As the war between Israel and Hamas nears the two-week mark, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) released the results of a very relevant poll. A survey of Palestinians conducted from June 15 to June 17 found that 70 percent of Gaza respondents agreed that Hamas should maintain a cease-fire with Israel both in the […]
“Who cares if six million Jews were exterminated? What I care about is the salary I have lost [and] the criminals who rule this country,” casually retorts a businessman sitting in a cafe in central Athens. Statements such as these clearly illustrate the ongoing frustration of the Greek population with their country’s shattered economy, and […]
In an apparent act of defiance, North Korea on Tuesday fired rockets several kilometers north of a popular South Korean tourist observatory near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). North Korea has also threatened a fourth nuclear test, in violation of United Nations sanctions, and has test-fired short-range missiles and rockets four times in the past two […]
With the situation in Gaza and Israel entering a critical stage, Foreign Affairs has put together a package of articles that offers analyses from subject experts on the crisis. The articles in this package cover different aspects of the conflict such as the future of Israeli democracy, the ability of Egyptian president El-Sisi to negotiate a ceasefire and regional […]
Considering the violent political unrest in various parts of the world, many accept the claim that the 21st century will go down in history as a period of global reorder, perpetual insecurity and bloodshed. If the grim headlines of the first decade could be taken as forecasts of the storms ahead, many nation-states are […]
On July 1, the U.S. simultaneously engaged in a naval exercise of co-operation with Chinese units, and one implicitly aimed at resisting China. On the same day, Hong Kong protesters marked the anniversary of China’s re-assumption of sovereignty there with their annual demonstration for democracy. Japan reinterpreted its constitutional restrictions on the use of defense forces, […]
The Boston Global Forum (BGF), a non-profit forum for international scholars, hosted its opening session on July 2, aiming to engage leaders from the United States, Asia, and the United Nations to discuss the crisis in the South China Sea. BGF Chairman and Co-Founder Michael Dukakis moderated the discussion, with the active participation of Professor […]
It is time that the United States takes a hard look at supporting an independent Kurdistan.
Credit: AFP Over the weekend Israeli officials confirmed that Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian teen who was found last week in a Jerusalem forest beaten and burnt to death, was likely murdered by Jewish Israelis who were seeking revenge for the recent kidnapping and killing of Gilaad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrah by Palestinians. […]
With many eyes on the World Cup, another international contest has been brewing in Central Asia: the region’s biggest mosque. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both former Soviet republics, each have under construction mega-mosques in their respective capitals, funded by foreign partners. While perhaps unsurprising in predominately Muslim countries in the fading shadow of the USSR, the […]
Richard Barrett is Senior Vice President at the Soufan Group, a New York-based security intelligence firm that provides strategic services to governments and multinational organizations. He is an internationally recognized expert on violent extremism and the measures that can be taken against it. A former British diplomat and intelligence officer with the British government in the […]
Known today at the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS has gone through many reorganizations and name changes in the course of the past dozen years, but it has kept essentially the same goals. Although sometimes referred to as a branch of al Qaida, it is better described as a rival organization that formed […]
Ever since it became a rising economic power, China started to realize the need for soft power in order to increase its global competitiveness. In Africa, Beijing found itself competing with Western companies backed by development agencies imposing good governance and human rights restrictions. Beijing sought to appeal to some African nations by offering to […]
Soner Cagaptay is the Beyer Family fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute. Dr. Cagaptay has written extensively on U.S.-Turkish relations, Turkish domestic politics, and Turkish nationalism, publishing in scholarly journals as well as key American and Turkish media outlets. He writes regularly as a columnist for Hürriyet Daily News, Turkey’s oldest and […]
The U.S. should not help Shia Islamists to the detriment of Sunni Islamists. The U.S. should support toleration and moderation in Iraq. Their current policies don’t do this. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that it would be a serious mistake to ease pressure on Iran in the nuclear talks in exchange for help […]