Policy Analysis

The U.S. military mission in Iraq started with a deliberate skewing of intelligence and ended that way too.

Although President Rouhani has persuaded the Supreme Leader to adjust the IRGC's economic functions, he has not challenged its role in shaping Iran's nuclear policy.

Iraq is at a decisive impasse. An al-Qaeda threat able to operate as a quasi-conventional military force has seized large portions of western Iraq, including parts of Ramadi and Fallujah, two major cities in Anbar province. While the main reason for the growth of al-Qaeda in Iraq, a faction which

There are few takers for Hezbollah's contorted logic that the Syrian rebellion is an American or Israeli scheme, so the group may eventually feel the need to rejuvenate its "resistance" credentials by confronting Israel directly.

If Egypt's activists are to continue their righteous campaign for a non-dictatorial government, they will have to draft a concrete agenda, better engage the public, and organize beyond one traffic circle in downtown Cairo.

Turkey will hold local and presidential elections in 2014, both of significant import. The AKP, in power since 2002, has lasted longer than any other government since the country became a multiparty democracy in 1950. Likewise, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey longer than any other democratically elected

Many hazards line the path to a comprehensive nuclear accord with Iran, including the unraveling of multilateral sanctions and efforts by the Iranian parliament to assert a role in national decisionmaking.

Differing approaches to Iran's nuclear program do not bode well for Israel in 2014.

Institute Turkey scholar Soner Cagaptay's guide to both the inspiring potential and the grave challenges of Turkey's transformation into a true regional and global power.

Behind the government's political transition and security measures lies a deeply unstable country.

Prime Minister Erdogan's increasingly autocratic rule has alienated the Gulen movement.

The announcement of the agreement, just weeks before scheduled peace negotiations in Switzerland, will be seen as an expression of extra diplomatic support for Damascus by Moscow and of gratitude by the Assad regime to an ally.

The kingdom is codifying current legal practices that do not distinguish between terrorists and nonviolent activists.

As the fighting in Syria continues with no signs of decisive victory on the horizon, the Assad regime may decide to abandon parts of the country entirely and form a statelet in the western governorates that remain largely under its control. Such an entity could include as much as 40

France and Germany need to realize that a genuine path to European Union membership is Turkey's surest path to greater democratization.

Monitoring jihadist social-media networks reveals where fighters are coming from, where in Syria they are fighting, and how best to stem their continued recruitment in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Tunisia.

The dominant power in Syria's Kurdish regions, the PYD, is deeply problematic but shares some common interests with the United States.

Victory is not assured for the regime, but trends are moving in its favor.

The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation offers its latest assessment of how many foreigners are fighting in Syria's civil war, which countries they hail from, and other key data.