Middle East

Why Russia Keeps Moving The Football On European Missile Defense: Politics

By Joan Johnson-Freese and Ralph Savelsberg, Breaking Defense

The Russian Foreign Ministry has continually insisted on legally binding guarantees that US missile defenses are not aimed at it and that would allow Russia access to sensitive aspects of the system.

US Offers Mobile Unit to Destroy Syria’s Chemical Weapons

By Anthony Deutsch and David Alexander, Reuters

The Pentagon is suggesting the world’s chemical weapons watchdog use a U.S.-made mobile destruction unit in Syria to neutralize the country’s toxic stockpile, officials told Reuters.

Geneva Talks on Iran: A New Beginning?

On October 18, 2013 the Atlantic Council held a members’ conference call entitled “Geneva Talks on Iran: A New Beginning?” with R. Nicholas Burns, professor of the practice of diplomacy and international politics at the Kennedy School. The call was moderated by Atlantic Council President and CEO Fred Kempe. Download the Transcript

The Rationale Behind European Union Efforts in Egypt

By Fady Salah

The European Union (EU) has been heavily engaged in ongoing events in Egypt over the past few months. As political unrest has prevailed, several EU officials visited Egypt to meet with government representatives, both of the current and former regimes, as well as party officials from across the political spectrum. The most notable EU official […]

Iran Nuclear Talks in Geneva Get Down to Details

By Barbara Slavin

From the European venue to the power point presentation in English, this week’s nuclear negotiations with Iran showed a new seriousness that bodes well for a future agreement, even if it does not guarantee one. Iranian officials from US-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on down spoke in English, dispensing with time-consuming translations, and outlined […]

Protest Law Awaiting Presidential Approval Receives Mixed Reactions

By EgyptSource

With Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawy’s cabinet finalizing a new protest law that has been passed on to interim president, Adly Mansour, for his approval, reactions to the draft have varied. From within the cabinet itself, Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Bahaa-Eldin fought the law/ Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that a verbal altercation took place between Bahaa-Eldin and […]

Syria: Geneva at What Price?

By Frederic C. Hof

The leader of the Syrian National Council, Mr. George Sabra, has announced that his group will leave the opposition Syrian National Coalition if the latter takes part in a Geneva peace conference under conditions currently prevailing in Syria.

Another Coup, a Salafi Hope

By Jayson Casper

In order to reverse a coup d’état, Egypt needs a coup d’état. This, in brief, is the solution to Egypt’s crisis offered by Hani Fawzi, general secretary of the Cairo-based Salafi Asala Party. It must be prompted, however, by massive protests. No longer simply the domain of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, the anti-coup movement […]

Tunisia’s Ambitious Roadmap

By Naim Ameur

After weeks of negotiations and accusations traded between Tunisia’s political parties, Ennahda finally signed a political agreement dubbed the “quartet’s initiative” with twenty other parties last Saturday.