Featured commentary & analysis


Counterterrorism Study Group

The Counterterrorism Study Group is a forum for former counterterrorism officials to review the latest threats, to understand emerging trends and future predictions, and to explore creative new proposals for improving the effectiveness of current policies and operations.


Podcast series

Listen to the latest episode of the China-MENA podcast, featuring conversations with academics, government leaders, and the policy community on China’s role in the Middle East.


Gulf Security Task Force

The Gulf Security Task Force is revisiting the question of how to best protect US interests in this sensitive, always relevant region. Our goal is to provide US decision-makers with an updated, fact-based strategy for protecting US interests in the air and maritime domain from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, and ensuring Gulf partners’ ability to assume this responsibility, with the assistance and leadership of the United States.

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Article

Aug 31, 2014

Column: Saudi-Iran Meeting Could Boost Fight Against Islamic State

By Barbara Slavin

To say that there are a lot of moving pieces in the Middle East these days is certainly an understatement. From Libya to Yemen, Gaza to Iraq, outside powers are intervening in complex confrontations that pit religious fundamentalists against secularists, dictators against democrats and ethnic minorities against each other.

Iraq Libya

MENASource

Aug 27, 2014

Podcast: Experts React to Airstrikes in Libya

In the wake of conflicting messages from the United States on reports that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt struck Islamist positions in Libya, MENASource spoke with three Atlantic Council experts to get their reactions to this news.

Libya North Africa

MENASource

Aug 26, 2014

Egypt Has No Good Choices in Libya

The recent revelation that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt were behind the previously unidentified warplanes that struck Islamist positions in Libya has sparked questions on Egypt’s role and its potential options for protecting its shared border with the troubled country—and the consequences of doing so.

North Africa The Gulf

In the News

Aug 25, 2014

LeBaron on Qatari Foreign Policy

By Richard LeBaron

The National quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Richard LeBaron on Qatar’s role in securing the release of American journalist Peter Theo Curtis from Syria:

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

In the News

Aug 22, 2014

Greenfield on Yemen’s Houthi Movement

By Danya Greenfield

The International Business Times quotes Rafik Hariri Center Acting Director Danya Greenfield on the Houthi movement in Yemen:

Yemen
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, April 14, 2013

NATOSource

Aug 15, 2014

Special Summit Series: The United Arab Emirates and NATO

By Bilal Y. Saab

The United Arab Emirates has said and done all the right things to prove that it wants a stronger partnership with NATO.

NATO NATO Partnerships

In the News

Aug 15, 2014

Saab on What the UAE Really Wants from NATO

By Bilal Y. Saab

Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Bilal Y. Saab writes for Foreign Affairs on what the United Arab Emirates wants from collaboration with NATO. 

NATO NATO Partnerships

Event Recap

Jul 31, 2014

Shifting Political Alliances: Are Gains from Yemen’s National Dialogue Slipping?

Three years after Yemen adopted the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative, the country is slowly moving forward with its transition process. However, internal and external factors threaten to impede the country’s progress. On Wednesday, July 31, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted Mohammed Almaitami, chairman of the Khobara Center […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

MENASource

Jul 31, 2014

Poverty and Conflict in the Middle East

By Matthew Timmerman

From its outset, the self-immolation of a crestfallen Tunisian vegetable vendor, the Arab Spring was largely about poverty. Mohamed Bouazizi’s final words before igniting himself and the region were, “How do you expect me to make a living?”

Iraq Middle East

In the News

Jul 30, 2014

Saab: Why Qatar’s Peacemaking Shouldn’t Be Trusted

By Bilal Y. Saab

Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Bilal Y. Saab writes for Foreign Affairs on Qatar’s recent attempts to mediate in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas:

Israel Middle East

Experts