Policy Analysis

Although traditional efforts to combat terror financing by "seizing and freezing" terrorist assets have been effective, as terrorist groups continue to evolve and additional transnational threats arise, a Bletchley Park-style financial intelligence will be increasingly called upon to connect the dots and prevent attacks.

During the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Syria's Assad regime was helping insurgents to cross the border and kill Americans. In response to the Syrian provocation, the Bush administration considered a broad range of policy options. But one family of options always remained off the table: regime change or any combination of pressures that might destabilize Damascus. At the Department of Defense, we held a dissenting view.

In a remarkable April 1 article published in the Washington Post, Judge Richard Goldstone -- chairman of the UN fact-finding mission that investigated the military conflict in Gaza in 2008-2009 -- expressed regret for some of the most damning findings against Israel in his mission's report. His article declares that

China has arrived in the Greater Middle East and appears determined to stay awhile. Over the past decade, deeming energy security too important to be left to market forces alone, Beijing has prioritized the issue as a matter of national security. From new pipeline and infrastructure projects to increased naval

Incitement to violence, long a secondary issue in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, has returned to the front burner. About a year ago, the Israeli government began publishing an "incitement index" that tracked Palestinian Authority (PA) statements and publications. Then, on March 11 of this year, the Fogel family was massacred in the

On April 3, Michael Singh presented a paper at a conference in Brussels on "Democratic Change in the Arab Region: State Policy and the Dynamics of the Civil Society," organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders (EMHRF). Examining the history of U.S. democracy promotion efforts by

Strong U.S.-Turkish relations are not to be taken for granted, at least while the Justice and Development Party (AKP) remains in power. So, how is the U.S. to meet the dual challenge of the AKP's increasingly ideological foreign policy agenda and parallel Turkish anti-Americanism?

The former head of Israeli military intelligence delivered the fourth annual Zeev Schiff Memorial Lecture on Middle East Security.

While the Turkish Justice and Development Party's (AKP's) record on democracy and foreign policy is less than perfectly in accord with European or U.S. preferences, the Turkish opposition has often appeared even worse, given its chauvinistic nationalism, shortsightedness, and anti-Western views. Signs indicate, however, that this dynamic is changing. Since

On March 28, 2010, Robert Satloff, Osman Koruturk, and Soner Cagaptay addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss the foreign policy views of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP). Dr. Satloff is the Institute's executive director. Ambassador Koruturk is the CHP's vice

The small Persian Gulf state of Qatar is emerging as a significant international player in the Libyan crisis and a crucial supporter of U.S. policy. But its relationship with the United States has often been difficult, and its standing in the rest of the Arab world is questionable. For Washington

Although the Muslim Brotherhood favors Egypt's new political parties law, some intellectuals and liberal parties are questioning whether it represents a substantial improvement on the old one.

Even more than the conflicts in Tunisia, Libya, and Bahrain, and perhaps even more than the fall of Mubarak in Egypt, the recent violence in Syria has posed a challenge to the Obama administration's strategy in the Middle East.

Teaching the Holocaust to Palestinians is a way to ensure they do not go down the blind alley of believing their peace process with Israel is as hopeless as one would have been between Nazis and Jews.

Ten days after millions of Egyptians voted in the first post-Mubarak election to approve nine constitutional amendments, the country's Supreme Military Council (SMC) has announced it will soon issue its own "constitutional declaration," effectively superseding the existing constitution. This raises the question as to why Egyptians were asked to vote

Beyond further coordination of humanitarian efforts, the United States and its allies should seek to accomplish several important political goals at the London conference on Libya.

More than a month after President Hosni Mubarak was removed from power, Egypt's jails are again filling up, but this time with senior officials of the fallen regime.

Operation Odyssey Dawn is having telling effects on the military situation in Libya. Air operations by NATO and the coalition of countries opposing the Libyan government are degrading regime capabilities substantially and bolstering the rebels' ability to conduct both defensive and offensive operations. For the Qadhafi regime's part, its capacity

The lesson of the AKP experience for the Arab world and likely Muslim Brotherhood governments is that religious orthodoxy is an ideological beauty contest, in which the winner is always the ugly guy.

With anti-Asad regime protests in Syria raging for a seventh straight day, with reports of significant numbers killed, the United States should consider designating under Treasury Department sanctions Mahar al-Asad, Bashar's brother and head of the elite units of the Republican Guard.