Middle East

The US Should Give Egypt’s Military 48 Hours to Restore Civilian Rule

By Sarwar Kashmeri

It is a truth universally acknowledged (my apologies to Jane Austen) that the removal of a country’s elected leader by its military is deemed a military coup. So while I agree with President Obama’s pragmatic refusal to so label the recent overthrow of Egypt’s President Morsi, this finesse of terminology had better be a temporary […]

Beyond Syria Spillover: Lebanon’s Troubles Begin and End at Home

Though negative developments in Lebanon are generally viewed as spillover effects from Syria, the more complex reality is that Lebanon’s troubles begin at home and are being heightened to dangerous levels by the turmoil next door.  On July 9, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a discussion with fellow Faysal […]

Turmoil in Egypt: What to Expect

By Jason Harmala

On July 9, 2013, the Atlantic Council’s President and CEO Fred Kempe  hosted a members’ conference call with Dr. Michele Dunne, an Atlantic Council vice president and director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, to discuss the July 3 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and prospects for violence and political turmoil in […]

Syria’s war threatens Lebanon’s fragile economy

By Faysal Itani

Two new issue briefs from the Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council evaluate the complex and pernicious effects of Syria’s civil war on Lebanon. Author Faysal Itani, Hariri Center fellow, details the economic challenges that Lebanon faces, particularly in light of the Syria crisis, and offers recommendations on how to avoid a protracted economic crisis, […]

Beyond spillover: Syria’s role in Lebanon’s drift toward political violence

By Faysal Itani and Sarah Grebowski

Two new issue briefs from the Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council evaluate the complex and pernicious effects of Syria’s civil war on Lebanon. In this issue brief, Hariri Center Fellow Faysal Itani and Research Assistant Sarah Grebowski assess the political, security, and humanitarian implications of the Syria crisis in Lebanon. Events in Syria have sharpened existing fault […]

Egyptian Democracy 2.0?

By Julian Lindley-French

In a master-class of under-stated British diplomatic fudgery Foreign Secretary (and fellow Yorkshireman) William Hague said of the Egyptian Army’s ‘soft coup,’ “It’s happened, so we will have to recognize the situation will move on.”  Implicit in that statement is recognition that if Egypt is to create Egyptian democracy 2.0 one would not ideally start from […]

Egypt: A Coup Is What it Is

By Rajan Menon

On Wednesday, Egypt’s military, long the country’s most powerful political institution and an outfit with a massive economic empire, deposed Mohamed Morsi, the only Egyptian president ever to attain office by winning an election in which all political parties could compete on an equal footing.

Islam Is Not the Solution to What Ails the Middle East

By Barbara Slavin

During the decades when Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was a barely tolerated opposition party, it campaigned against the reigning secular autocrats under the banner, “Islam is the solution.” With the military’s removal on Jul. 3 of the Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsi, the region’s oldest exemplar of political Islam has lost its best and perhaps only chance […]

Two-Against-One Politics Threaten to Drive Egypt Over the Edge

By Michele Dunne

Speculation is intense about whether the protests planned for the June 30 anniversary of President Mohamed Morsi’s inauguration will fizzle in the blistering summer heat, blow up into Revolution 2.0, or descend into widespread violence. The narrative of polarization between Islamists and non-Islamists—a struggle for the soul and future of Egypt—is compelling, and even Defense […]

Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey Proceed Slowly on Energy Cooperation

By Ross Wilson & David Koranyi

Overshadowed by the Syrian civil war, rising violence in Iraq, and recent turmoil in Turkey, another problem is simmering in the Middle East.  Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) recently reported that a long-mooted new oil pipeline to Turkey should be completed within months.  By making possible oil not controlled by the Iraqi central government, this […]