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MENASource

Jan 9, 2018

Iraq’s Dawa Party and electioneering: Division and survival

By Harith Hasan

Following the 2005 election of Iraq’s National Assembly, the winning Shia Islamist coalition selected Ibrahim al-Jaafari, then a senior leader in the Dawa party, for the position of Prime Minister in the transitional government. Dawa is the oldest Shia Islamist party, but not the largest. Competing groups within the Shia alliance selected a member in […]

Democratic Transitions Iraq

IranSource

Jan 9, 2018

A Virtuous Rivalry Between Iran and Saudi Arabia?

By Barbara Slavin

Much of the Middle East’s current dysfunction and bloodshed can be attributed to rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemen into smithereens to defeat Iran-backed Houthis, for example. But another more peaceful kind of competition could benefit both societies and have wider implications for the Muslim world at large.

New Atlanticist

Jan 8, 2018

In 2018, Macron’s Biggest Challenge Lies at Home

By Nicholas Dungan

France is off to a beautiful start to 2018—a year that could be a rosy one. At the end of 2017, the Economist designated France its “country of the year” following Emmanuel Macron’s election as president in May and the sweeping victory of his new political movement, La République en Marche! in parliamentary elections in […]

European Union France

UkraineAlert

Jan 8, 2018

This Time It Will Be Very, Very Different

By Diane Francis

In 2014, a 16-year-old Ukrainian, nicknamed Maley, watched the Euromaidan Revolution and Russian invasion on television and contacted his local army recruitment office to sign up. His calls went unanswered, so he took a train from the Carpathians to the front, armed with his grandfather’s hunting rifle and a brass plate bought by his mother […]

Russia Ukraine

SyriaSource

Jan 8, 2018

Hope for Syria in 2018?

By Frederic C. Hof

Is there any hope at all that a New Year’s wish for Syrian peace and quiet will be fulfilled? Yes, there is always hope. But if there is anything to be learned from the sad spectacle of Western (mainly American) Syria policy over the past nearly seven years, it is that hope—accompanied only by lofty […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Jan 5, 2018

The Legacy of ISIS-Manufactured Mines in Raqqa

By Feras Hanoush

Following the agreement and the subsequent withdrawal of the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS, Daesh) from Raqqa on October 15, 2016, ISIS fighters warned “the land will fight for us,” in reference to the large number of mines planted by the group where practically every house and street is laced with dozens of them. Throughout the […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jan 5, 2018

Jordan Caught Between Trump and a Hard Place

By Shehab al-Makahleh and Giorgio Cafiero

US president’s Jerusalem decision puts Amman in a bind Jordan has been left with no choice but to oppose US President Donald J. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because the issue impacts the kingdom’s security and politics. As Jordanian King Abdullah II focuses more attention on Jerusalem and the unresolved question […]

Middle East

UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2018

With Russia on the Sidelines, China Moves Aggressively into Ukraine

By James Brooke

On Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, the most active foreign actor is not Russia. It’s China. On the Danube, Chinese investors are mulling buying a Ukrainian river shipping company that could insert Chinese products deep into Eastern Europe. At the two big ports flanking Odesa, China Harbor Engineering Company just finished dredging Yuzhny and now is […]

China Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2018

How to Bring Peace to the Donbas. (Yes, It’s Possible)

By Alexander Vershbow

Last month Vladimir Putin reopened the door to the creation of a peacekeeping force in Eastern Ukraine. Deploying such a force, if done properly, could bring peace to a conflict that has dragged on for nearly four years. Without it, the conflict could return to a boil, jeopardizing Ukraine’s stability and destroying any basis for […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2018

Slain Lawyer Becomes an Icon of Unfinished Reforms in Ukraine

By Maxim Eristavi

The holiday season ended abruptly on January 1 as Ukrainians learned about the murder of lawyer and human rights activist Iryna Nozdrovska. This is a gruesome start for 2018, even for a country at war. We stopped having regular New Year’s holidays years ago. Not many felt like celebrating while soldiers were dying in the […]

Ukraine
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