Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Middle East

Famine grows behind closed doors in Yemen

Famine grows behind closed doors in Yemen

In a recent article written for The Economist, the hardships facing many Yemenis, mostly due to malnutrition, are being brought to light on a country that is often hesitant to ask for help. Even before 2011 when recent tribulations involving the military and local factions broke out, the conditions facing the population were already dramatic. […]

read more

Ben’s Words of Advice

Ben’s Words of Advice

  The American Revolution and the broad romantic view of U.S. democracy have often provided inspiration and guidance to those seeking democracy in their own nations – and for good reason. The amazing set of circumstances that made the American Revolution spark and then succeed, the lofty words of human rights that fueled the new […]

read more

No Different

No Different

Israeli politics more so than in many other countries tends to focus on larger than life characters and individuals placed in larger than life situations. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a war general at the heart of a major controversy in the Lebanon War, rose to power after decades in politics, dumped his party’s long […]

read more

A New Quest to Challenge Media Coverage of the Middle East and North Africa

A New Quest to Challenge Media  Coverage of the Middle East and North Africa

The following is a guest appearance by by Adam Hedengren, co-founder and managing editor, and David Hedengren, co-founder and editor-in-chief of YourMiddleEast.Com We are two brothers on a quest to challenge the major media companies’ Middle East and North Africa coverage. We believe that there are no satisfactory sources of news and information in English about […]

read more

Dancing With Wolves

Dancing With Wolves

You hear many words of wisdom traveling through the Mideast, all which offer insightful pondering to events past and present.  Watching the tragic escalation of events in Syria and the failing efforts to bring the fighting to a close bring to mind words often spoken by the Kurds of the region, who are well-versed in […]

read more

Baku Protests Foreign Policy’s Assertion of Airbase Access for Israel

Baku Protests Foreign Policy’s Assertion of Airbase Access for Israel

It’s just so hard to launch an international bash these days. Everyone’s a critic. Just ask Azerbaijan. Preparations for Eurovision, one of Europe’s biggest song contests to be held in May in Baku, are regularly sidetracked either by criticism of the country dismal human rights record, or allegations of the country’s silent involvement in Iran-Israeli […]

read more

The Arab Awakening and Middle East food security

The Arab Awakening and Middle East food security

A recent article in The Economist discussed the effect that rising food prices played in the unrest leading up to the Arab Awakening, and how efforts to combat high food prices continue to affect governments in the Middle East. Record prices during the global food crisis of 2007-2008 brought unprecedented food riots to countries like […]

read more

The War on Iran: Necessity or Illusion?

The War on Iran: Necessity or Illusion?

Wide speculations about the possibility of military confrontation with Iran and Israel’s military intentions seem to be the order of the day. The debate on Iran has now found its way from mainstream media to leading academic institutions. Earlier this week at the University of Toronto a panel of experts discussed the increasing tensions between […]

read more

Syrian American Council Urges a Crackdown on Assad’s Regime

Syrian American Council Urges a Crackdown on Assad’s Regime

  Since the reign of terror from President Bashar-al Assad’s regime began the UN estimates that over 9,000 innocent Syrian civilians have died at his hands. The local coordination committees estimate that the number of those killed is upwards of 11,000 in addition to those who are injured or incarcerated. Syria has accepted a peace plan from […]

read more

No Scarves. No Solution

No Scarves. No Solution

The world has found a way to strike back at Syrian President Bashar Assad: they have slapped travel sanctions on his London-born wife, Asma, to thwart her addiction to luxury shopping. One year into Assad’s churning assault against various opposition groups, stopping his wife from shoping in Europe is one of the few things the […]

read more

Turkey’s Syria Calculations: The Kurdish Dimension

Turkey’s Syria Calculations: The Kurdish Dimension

This article originally appeared on the Fikra Forum (March 22, 2012) —————————– In recent months, as uncertainty over Assad’s future continues, Turkey’s position with regard to its potential military or humanitarian intervention has been heavily debated. While Turkish leaders have condemned the Syrian government’s brutal suppression of dissent since February 2011 and warned several times […]

read more

U.S. Foreign Policy and The Arab Spring

U.S. Foreign Policy and The Arab Spring

This article, appeared on the Political Reflections Magazine, vol.3, n.2, is the second part of my review of FPA’s Great Decisions episode on the Arab Spring: The first part, providing a general overview of the debate can be found here. ********************************** As the uncertainty of the Arab Spring continues, the debate on the future of […]

read more

Top Former Military and Intelligence Officials Against “A War of Choice” with Iran

A full-page ad in today’s Washington Post featuring former top U.S. military and intelligence officials urging President Obama to resist the pressure for a war of choice with Iran. The ad, sponsored by National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), comes on the same day that President Obama is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at […]

read more

In-depth Discussion of Iran’s Power Structure at Carnegie Endowment

In-depth Discussion of Iran’s Power Structure at Carnegie Endowment

The following session was held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday February 24. http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/02/24/battle-for-power-in-iran/9ojx Mehrzad Boroujerdi is Associate Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs where he also serves as the Founding Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program and Founding Co-Director of the Religion, […]

read more

A Candid Discussion with John R. Bradley

A Candid Discussion with John R. Bradley

From John R. Bradley, the Middle East correspondent and writer who correctly predicted the Egyptian revolution, comes a new message about the Arab Spring: “everything we have been told about it is wrong”. John R. Bradley sat down with Reza Akhlaghi of Foreign Policy Association to discuss his latest book: ‘After the Arab Spring: How Islamists Hijacked the […]

read more

About Us

Foreign Policy Blogs is a network of global affairs blogs and a supplement to the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions program. Staffed by professional contributors from the worlds of journalism, academia, business, non-profits and think tanks, the FPB network tracks global developments on Great Decisions 2014 topics, daily. The FPB network is a production of the Foreign Policy Association.