Policy Analysis

On February 9, 2011, Washington Institute executive director Robert Satloff testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee at a hearing titled "Recent Developments in Egypt and Lebanon: Implications for U.S. Policy and Allies in the Broader Middle East." The following is an excerpt from his prepared remarks. Read the complete

What seemed at first to be the beginning of an orderly transition in Egypt is starting to look more like a war of attrition.

On January 5, radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr entered Iraq after a three-year self-imposed exile in Iran, but then returned to Iran fifteen days later. According to Saudi-owned media outlets, he fled because of threats from Asaib Ahl al-Haqq (AAH), a militant offshoot of his own Sadrist movement. Whatever the

The New York Times convened an online panel of six Middle East experts to discuss the Obama administration's cautious approach to Egypt: aiming for stability and holding off on a rapid ouster of Mr. Mubarak. David Makovsky contributes.

On February 2, 2011, J. Scott Carpenter, Dina Guirguis, David Schenker, and Robert Satloff addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute. Mr. Carpenter is the Institute's Keston Family fellow and director of Project Fikra: Defeating Extremism through the Power of Ideas. Ms. Guirguis is a Keston Family

Egypt's transition toward a post-Hosni Mubarak era, as incremental and painful as it might be, has sparked interest in the "Turkish model" of democracy-craft, i.e. the art of conducting democratic affairs, which in Turkey involves the military playing a stabilizing role during the transition process while Islamist parties moderate through

Dina Guirguis joined other experts in charting a course for post-Mubarak Egypt in a special Washington Post feature on Sunday, February 6, 2011.

The Obama administration and Congress should seek to protect a democratic transition in Egypt -- not stand in its way out of exaggerated fear.

"Islam is the solution" -- slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood The following sampling of comments by Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt explains the group's position in the current crisis and its attitudes toward the United States, Israel, and the rest of the Arab world. On protests in Egypt: "Our first

Israel's claim for recognition as a "Jewish" state continues to generate substantial controversy: what many Israelis see as an elementary component of true peace, many Palestinians perceive as a ploy to undermine it. And because this debate has been cast in zero-sum terms, it has created the impression of an

The Obama administration's primary counterterrorism challenge is to articulate a counterradicalization policy that confronts the problem through a whole-of-government approach, augmented by nongovernmental and societal efforts.

Michael Singh describes the function of the Foreign Service in protecting the well-being of U.S. citizens in Egypt.

On February 2, 2011, Robert Satloff, J. Scott Carpenter, Dina Guirguis, and David Schenker addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute. The following is an edited version of Dr. Satloff's opening remarks and responses to questions; a summary of the other presentations was published separately as PolicyWatch

The Egyptian Armed Forces (EAF) is perhaps the key actor in the current crisis. Although it has largely remained aloof from the struggle in the streets and has yet to show its hand regarding the fate of the regime, many are counting on it to act in the nation's interest

On February 2, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power since 1978, declared that he would not press for a constitutional amendment allowing him to seek another term during the next election, currently scheduled for 2013. He also pledged that he would not pass power to his

A crucial player in Egypt's evolving political crisis, Mohammed ElBaradei is a lawyer by profession and the former head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, from which he retired last year. He was awarded -- along with the IAEA -- the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic role

On February 1, after weeks of protests in the south and three days of larger protests in Amman focused largely on economics, unemployment, and corruption, Jordan's King Abdullah fired his government and appointed Marouf al-Bakhit as his new prime minister. Changing governments is a routine response to popular discontent in

Dina Guirguis discusses the rhetoric of and the piecemeal U.S. response to the Cairo demonstrations.

The New York Times convened an online panel of four Middle East experts to discuss what the crisis in Egypt means for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

In charting policy that addresses the swiftly moving events in Egypt, it is vital for U.S. leaders to maintain a focus on core U.S. interests. In this regard, President Obama and his national security team should consider a public posture that reflects the following statement: American interests are best served