All Policy Analysis by John Hannah

On March 13, 2009, Andrew Tabler, Magnus Norell, and John Hannah addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss the Washington-Beirut-Damascus triangle. Mr. Hannah, senior fellow at The Washington Institute and national security advisor to former vice president Dick Cheney, focused his remarks on U.S. policy

The hand-wringing that accompanied Boris Yeltsin's crushing of the neo-fascist uprising in Moscow last month deflected attention from an issue that really should keep U.S. policy-makers awake nights: Russia's attempt to resurrect an exclusive sphere of influence across the former Soviet Union. Like so many dominoes, the former Soviet republics

After the landmark agreements between Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan, all eyes turn toward Syria. Will President Hafez Assad also make Israel a peace offer it can't refuse? Or will he continue his double game of negotiating with one hand while supporting terror with the other? Consider this curious --

By issuing his own cease-fire requirements to Saddam Hussein, President Bush has effectively rendered Mikhail Gorbachev's peace plan -- even today's "revised" version -- dead on arrival. In doing so, he is also sending the Soviet President a very tough message: The United States, which has sacrificed blood and treasure

Let there be no misunderstanding. Even if Saddam Hussein ultimately goes through with it, the Soviet proposal to end the gulf war will bring neither peace nor stability to the Mideast. At best, it promises a brief interlude, perhaps a decade, during which Hussein will regroup his forces and rebuild

IRAQ'S STRATEGY by Laurie Mylroie Today's Revolutionary Command Council statement accepting UN Resolution 660 represents the first time that the Iraqi government has stated the conditions under which it would leave Kuwait. It is also the first time that it has explicitly mentioned the word "withdrawal," although notably, the word

Today's report from the BBC that several hundred Soviet military advisors remain in Iraq, actively servicing that country's sophisticated military hardware and command and control system, is, if true, a worrisome development. It would be the latest in a series of recent events that raise the fear that the USSR's

Eduard Shevardnadze's dramatic resignation as Soviet foreign minister is bad news for the Gulf crisis: His departure will be welcomed by Saddam Hussein and much-lamented by James Baker. Shevardnadze's Role Since the crisis' first days, when he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Secretary of State to condemn Iraq's invasion

Today's meeting in Washington between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze represents another important step in the ongoing process of Soviet-Israeli rapprochement. Not only should the meeting advance the prospects for an early resumption of full diplomatic relations between the two countries, it might also

U.S. Policy President Bush has made important strides in tackling the Gulf crisis during the past two weeks, consolidating his coalition and preparing the groundwork for Security Council approval of the use of force. He has begun to create an offensive option that will support coercive diplomacy or ensure military

U.S. Policy The United States will either go to war or will have to begin withdrawing ground forces from the Gulf by next spring. This is the most likely conclusion available from an analysis of the U.S. decision to double ground force deployments in the Persian Gulf. President Bush's decision

Last week's meeting between President Bush and Yevgeny Primakov, Mikhail Gorbachev's special emissary to Iraq, generated much speculation about a possible Soviet diplomatic initiative to end the Gulf crisis. Those expectations were overblown. While Primakov provided Bush a first-hand account of his discussions in Baghdad with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

The growing linkage between Soviet domestic and foreign policy is producing dramatic changes in its Middle East positions. The Soviet regime is playing a key role on some aspects of the Gulf crisis, but its freedom of action is quite constrained in others because of the internal struggle for power

Last week's decision by the Soviet Union to establish consular relations with Israel is just one element of a far-reaching evolution in Moscow's Mideast policy. Accelerated by the shock of the Persian Gulf crisis, this process is drawing Soviet views on the Arab-Israeli conflict closer to those of the United

The visit of Soviet special envoy Yevgeny Primakov to Baghdad today in search of a diplomatic resolution of the Gulf crisis is another sign of Moscow's growing interest in the crisis as a catalyst for a new Soviet role in the Middle East. Last Sunday's decision to establish diplomatic relations

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze is using the Gulf crisis as a catalyst for farreaching changes in Moscow's Middle East policy. Moscow is putting the emphasis on improving relations with the West and with the wealthy Persian Gulf states at the expense of Arab radicals. Shevardnadze's UN speech was remarkable

Secretary of State Baker's idea of developing "a new security structure" for the Middle East has been the subject of much attention. What specifically does the U.S. have in mind? The most honest answer is not much. It appears that, in raising the idea, Secretary Baker was for the most

Sunday's Helsinki summit between Presidents Bush and Gorbachev offers an opportunity to consolidate impressive U.S.-Soviet coordination that has arisen in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, as well as to avoid future misunderstandings on the crisis that Iraq might seek to exploit. Such coordination is a key pillar in Washington's

If there is a bright spot in the tragedy of Iraq's rape of Kuwait, it is the coordinated U.S.-Soviet response to the crisis. Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein has posed the first challenge to East-West efforts to build a stable post-Cold War global order, and so far the superpowers are stepping