As Arab leaders and President Barack Obama have met this week to discuss Middle East security, developments in Syria could bolster the opposition’s campaign to topple the regime there. Driving the opposition push in Syria is a new working relationship between Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, the key backers of the rebels in northern Syria.… اقرأ المزيد
| The Daily Star U.S. and Iranian officials have been insisting the last several years that they wanted to resolve the nuclear issue before discussing the sectarian wars that are raging across the Middle East. Not anymore. As the battles have escalated in recent months, so has talk about regional diplomacy. The interest in peace… اقرأ المزيد
The most compelling argument President Barack Obama made for the nuclear framework deal with Iran was also the simplest one: The pact, once concluded, would be preferable to any realistic alternative. It’s not a perfect agreement, and certainly not a permanent solution to the threat an aggressive Iran poses for Israel and other nations in… اقرأ المزيد
The British diplomat Harold Nicolson observed in 1960 that “a good negotiation takes about as long as it takes an elephant to have a baby.” That has been true in the protracted Iran nuclear talks, although in this case, the baby may turn out to be stillborn. Negotiators were still haggling over the framework as… اقرأ المزيد
Gen. John Allen, the retired Marine who is coordinating the campaign against ISIS, gave an upbeat briefing to Congress last week. He said that because of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition, the group has “lost half of its Iraq-based leadership and thousands of hardened fighters.” “Decapitation” is the graphic term for this strategy of… اقرأ المزيد
The Obama administration’s decision to engage Egypt is “a case of realpolitik over idealism,” concedes one official. But it’s also the right policy choice. President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi certainly doesn’t make it easy. His repression of dissent now rivals that of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. His campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood has broadened to include… اقرأ المزيد