Policy Analysis

Oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are due to meet in Vienna, Austria on 23 March to agree formally on production cuts that will bolster the flagging price of oil. The current weak oil prices have benefited the industrialized economies of the world but have created

On March 8, 1999, Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat delivered The Washington Institute's Third Les Aspin Memorial Lecture honoring the late chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, secretary of defense, and member of the Institute's Board of Advisors. The following is a rapporteur's summary of the forum's question-and-answer session

On March 3, 1999, Hikmet Sami Turk, Turkish minister of defense, addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. The following is a rapporteur's summary of the forum's question-and-answer session. Read his opening remarks. Relations with Iraq The Iraqi question can only be resolved peacefully, but Iraq must comply with all

On March 10, the Palestinian judicial system sentenced yet another security official to death -- the fourth such sentence in the past six months. That was an ironic way to end a week of festivities celebrating Palestinian democratic achievements, which had been kicked off by the Palestinian Authority's (PA) first

The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) has its roots in the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program introduced in 1983 by then-President Ronald Reagan. Ever since, the proliferation of missiles and their use during conflicts (such as the Gulf War) or for political purposes (as in China and Taiwan) have created

On March 8, 1999, Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat delivered The Washington Institute's Third Les Aspin Memorial Lecture honoring the late chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, secretary of defense, and member of the Institute's Board of Advisors. Following is the full text of his remarks as prepared for

A leading Iraqi opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), recently announced that its political convention will meet in Washington in late April. Despite the U.S. administration's new policy calling for an end to the Iraqi regime, its approach to the Iraqi opposition has thus far been cautious and limited

March 8, 1999, marks the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Syrian "revolution" -- the coup d'etat that installed the Ba'th Party as the preeminent force in Syrian politics. This anniversary comes just one month after Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad was re-elected to his fifth seven-year term of office, which will end

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is considering a number of organizational changes that together could constitute the most far-reaching restructuring of the IDF since the establishment of the state. Although some of the proposed changes -- such as the creation of a strategic forces command -- are likely to enhance

The United States devotes considerable effort -- more than $5 billion a year in aid, as well as many hours urging senior Arab and European officials to attend high-level meetings -- to promoting the twin goals of economic prosperity and economic cooperation among states and peoples in the Levant. U.S

Tomorrow's municipal elections, the first ever in Iran, have been the occasion for the latest round in the infighting between Iranian hardliners and moderates. That infighting has gotten progressively worse since President Muhammad Khatami took office in August 1997, and it has stymied progress on pressing economic problems and on

The arrest of Abdullah Ocalan is a U.S. victory in the global war against terrorism; for elated Turks, it is the equivalent of Israel's 1976 Entebbe rescue operation or the United Kingdom's 1982 Falklands victory -- a thrilling national triumph after a long period of frustration. Now, having supplied crucial

Spurred by comments made by Crown Prince Abdullah during his October visit to the United States, U.S. oil firms have high hopes that they may be able to become more active in Saudi Arabia. Last week, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson visited the kingdom to discuss the issue, with mixed

Traditionally, civil-military relations in Israel have been characterized by a very high degree of synchronization, manifesting itself at the elite level in a civil-military partnership and at the popular level in a designation of Israel as a "nation in arms" and of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a "people's

The most elaborate argument that political Islam is dead first came from Olivier Roy in 1992 in his book later translated as The Failure of Political Islam. Roy argues Islamism is political activism that aims to achieve political power. He claims Islamism has been eclipsed by neofundamentalism, which is the

"However much one may admire the courage of this lonely young king," wrote former British minister Anthony Nutting, "it is difficult to avoid the conclusion his days are numbered." Those words appeared in the New York Herald Tribune on July 31, 1958. Yesterday, more than 40 years later, Jordan's King

On February 8, 1999, the citizens of Syria will go to the polls to approve Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad's candidacy for a fifth seven-year term of office as president. The previous four terms of office -- twenty-eight years of rule since he was elected president in February 1971, after a

Why change the succession from King Hussein's brother, Hassan, to his eldest son, Abdullah? The principal reason for the change appears to have been paternal loyalty taking precedence over fraternal loyalty. Rationales based on real policy differences between Hussein and Hassan should largely be discounted; if anything, the two were

Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat arrived in Washington today, and if it were not for the National Prayer Breakfast brouhaha, most of the city would hardly have noticed. Although much is going on in the Middle East, from the Jordanian succession drama to the Israeli election campaign, perhaps the most intriguing

A survey of official Middle East government presence on the internet. The author describes how various governments have sought to keep up with expanding internet use while dealing with unique technical, economic, linguistic, and political obstacles to widespread access among their own citizenry. Includes tables and web links to several