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.

Content

MENASource

Dec 4, 2012

“Boycott” Elections Distill Kuwait’s Divisions

By Kristin Smith Diwan

On December 1 Kuwait held its second parliamentary election in ten months following the court-imposed dissolution of a strongly oppositional parliament last June.  Instead of the usual selection among Kuwait’s liberal nationalist, Islamist, tribal populist, and independent candidates, the choice this time was more stark:  vote or boycott?   In the months since October, when Kuwait’s […]

The Gulf

Event Recap

Dec 3, 2012

Roundtable on US Policy in Yemen with Gregory Johnsen

By Jason Harmala

Following the release of his new book The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia, the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a roundtable discussion with Gregory Johnsen on December 3, 2012 to discuss US policy in Yemen and recommendations for the Obama administration’s second term. The discussion engaged Yemen experts […]

Yemen

New Atlanticist

Nov 30, 2012

Yemen’s Democratic Revolution, One Year Later

By Danya Greenfield

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, stepping down from power after more than 10 months of protests led by youth activists and joined by a cross-section of opposition groups and ordinary Yemenis throughout the country. Over the past year, Yemen has crawled its way back from the brink of […]

National Security
Politics & Diplomacy

MENASource

Nov 28, 2012

Another Election “Crisis” in Kuwait

By Richard LeBaron

Kuwait has more experience with elections than any other country in the Gulf and more than most countries in the Middle East and North Africa.  Its tiny population of eligible voters (currently around 400,000) has been going to the polls since 1975, and the number of crises involving the ruling al-Sabah family and the 50 […]

The Gulf

Event Recap

Oct 25, 2012

Looking Forward in Yemen: Challenges, Opportunities, and the International Community’s Role

By Jason Harmala

In order to examine the challenges and opportunities with Yemen’s much awaited National Dialogue, the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) sponsored an event on October 25 featuring commentary by Atiaf Alwazir, a prominent youth activist in Yemen; Ibrahim Mothana, a co-founder of the new Watan […]

Yemen

External

Oct 1, 2012

IntelBrief: Yemen and Somalia: Assessing the Threat

By Bronwyn Bruton

In the tenth in the series of “IntelBriefs” on African security issues being produced by the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center in partnership with the Soufan Group, an international strategic consultancy, Ansari Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton weighs the evidence of and potential for operational cooperation between the various Islamist extremist groups in Yemen […]

Yemen

Event Recap

Sep 28, 2012

Yemen’s Transition: The Way Forward

By Jason Harmala

In a major public event hosted by the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council and the Woodrow Wilson Center, President of Yemen Abdrabo Mansour Hadi provided a stark assessment of Yemen’s political, economic and security conditions and what failure there would mean for the United States and the international community.

Yemen

MENASource

Sep 4, 2012

Rallying for Yemen in Riyadh

By Danya Greenfield

At the start of a major donor conference for Yemen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on September 4 and 5, reports indicate half of Yemen’s twenty-five million people are on the verge of starvation, suffering a growing food crisis and lack of access to basic services. Despite the availability of food in the market, rising prices, […]

Yemen

Press Release

Aug 30, 2012

Yemen’s Transition Hangs in the Balance

By Jason Harmala

More than half of Yemen’s 25 million people are on the verge of starvation, according to aid agencies that have been sounding the alarm over the past several months regarding Yemen’s growing food crisis. Next week, at a donors’ conference on September 4 and 5 in Riyadh, attention will turn to the dire economic and […]

Yemen

Event Recap

Aug 29, 2012

Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis: Impact on the Political Transition

By Jason Harmala

On Wednesday, August 29, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, the Project on Middle East Democracy, and Mercy Corps hosted a panel discussion on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis and its impact on the political transition.

Yemen

Experts