving the president even more control over the national security process. President-elect Obama’s choices of national security and foreign policy advisers—and the amount of power that he gives each of them—will determine how decisions are made within his administration.
Carlo D'Este looks at the life of Winston Churchill as a solider and a political leader who spent the better part of his life fending off increasingly dire threats to Britain’s place in the world, and then to its very existence as an independent nation.
The burst of diplomatic activity that the Middle East has witnessed in recent months frequently deviated from Washington's policy guidelines, underscoring the decline in American influence in the region.The new U.S. administration will need a new and more constructive approach to handling the various issues of the Middle East.
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