Carnegie Middle East Center
- Follow Carnegie
- Search
- Global Resources
Global Centers
Languages
For both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the new emphasis on separating religion from politics and confronting “political Islam” is not a question of defining an abstract theory of the state. It is a considered response to the grave challenges they face.
President Trump has defined his presidency in terms of the successes and failures of his predecessors, especially when it comes to wars in the Middle East.
With the clock ticking on a U.S. military departure from Syria, the U.S. government must salvage what it can to protect only the most important American interests—and even that may be a tall order.
President Trump’s vow to “devastate” the Turkish economy if Ankara attacks Kurdish forces in Syria marks another troubling development in the souring U.S.-Turkey relationship.
The best hope for Trump’s Middle East policy is that his administration continues to avoid getting America into new conflicts and to think about how to disentangle it from old, unwinnable ones.
Although the president’s failure to consult with Congress and allies in making the decision to withdraw from Syria was diplomatic malpractice, critics’ fears about the withdrawal are overblown.
Trump’s decision didn’t cause the United States to lose in Syria. For all practical purposes, Syria was already lost.
While the international community's commitment to protecting civilians from conflict reached a high point in the 1990's, it has now been abandoned.
The growth of counterterrorism allies and quietists is one result of the political trends throughout North Africa since the Arab uprisings.
As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wraps up his tour of the Middle East and North Africa, it was made clear that he is back to business as usual.
The Assad regime’s ascendancy has pushed the EU and European governments onto the back foot. Europe needs to rethink its foreign policy priorities—and fast.
Why the Trump administration is unwilling to use the leverage it possesses to alter Saudi Arabia’s damaging behavior is not clear.
Stabilization programs in Syria long outlived their original political rationale, but bureaucratic factors, analytic biases, and an imperative to deliver services kept them going.
President Trump’s statement about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was met with widespread criticism from around the world. He has set the United States down a road that breaks longstanding foreign policy precedent.
Egypt’s new administrative capital, currently under construction—and tentatively named Wedian, which means “desert valleys”— represents concretely where President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been trying to take his country during his five years of authoritarian rule.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently taken a significant step in its nuclear research and development program that at the same time illuminates Riyadh’s best route for demonstrating transparency in nuclear safeguards.
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has pursued policies that have undermined both U.S. interests and values.
Khashoggi’s murder has elicited that rarest of reactions in contemporary U.S. politics: bipartisan consensus.
If Khashoggi’s killing is to have any lasting meaning and impact, it should offer up both a moment of clarity and a warning to the Trump administration to restore reciprocity and balance to a relationship that’s now out of control.
The outrageous murder of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul has brought into sharp relief the deepening conflict between Riyadh and Ankara.