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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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Dec 4, 2013

Yemen’s economic agenda: Beyond short-term survival

By Danya Greenfield

A new Atlantic Council report, Yemen’s Economic Agenda: Beyond Short-Term Survival, argues that if the Yemeni government fails to prioritize progress on the economic front, the country’s democratic transition risks derailment and may witness renewed conflict. Prioritizing the economy has been postponed because of political uncertainty and security problems, but the status quo can no […]

Democratic Transitions Economy & Business

Press Release

Dec 4, 2013

Yemen’s Political Transition at Risk without Progress on Economic Agenda

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 4, 2013 CONTACT:                                                                                                         Samia Yakub                                                                                        202.769.0724, press@AtlanticCouncil.org A new Atlantic Council report, Yemen’s Economic Agenda: Beyond Short-Term Survival, argues that if the Yemeni government fails to prioritize progress on the economic front, the country’s democratic transition risks derailment and may witness renewed conflict. Prioritizing […]

Yemen

MENASource

Nov 26, 2013

How the Gulf States Will and Won’t Respond to the Iran Agreement

By Richard LeBaron

Gulf states have cautiously greeted the interim nuclear agreement between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the EU and Iran. The Saudi statement on Monday treads lightly—”The government of the kingdom sees that if there was goodwill, this agreement could represent a preliminary step towards a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear program.” In […]

Iran Saudi Arabia

New Atlanticist

Nov 21, 2013

Anxiety in the House of Saud

By Rajan Menon

You’d think that Saudi Arabia‘s ruling monarchy would have a lot to be happy about — and you’d be right, in part. The Saudi Kingdom has, barring some exceptions, been remarkably stable. It was left unscathed by the revolutionary wave that demolished longstanding authoritarian regimes from Tunisia to Egypt. The Saudi political system — being consensus-based and […]

Saudi Arabia

MENASource

Oct 30, 2013

Hailing Hellfires

By Fatima Abo Alasrar

Apart from the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference that has been generating good news in the press, the country is on a rapidly deteriorating course toward uncertainty.

Yemen

MENASource

Oct 28, 2013

Debating Federalism in Yemen

By Rafat Al-Akhali

The Southern Movement in Yemen, known as Southern Hirak, is closer than ever before to achieving a negotiated resolution that addresses at least some of its demands. Capitalizing on Southern grievances following the 1994 civil war in Yemen, Hirak established itself as a protest movement in 2007 demanding to address many rights-based issues in the […]

Yemen

MENASource

Oct 24, 2013

Yemen’s Final Stretch

By Danya Greenfield

“No one wants a real state,” Dr. Mohammed al-Mutawakel intoned, gathering attention from around the table where his family gathered for lunch on the Eid holiday.

Yemen

MENASource

Oct 22, 2013

Top News: US Missile Attacks Killed Civilians in Yemen, Says Rights Group

By MENASource

US missile strikes, including armed drone attacks, have killed dozens of civilians in Yemen as the United States tries to crack down on al-Qaeda in the country, a prominent human rights organization said on Tuesday.

Yemen

MENASource

Sep 25, 2013

Yemen Needs Friends

By Danya Greenfield

While most attention at the U.N. General Assembly this week is focused on Iran and Syria, the Friends of Yemen group will hold its sixth ministerial meeting on the sidelines. It will be an opportunity for the government of Yemen to hold donors accountable for pledged money and for donors to hold the Yemenis accountable […]

Yemen

MENASource

Sep 25, 2013

Strategic Vision, Not Pessimism, Needed to Support the Arab Transitions

By Danya Greenfield

President Obama’s speech at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday was perhaps his most honest—though somewhat disappointing to those wanting the United States to play a vigorous democracy promotion role—account of US policy priorities in the Middle East.

North Africa Yemen

Experts