Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Middle East

Likud Openly Trying to Kill the Two-State Solution

Likud Openly Trying to Kill the Two-State Solution

Anyone trying to justify that Likud sincerely wants two states for two peoples, Israel for the Jews and Palestine for the Palestinians, is lying through their teeth. Several senior Likud ministers who attended the Jerusalem conference “Application of Israeli Sovereignty of Judea and Samaria” on Tuesday night openly called for the annexation of the West […]

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Iran in 2012: The Middle East and the Year of Turbo-Instability

Iran in 2012: The Middle East and the Year of Turbo-Instability

  Co-Authored by Azadeh Pourzand and Reza Akhlaghi The Region at A Glance 2012 was the year that the Middle East entered a period of turbo instability. This period accentuated itself in different parts of the region in different forms. Syria’s civil war reached a point of no-return-to-normalcy, ensuring only one outcome for Bashar Al-Assad’s […]

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Double-Edged Support

Double-Edged Support

Bill Kristol. Caroline Glick. Barry Rubin. Dennis Prager. Jennifer Rubin. Among many others. While not being names of terrorists dedicated solely to the destruction of Israel, these individuals could cause major damage to the Jewish state despite their every effort to protect that special relationship between the United States and its closest ally in the […]

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What Pakistan Seeks in Afghanistan

What Pakistan Seeks in Afghanistan

By Dr. Marvin Weinbaum, Middle East Institute Scholar-In-Residence Assertions and opinions in this publication are solely those of the above-mentioned author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Middle East Institute, which expressly does not take positions on Middle East policy. Washington and Kabul have welcomed increased Pakistani cooperation in finding a political […]

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Sketches of Iran: Putting a Human Face to Human Rights Crisis in Iran

  In spite of international hype about Iran, the country’s real stories remain underreported. When it comes to struggles against human rights, for instance, we only hear about the noble work of Iranian activists, lawyers, journalists when they are imprisoned, on hunger strike, exiled or seen in mass protests such as the Green Movement of […]

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A New State of Statelessness

A New State of Statelessness

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest appearance by Gus Constantinou, a freelance writer at the United Nations (U.N.).  A full sixty-five years after the United Nations celebrated a United Nations vote to split the Mandate of Palestine into two states, thus creating the state of Israel, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stood before the General […]

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A Candid Discussion with Karen Elliott House

A Candid Discussion with Karen Elliott House

    Saudi Arabia is perhaps the only remaining country in the world that takes its name from a ruling family — the Al Saud.  It has vast hydrocarbon resources that feed the world’s insatiable hunger for energy.  It also is an absolute monarchy founded upon religious principles of Wahhabi Islam.  The alliance of the Al Saud […]

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Israel and the Right to Defend Itself

Israel and the Right to Defend Itself

Editor’s Note:  The following is a guest opinion piece by Ayesha Vahidy. Ms. Vahidy is currently working towards her Masters degree in International development at the University of British Columbia in Canada. She holds a BA in Political Science from York University in Toronto, Ontario. Ms. Vahidy works as a consultant in diversity at public […]

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10 Foreign Policy Issues Facing Obama

10 Foreign Policy Issues Facing Obama

Despite the fact that it’s only the 9th of November, election day is far behind us.  There’s no option of a lame duck for any officials.  The glaringly obvious and ever-pressing question is, of course, what now?  Or, to put it another way, where? Some of the “whats” have snuck their way into kitchen table […]

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KAFKANISTAN: Ventureing into Unknown Places

KAFKANISTAN: Ventureing into Unknown Places

In the spring of 2006, Austrian Lukas Birk, under the alias “Smiley Wallah” ventured into Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran as a tourist—a dangerous endeavor the average person would never dream of doing. In his travels, Birk encounters people from all over the world—Vietnam, Germany, and France, for example, and in interviews with them which he presents […]

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Being a Journalist in Today’s Iran

Being a Journalist in Today’s Iran

In a recently published piece by Your Middle East, a leading European digital magazine covering all things Middle Eastern, Omid Habibinia, an Iranian journalist in exile, sheds light on the plight of Iranian journalists inside Iran. In his piece Mr. Habibinia underscores the bravery of many Iranian journalists who, despite widespread repression, arrest, and torture of their […]

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A Re-do almost a century later

A Re-do almost a century later

The possible Balkanization of Syria is an increasingly likely prospect – at least for the short-term – and could provide a historic counterpoint in the Middle East to what the West did to carve up the region almost a century ago. With the Ottoman Empire defeated after World War I, the triumphant Allies sought to ensure their […]

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The Ayatollah’s Nuclear Gamble: The Human Cost of a Military Strike Against Iran’s Nuclear Facilities

The Ayatollah’s Nuclear Gamble: The Human Cost of a Military Strike Against Iran’s Nuclear Facilities

    It is  close to a decade that Iran’s controversial nuclear program has been at the forefront of foreign policy debates. The U.S. has considered an array of options such as threat of a military strike, diplomatic efforts and most recently tightened sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nevertheless, the issue remains unresolved […]

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U.S. Foreign Policy, the Arab World and FPA’s Readership

U.S. Foreign Policy, the Arab World and FPA’s Readership

It’s that time of year again, the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) has released its “National Opinion Ballot Report” for 2012. The report presents the results of the FPA’s National Opinion Survey, in which 20,623 ballots were returned, the majority of these ballots emanating from Florida, California, New York, Colorado and Arizona. Needless to say, these […]

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The Counterintuitive Jihad

The Counterintuitive Jihad

  Gone are the days when avoidance of religious and political discussions was essential to retaining friendships. Today discussing these two topics in the public and private squares is essential to peace, coexistence, development and progress! At hand is the most misunderstood and indeed most abused moral concept of the 21st century: the doctrine of […]

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