All Policy Analysis by Michael Knights

President Saleh's solution to Yemen's "civil-military problematic" (to borrow Peter Feaver's phrase) was to build powerful praetorian units and place his relatives in command of them, a counterproductive approach that ultimately increased the risk that Saleh faced. During Yemen's Arab Spring uprisings, sections of the armed forces not controlled by

Assad's ouster would create significant risk of widespread violence in Iraq, but also a fleeting opportunity to regain leverage over the Maliki government.

As the Assad regime continues its bloody campaign to remain in power, Washington Institute scholars assess the impact of current and potential spillover on Syria's neighbors, Turkey, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon.

New opposition-led legislation on term limits gives Washington an opening to press Baghdad on improving relations with the Kurds.

By firing on a U.S. aircraft, Iran has upped the ante in the Gulf and set a bad precedent for international airspace rights worldwide.

Given Iran's clear rhetorical and military threats to Gulf shipping, the United States and its allies must step up their efforts to improve countermine capabilities and publicly signal the regime against any naval provocations.

From 2005 to 2008, Iraq fell into a sectarian civil war that almost destroyed the country, and only in the past few years has it been able to claw itself out of that situation. Many Americans are unaware of what security is like in today's Iraq because the news is

The United States should use its close relations with Iraq's Sunni Arab tribes to reduce the risk of spillover from Syria.

Something is stirring in Iraq. On July 3, car bombs ripped through mainly Shiite neighborhoods across the country, killing 36 people. It was the latest tragedy in a bloody month -- a prolonged political crisis has weakened the government in Baghdad, giving insurgent groups an opening to expand their operations

With U.S. encouragement, broad-based national dialogue could increase the chance that Maliki handles Iraq's next political crisis by compromising with domestic partners rather than reaching out to Tehran, a player with no real commitment to Iraq's interests.

Although an Israeli preventive strike on Iran's nuclear program would be a high-risk endeavor carrying a potential for escalation in the Levant or the Persian Gulf, it would not be the apocalyptic event that some foresee. In this Policy Note, two Washington Institute military experts assess the likelihood of various

The participation of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the Libyan conflict demonstrated the Gulf Cooperation Council's activism and capability. In recent months, therefore, speculation has focused on possible GCC intervention in the Syrian civil war. On February 27, Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told the Friends

This interview was conducted for Global Politics by Robert Tollast, a graduate of Royal Holloway University of London who has interviewed various diplomats for Small Wars Journal . In March, the Iraqi government imposed tight security restrictions on Baghdad to host the Arab League summit, the first to be held

The U.S. troop withdrawal is a less significant driver of recent Iraqi violence than Washington's policy of giving Prime Minister Maliki a blank check in his campaign to consolidate power.

In responding to the political crisis in Iraq, Washington should encourage constitutional processes and respect for political and human rights rather than any particular outcome.