Middle East

Roundtable on Developments in Libya

Recent events in Libya demonstrate that the country’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy is still tenuous and fraught with a number of immediate challenges. The Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, together with Freedom House and the Project on Middle East Democracy, hosted a private roundtable on June 20 to explore the […]

Obama’s Confusing Syria Calculus

By Rajan Menon

There’s something morally perplexing about President Obama’s stance on the war in Syria. It’s not any clearer in its strategic logic.

Dancing in the Streets

By Barbara Slavin

Finally, Iranians got the chance to party in the streets. The solid election victory on Friday of the least hard-line candidate — moderate cleric and former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani — touched off spontaneous celebrations in the major squares and avenues of Tehran that authorities did not try to stop.

Roundtable on Egypt’s Ongoing Political Crisis

The Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a roundtable discussion with former member of parliament and founding member of Egypt’s Social Democratic Party Ziad Bahaa-Eldin on the ongoing crisis in Egypt.

‘Engineered’ Iranian Elections Provide an Opening for Criticizing Status Quo

By Barbara Slavin

Iranian elections are hardly free or fair by Western standards. But even with limited choices and a heavily securitized environment, the brief presidential campaign is providing an outlet for harsh criticism of the status quo, including topics — such as the nuclear file — that are usually banished from public discourse.The last-minute decision by nuclear […]