Policy Analysis

A year after the ebullience in Egypt's Tahrir Square, an alliance between military autocrats and radical theocrats is viewed, sadly, as the best-case scenario.

There are few people in Washington who know the complex diplomatic shoals of the Middle East as well as Ambassador Dennis Ross. Over the course of three administrations -- both Republican and Democrat -- he has witnessed multiple efforts to create a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine, crafted a

Given that Egypt's incoming Islamist legislature will seek to change the state from a presidential to a parliamentary system, the presidency may soon be irrelevant, and ElBaradei might find himself well positioned -- and well qualified -- for the top slot.

Washington's message to Cairo's emerging leaders should be that U.S. support is conditional on their cooperation in maintaining peace with Israel and preserving political pluralism and religious and minority rights.

Despite horrific scenes on the streets of Rabat, Washington should continue to encourage Morocco's process of incremental reforms.

The Egyptian parliament's ill-defined mandate will be a source of tension between the Muslim Brotherhood, the ruling military council, and the Salafis.

On January 17, 2012, Stanley Greenberg and Susan Glasser addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. Greenberg, the chairman and CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, has served as polling advisor to an array of world leaders, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Tony Blair, Nelson Mandela, and Ehud Barak

If Washington does not demonstrate through both word and deed the risks that Tehran faces, overly optimistic Iranian hardliners may wrongly decide that the benefits of a confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz outweigh the costs.

New discoveries regarding Hizballah bombmaking in Thailand are no surprise given the group's long history of terrorist operations in Southeast Asia.

Turkish Kurds may soon go from being the "luckiest Kurds" in the Middle East to nearly the most politically underprivileged.

Turkey will rise as a regional power only if it sets a genuine example as a liberal democracy and builds strong ties with all its neighbors.

King Abdullah's trip to Washington will provide ample opportunity for crucial talks on Jordan's stability, the Syrian insurrection, and the state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Do the latest Israeli-Palestinian talks in Amman represent a new opening or merely a tactical instrument for each side to perpetuate recriminations?

Since Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the Sinai Peninsula has emerged as a new hotspot in the complex Arab-Israeli conflict, with an expanding terrorist infrastructure that makes it another front of potential confrontation. The Bedouin are now in a position to initiate crises that neither

Given the Muslim Brotherhood's anti-Western outlook, Washington must prepare for the strong possibility that it will hold only limited influence with Egypt's next government.

Appearing on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Institute managing director Michael Singh talked about Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. Topics included Tehran's warning to Washington that the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis should not return to the Persian Gulf, the strategic and economic importance of the Strait of Hormuz, and

Ross offers concrete suggestions for breaking the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Despite Washington's desire to focus on the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East regrettably holds much unfinished business for the United States and its military.

While international concern has focused on the strategic Strait of Hormuz and Iranian threats against U.S. Navy ships, tension is growing on the streets of Bahrain.

As Iran's posture in the Strait of Hormuz becomes increasingly bellicose, excessive risk aversion that results in a failure of deterrence and feeds the regime's sense of impunity may be just as risky as military action.