The month of August marked a dramatic moment in modern Lebanese history, when tens of thousands of ordinary citizens broke free from their sectarian political anchorage and challenged the state to perform more efficiently and equitably. This might be seen in retrospect as the moment when we first saw the birth pangs of the Lebanese… اقرأ المزيد
The most dangerous and troubling of the terror attacks in the past week in Tunisia Kuwait, France, Egypt and Yemen are probably the Kuwaiti and Egyptian attacks. The bombing of a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City by a young Saudi man and the assassination in Cairo of the Egyptian public prosecutor showed the ease with… اقرأ المزيد
What is the best way to achieve legitimate political goals that correspond at once to clear national interests, a domestic consensus and international legitimacy? Several different events in recent days across the Middle East and North Africa provide us with a fascinating menu of options to choose from. They suggest different levels of efficacy and… اقرأ المزيد
It was not accidental that during this past week, as I and so many others remembered the life and work of the late Samir Kassir who was assassinated 10 years ago in Beirut, I also spent an hour discussing with Lech Walesa in Gdansk, Poland, some of the lessons and experiences of the historic Solidarity… اقرأ المزيد
If I were Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi, I’d be slightly worried that I received a telephone call from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday assuring continued American military support and coordination to combat ISIS. Last week, ISIS made dramatic gains by taking over the provincial capital of Ramadi without much of a fight… اقرأ المزيد
The last-minute agreement to form a right-of-center government in Israel headed by the Likud Party’s Benjamin Netanyahu is neither surprising nor shocking. Rather, it is consistent with the trends of the past four decades that have seen the entire Middle East region shift toward increasingly narrow state identities and government policies defined by a combination… اقرأ المزيد