Policy Analysis

The just-released Winograd Report, an investigation of Israeli decisionmaking in the 2006 summer war with Hizballah, has put Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a battle for survival. Today, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni publicly called for Olmert's dismissal. Will the prime minister's tenure last beyond this growing crisis? Background The 150-page

The Middle East is abuzz with talk of ''Shiitization.'' Since the war in Lebanon last summer, newspapers, TV news channels and Web sites in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere have reported that Sunnis, taken with Hezbollah's charismatic Shiite leader Hassan Nasrallah and his group's ''resistance'' to Israel, were converting to

For the past year, senior United States Treasury officials have traveled the world, highlighting for foreign governments and the private sector the danger that Iran's illicit activities pose to the international financial system. Treasury has lobbied foreign audiences on the need to employ targeted financial measures against entities supporting Iran's

On April 16, 2007, Soner Cagaptay, Ian Lesser, and Zeyno Baran addressed a Washington Institute Special Policy Forum marking the release of Dr. Cagaptay's new Policy Focus, Secularism and Foreign Policy in Turkey: New Elections, Troubling Trends. Dr. Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program

New Republic editor Franklin Foer interviewed Institute counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow Dennis Ross about how the United States can achieve its objectives in Iran. This is a video presentation of their conversation. Dennis Ross is counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and

Over the past decade, Washington has stepped up its public diplomacy efforts toward Iran, particularly in the area of Persian-language broadcasting. Despite their good intentions, however, many of these initiatives are flawed in ways that hinder their goals and do little to reverse anti-American sentiment in Iran. From widespread mistranslation

Consider this scenario: The Saudis have gone nuclear. So have the Egyptians. Both countries had been signatories to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, but that agreement is now dissolved. Riyadh and Cairo acquired their weapons from Pakistan, a Sunni ally, in response to the nuclear threat from Shia Iran. Meanwhile

Iran's seizure of 15 British sailors dominated international headlines and attention for nearly two weeks. Many wondered whether it would become a long, drawn-out affair like the American hostage crisis in 1980. Others feared that it might lead to an escalation, not just of tension with Iran, but of incidents

On April 14, suicide bombers unsuccessfully targeted the U.S. consulate and an American cultural center in Casablanca, four days after another group of bombers blew themselves up in a confrontation with city police. On April 11, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or

This month, Syria has been in the headlines in Washington. First, there was the ill-fated early April visit of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Damascus. Then last week, American-Syrian businessman Abe Soleiman traveled to Jerusalem pitching an unauthorized plan -- according to Damascus -- for renewed peace talks between Syria

In March, Brazilian authorities drafted a new antiterrorism law instituting stiff penalties for a variety of violent acts committed by both individuals and organizations. The new legislation, expected to pass Brazil's congress in a modified form, will likely be used to target criminal gangs from Brazil's indigent favela neighborhoods, not

On April 1-5, the seventeen Arab members of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) met in Jordan to discuss terrorism financing and money laundering in the region. Although the task force's record to date shows some promise, the organization can do far more to address

Among Middle Eastern nations, Jordan has long been one of the most welcoming toward refugees. This fact may change in light of the growing Iraqi refugee crisis, however. The trickle of Iraqis seeking haven from the 2003 coalition invasion has become a torrent, as thousands flee escalating sectarian strife. With

At an April 3 news conference in Tehran, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad unexpectedly announced the decision to release fifteen captured British marines and sailors. In a theatrical gesture that included assailing Western policy in the Middle East and accusing the British crew of entering Iranian waters, he pardoned the detainees

The word statecraft is often used and seldom explained. Many use it to describe the tools of governing. Others treat it as a synonym for diplomacy. I see it as the "what" and "how" of our foreign policy. The "what" translates into what our objectives ought to be. The "how"

Turkish translation also available. Download a PDF (1.1 MB) In 2007, two crucial political developments will unfold in Turkey: the AKP-controlled parliament will select a new president, and the public will vote in nationwide legislative elections. Both events come at a time when Turkish popular sentiment toward the West has

Introduction This week European and U.S. leaders met for a one-day EU-US summit in Washington. While disagreements remain between these key allies in several areas, particularly climate control, the parties highlighted their coordinated efforts to press Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program as a sign of strong ties. The

On March 18, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) overwhelmingly approved a new unity government by a vote of 83 to 3. This lopsided result does not reflect the many internal and cross-factional tensions that will ultimately undercut the current Fatah-Hamas coalition. Within both factions, the center of gravity is shifting

The State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released on March 1, offers a little-noted reference to a dubious claim: an Iranian government statement (made to the UN) that Tehran has established a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The report notes that Iran has provided no further details. Even if the

Iranian television's airing of two more "confessions" by captured Royal Navy personnel is a worrying escalation of the crisis which began on March 23 with the seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in the Gulf. It comes following the weekend's demonstration outside the British embassy in Tehran, a stunt