Category: Blogs

Russia tones down criticism of new U.S. missile plans

By Steve Gutterman, Reuters

Kurdish Leader: End Armed Struggle

By Ross Wilson

Turkey’s long-time nemesis Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the so-called Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), delivered an historic message on the March 21 Nowruz holiday that marks the beginning of spring calling for a new beginning between Kurds and Turks.

National Partnership is Our Last Refuge, Not the Army

By Amr Hamzawy

Calls are growing, both on the streets and in the media, for the Egyptian army to return to the political arena, with some seeing the military as Egypt’s last refuge against chaos and collapse. Rather than demand for the return of military rule, I call on all secular parties to look for “democratic” solutions to […]

Bolstering Jordan to Enhance Regional Security

By John Raidt and Jeffrey Lightfoot

President Barack Obama can significantly bolster regional security and advance US interests in his upcoming trip to the Middle East by offering increased support to Jordan to help it cope with the highly consequential spillover effects of the conflict in Syria. The influx of 3,000 refugees per day into Jordan from Syria—including an unknown number […]

Congressional disappointment with European allies fueling pressure to withdraw U.S. troops

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes

From John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes:  Of all the places U.S. troops are stationed around the world, no place seems to cause as much consternation as the military’s robust presence in wealthy western Europe.

Top News: Muslim Brotherhood Officially Registered as NGO

By Egypt Source

Egypt’s largest Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been officially registered as a non-governmental organization by the ministry of social security. The announcement of the group’s status came shortly after the State Commissioners Board recommended the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) reject the Brotherhood’s longstanding appeal against a 1954 decision by the then-ruling Revolutionary Command Council declaring the […]

Science and Technology: The Invisible Pillar of Transatlantic Cooperation

By Cathleen Fisher

Cooperation in science and research is embedded in the transatlantic relationship. And yet, ironically, it is politically and diplomatically underused and often considered marginal—or ignored entirely—by the transatlantic policy community. This should change.

US Aid to Egypt: The Start of a Serious Conversation

By John D. Lawrence

The recent Egypt debate in the US Senate could easily lead you to two separate, contradictory, and equally correct conclusions.  The first, more charitable than the next, would say that we have the beginning of a substantive political debate over aid to Egypt and overall US-Egyptian relations which that should be good for both countries.  […]