Middle East

There have been two constants in U.S.-Saudi relations for decades: oil and Gulf security, particularly the security of the Saudi royal family. Our two societies have had little in common, and yet despite deep differences, we have had a...

For information on a 10-volume series of books for middle and high school students on “The Making of the Modern Middle East,” published by Mason Crest Publishers in collaboration with FPRI’s Wachman Center, visit https://www.masoncrest.com/series_view.php?seriesID=77 Dr. Cook explained that...

In October 1942 leaflets appeared in Egypt. The occasion was the British Eighth Army victory over Rommel’s Afrika Korps at El Alamein, which at last made the Allies confident they could drive the Axis out of the Middle East....

One of the many factors, terrorism aside, that has hindered the Palestinian people from obtaining a state has been the sheer number of disparate armed groups acting simultaneously in the Palestinian Territories over the last decades. While at least...

When former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami withdrew from the presidential race on March 16, mere weeks after the announcement of his candidacy, it should have reminded outside observers about the dubious prospects for real reform in Iran. Although Khatami...

If you tell your class that “Today, we are going to study the first Persian Gulf War,” you will get an unenthusiastic response. That war took place almost twenty years ago, in 1991. Today’s students weren’t born yet. To...

Addressing the American people as president for the first time on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama declared that “America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.” Two crises, already in motion, challenge that role....

Until recently, the British were considered to have an unusually high aptitude for counterinsurgency. In contrast with other major armies of the world, the British Army has a record of relative success in this form of warfare. In staff...

In January 2005, Iraqis proudly displayed ink-stained fingers, confirming their participation in the formation of a national reconciliation government. That mark represented their first opportunity to take part in a democratic election in more than thirty years and seemed...

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has been a top foreign policy priority for U.S. administrations since 1948, is about to be shaken up. On December 19, the so-called tahdiya, or calm, is set to expire. With both sides clamoring to...