Policy Analysis

In the coming weeks, Syria will participate in two important regional conferences. On March 10, it will join Iraq's other neighbors and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in Baghdad. On March 28-29, it will participate in the Arab League summit in Riyadh. Syria's detractors continue to

On February 23, 2007, Matthew Levitt and Todd Hinnen addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Dr. Levitt recently rejoined the Institute as a senior fellow and director of the Michael Stein Program on Terrorism, Intelligence, and Policy. From November 2005 to January 2007, he served as deputy assistant secretary

Does this week's surprise U.S. declaration of a new international conference on Iraq, scheduled for March 10, represent a major shift in U.S. policy or just a minor shuffle? Why is it happening now? And will it have any more of an impact than other recent international meetings on Iraq

Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and its Discontents By Robert Irwin Overlook. 410 pp. $35.00 The British historian Robert Irwin is the sort of scholar who, in times past, would have been proud to call himself an Orientalist. The traditional Orientalist was someone who mastered difficult languages like Arabic and Persian and

The following is an excerpt of this article; download the full text in PDF format. Among the many targets hit by Israel during the Israel-Hizbullah conflict were the headquarters of Al Manar, Hizbullah's satellite television station. Also destroyed were relay stations in northern Lebanon used to broadcast two other Lebanese

On February 22, Egyptian blogger Abdul Karim Suleiman was sentenced to four years in prison for messages posted on his personal website. Suleiman, who blogs under the name Kareem Amer, was a student at Cairo's al-Azhar University when he posted comments deemed by Egyptian authorities as blaspheming Islam, inciting sedition

On February 20, the Lebanese cabinet -- with a Hizballah-led opposition boycott -- extended the term of the UN commission investigating the February 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. While the commission's work can now continue for as long as one more year, any future decision about organizing

The following is The Washington Institute's English-language translation of an op-ed that was published in German. Read this op-ed in the original German. On February 6, Belgian police arrested Riza Altun, chief of European operations of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). A day earlier, the French security forces carried out

Financial Times Deutschland published this op-ed by Soner Cagaptay and Mark Dubowitz in German. Read this op-ed in English. Anfang Februar hat Belgiens Polizei Riza Altun verhaftet, den Europachef der Arbeiterpartei Kurdistans, PKK. Französische Behörden gingen gegen das PKK-Finanznetzwerk in Paris vor. Die PKK hat seit 2004 über 1500 Menschen

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, led all countries to assess the threat of terrorism and generate new perspectives on countering it. This is necessarily a global effort. Even when terrorist activity is executed in a single country, the preparatory training, planning, directing, financing, and logistical support are conducted

U.S.-Turkish relations, already battered since the Iraq war, face a new challenge this spring: the "Armenian genocide" resolution. This resolution, introduced Jan. 30 in the House of Representatives, will likely come to the floor soon. If passed in the House, the resolution would sever the bilateral ties between Washington and

On February 20, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Jihad al-Bina, Hizballah's construction company in Lebanon, effectively shutting the terrorist group's firm out of the international financial system. While the designation will not take effect at the United Nations -- sanctions under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 only target

In May 2006, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a state of emergency in the country's southern Basra province. This status has been maintained ever since, amid spiraling violence and local political troubles. Why has southern Iraq seemingly deteriorated since 2003, when British coalition forces took on the task of

When the United Nations considered a landmark resolution condemning Holocaust denial last month, the media missed a major story: One of the first delegates out of his chair to express support for "keeping memory alive" was the ambassador from Egypt. This was a major breakthrough. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may

The controversy over U.S. statements regarding Iranian arms in Iraq reflects the deep skepticism about how well the Bush administration understands the world. The intelligence briefers in Baghdad got into trouble by making the natural human error of assuming that all right-thinking people would come to the same conclusion as

On February 14, 2007, Institute senior fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process David Makovsky testified before the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. The following is a synopsis of his testimony. Read the complete text of David Makovsky's

As recently as December, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas refused to back a proposal for a unity government offered by Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member and head of the Independent Palestine list Mustafa Barghouti. That deal was based on the concept of a technocratic compromise under which Hamas officials

Last week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini threatened to hit back at U.S. interests "worldwide" if attacked. That same day, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) -- the force that would likely be responsible for carrying out such attacks -- kicked off naval and air exercises in the Persian Gulf and

The general view held by Middle Eastern nations is that political sensitivities make it impossible for regional or neighboring countries to perform peacekeeping in the area. However, the example set by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in the past twelve years points to the fallacy of this view. While fulfilling

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the Middle East this weekend and hold a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Her stated purpose is to discuss permanent-status issues with an eye toward producing an agreement on a political horizon for ending