Middle East Programs Commentary & Analysis

Our blogs feature thoughtful reflections and opinions on current events in the Middle East & North Africa.

Through our Middle East Programs, the Atlantic Council works with allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

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Meet our blogs

MENASource

MENASource follows movements across the region and provides news and analysis on current events, including a platform for Middle Eastern perspectives, among others, on major issues—economic, political, security, cultural—that are at stake in the post-Arab Spring era.  

IranSource

IranSource provides a holistic look at Iran’s internal dynamics, global and regional policies, and posture through unique analysis of current events and long-term, strategic issues related to Iran.

All commentary & analysis

IranSource

Feb 6, 2020

Why Europe should delay FATF countermeasures on Iran

By Esfandyar Batmanghelidj

Iran’s economic policymakers and economic operators remain committed to reforms that improve the transparency of the Iranian financial system.

Economy & Business Iran

MENASource

Feb 5, 2020

Should the Palestinians look a gift horse in the mouth?

By Kyle Thetford

Palestinian policymakers might not actually want all that cash. This is in part because of the challenges associated with spending such a vast sum.

Israel Middle East

MENASource

Feb 4, 2020

Absence at Berlin conference highlights Tunisia’s difficult challenges

By Alessia Melcangi

So-called marginalization at the Libya Peace Summit in Berlin aroused strong feelings of resentment among Tunisians, exacerbating the country’s already difficult economic, social, and political challenges.

Politics & Diplomacy Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Feb 3, 2020

Can Iraq’s new prime minister nominee navigate Baghdad’s political chaos?

By Atlantic Council

The next task for Allawi is to win the consent from two mutually exclusive spheres of influence inside Iraq: the protesters who forced the resignation of the current government at a high cost with nearly a thousand lives lost and more than twenty thousand wounded and the entrenched political actors who are still unwilling to give up all or part of their extraordinary privileges and take steps to curb corruption.

Iraq Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Feb 3, 2020

US targets al-Qaeda leader: What it means for Yemen and the US counterterrorism mission

By Masoud Mostajabi

"When the United States is able to identify a terrorist abroad who threatens Americans, in the vast majority of cases the solution is relatively simple," William Wechsler says. "Simply reach out through law enforcement or intelligence channels and ask the local government to arrest them. Unfortunately, there remain a few places in the world in which the host governments have no practical ability to do so—indeed, in some of these places legitimate government authorities face a high risk of being killed if they tried. Yemen is one of these places."

Conflict Terrorism

MENASource

Jan 31, 2020

The two-state solution comes back

By Thomas S. Warrick

The one-state solution is dead. The two-state solution may have a faint heartbeat, but it is unmistakably alive. Now, at least, we know where we are supposed to end up. All we have to do is to work backwards to find out what it will take to get from here to there.

Israel Middle East

MENASource

Jan 29, 2020

Let’s make a deal of the century

By Shalom Lipner

Hopes for an immediate breakthrough toward a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians remain bleak.

Israel Middle East

New Atlanticist

Jan 28, 2020

Trump’s new Middle East peace deal: A real path or dead on arrival?

By Daniel J. Samet

"The sad irony is that the peace process desperately needs new ideas, even if the ideas revealed today and the means by which they were developed and announced were not ideal," William Wechsler says. "And given the longstanding positions taken by the current Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the only credible source for those new ideas is the United States."

Israel Middle East

IranSource

Jan 27, 2020

Why mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran keeps failing

By Banafsheh Keynoush

Mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran means changing the balance of power in a way that pleases both countries.

Iran Middle East

MENASource

Jan 24, 2020

China’s Persian Gulf strategy: Keep Tehran and Riyadh content

By Julia Gurol and Jacopo Scita

The current tensions between Washington and Tehran have been a major stress test for China’s Persian Gulf strategy.

China Iran
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