Policy Analysis

Given Turkey's longstanding fear of Russia, it is unlikely to take action against the Assad regime without full NATO involvement.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel delivered keynote remarks at the Institute's 2013 Soref Symposium in Washington, DC, on May 9, 2013. Download Secretary Hagel's prepared remarks (PDF) Download a transcript of Secretary Hagel's conversation with Institute executive director Robert Satloff (PDF)

Tzachi Hanegbi, member of the Knesset, Likud, and former Israeli minister of intelligence, addresses The Washington Institute's 2013 Soref Symposium on May 9, 2013.

On April 25, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) announced that it would withdraw its militants from Turkish soil after more than four decades of fighting against Ankara, including carrying out terror attacks inside Turkey. The announcement follows recent news that Ankara has begun official peace talks with PKK leader Abdullah

President Morsi and the Brotherhood are deploying Islam primarily as a rhetorical device for maintaining internal unity and distinguishing themselves from their rivals.

In late April, the Obama administration blacklisted two Lebanese money exchanges for allegedly facilitating Hezbollah's use of narcotics trafficking profits to fund terrorist activities. In an email interview, Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute and author of the forthcoming Hezbollah: The

If it is to be a catalyst for action, the API will require a more direct approach with Israel.

The Institute's director of research reviews three recent studies on Iran's nuclear ambitions and how they fit in with the regime's wider regional strategy and negotiating stance: The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir by Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Iran: The Nuclear Challenge by Robert Blackwill (ed.), and U.S. and Iranian Strategic

Turkey's unique combination of Islamic and Western influences is hardwired into its institutions and citizenry, making a drastic turn in either direction both unlikely and inadvisable.

During the past few years, Lebanese Hizb Allah's global operations increased markedly, but until recently its efforts yielded few successes.

U.S. policymakers once lamented that Washington needed Turkey more than the other way around, but this is no longer true.

The Obama administration should respond to the Assad regime's reported use of chemical weapons and its obstruction of UN investigators by ratcheting up support for the opposition.

While surface-to-surface missiles have not changed the course of the war, their introduction is in line with past regime escalation -- a pattern that will likely to apply to chemical weapons use if the international reaction remains muted.

Despite concerns about stability, oil, and Islamism, Beijing will continue to let Washington underwrite security in the Gulf.

To avoid upsetting the kingdom's stability, Washington should be more discreet about U.S.-Jordanian security cooperation on Syria.

Now that Iran is capable of circumventing the nuclear weapons red line, the new U.S. and Israeli defense ministers must coordinate closely to avoid being further outflanked.

Alleged chemical weapons use by Syria is pushing the United States toward action, but Russia, China, and Iran might have something to say about that.

During his Cairo visit, Secretary Hagel should press the Egyptian military for a franker exchange of views, including on aid, the Sinai, and political transparency.

Qatar, an often-difficult ally, has been actively aiding the Syrian opposition and the Egyptian government, and Washington will likely press Doha to coordinate better on both issues.

Although the U.S. military now has a more competent royal defense partner in Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Muhammad, his appointment could provoke destabilizing countermoves within the House of Saud.