Policy Analysis

The group showed an unusual and potentially concerning interest in the 2020 U.S. election and may be preparing new attacks as the new administration takes office.

The former Prime Minister discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the Biden administration twenty years after 9/11 and a decade after the Arab Spring.

The Biden administration should embrace the new sanctions against the civilian head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a decision that is supported by strong evidence of human rights abuses and can help hold other violators accountable.

The homeland has increasingly been a haven for far-right extremism during the president’s tenure, frustrating America’s allies and encouraging its enemies.

Sisi may need to respond to U.S. pressure over human rights issues, but he knows that Biden will not willingly damage relations with Egypt.

Despite media reports of division, a walk in Cairo reveals how Egypt's history of interfaith coexistence is still alive.

The administration's achievements were counterbalanced by a striking lack of alignment among three U.S. national security strategies and the discouraging rapid rise of far-right extremism at home.

Although Moscow and Ankara are pursuing different aims in Syria, Libya, and the South Caucasus, they have managed to avoid direct confrontation.

Libya, Iraq, and the Strait of Hormuz provide three test cases where greater assertiveness and transatlantic cooperation could go hand in hand, but only if European countries receive genuine U.S. support to step up their operational efforts and diplomatic engagement.

The recent rapproachement between Morocco and Israel can be partly understood through Morocco’s long history of relations with its Jewish minority.

The rift’s closure, while quite welcome, won’t produce instant Gulf unity or make the Iran nuclear issue any easier to solve.

One of the most reliable strategic allies in the region has been taken for granted, so the Biden administration will need to steer more diplomatic attention and economic support Amman’s way.

The topic of human rights has become a red line for Saudi leaders, who seem to perceive it as a purely domestic matter on which they will not countenance any foreign pressure.

Conflict over Iraq's Sinjar district has left Yazidis adrift in the complexities of Kurdish politics.

Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, and thereby Iran, have gained increased influence in Kurdish areas around Kirkuk.

When polled, Sunni and Shia Bahrainis have strikingly similar views on a number of key foreign policy issues, from Israel to Iran.

Internal rifts and defections have upended the prime minister’s coalition, and the dynamics of the upcoming election campaign mean that Netanyahu will need to carefully avoid tensions with the Biden administration.

There is greater American bipartisan consensus on national security strategy than Washington’s fractious politics would indicate, creating ample room for transatlantic cooperation on that front.

As the Kremlin continues to undermine Western values, institutions, and influence while expressing distorted views of counterterrorism, liberals would do well to keep defending liberalism.

Yemenis are eager for Biden to act on his campaign pledge to end the war in Yemen, using U.S. influence to bring all sides to negotiate an end to the conflict.