In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

11/20/08: Pakistan: Learning the Right Lessons from Iraq —Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
11/13/08: The View from Gaza —Taghreed El-Khodary, New York Times journalist in Gaza and Harvard University Nieman Fellow (2005-2006). Interviewed by Middle East Bulletin.
11/04/08: Getting on the Right Track —Dalia Rabin, chairperson, Rabin Center, and daughter of the late Yitzhak Rabin. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Keeping Focus on Long-Term Objectives

“[W]hile we do need to have a cooperative approach that involves many of our friends and allies in meeting with the Pakistanis, … as we work out with them a rough division of labor, the U.S., I believe, ought to be taking the lead in addressing the issues in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. And given the difficulty of doing so, I suspect that we will not have a great deal of difficulty in convincing them to allow us to take the lead there. But as we all know, there is a real tension between our short-term tactical aims in trying to capture or kill terrorists across the border and militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and our longer- term counterinsurgency pacification goals. We very much need to be focusing on the end state. What is it that we want this area to look like? ... In that context we need to have a common agenda with the Pakistani government and very much to include the military on counterinsurgency in that area. There needs to be, therefore, a focus on combining military efforts with economic, development and political development in those areas.”
—Robert L. Grenier, managing director and chairman for Global Security Consulting, Kroll, event, “Partnership for Progress: Advancing a New Strategy for Prosperity and Stability in Pakistan and the Region,” Center for American Progress, November 17, 2008

Middle East Analysis

Partnership for Progress —Caroline Wadhams, Brian Katulis, Lawrence J. Korb & Colin Cookman, Center for American Progress
Dealing With Pakistan Is Risky Business —Lee H. Hamilton, president, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, former chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee
How Not to Lose Afghanistan (and Pakistan) —Peter Bergen, senior fellow, New America Foundation

Russian Influence Compromised by Hamas Ties?

October 3, 2007

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)

Russian officials are welcoming President George Bush’s call for an international peace conference on the Middle East, seeing it in part as a way to bolster its own role in the region. But Russia’s ties with Hamas put it at odds with most of the international community, raising questions about how influential it can be in any renewed efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

… Russia in recent years has tried to boost its role in the peace process beyond its membership in the so-called Quartet… After curtailing its military aid to Arab countries following the Soviet breakup and normalizing its relations with Israel, Russia has sought to leverage its traditional contacts with the Islamic world by cultivating relations with Syria, Iran and Hamas.

Last spring, Moscow received a high-level Hamas delegation despite international pressure to isolate the group following its dominant showing in Palestinian parliamentary elections. Russia has failed, however, to capitalize on its close links with Hamas and to make a convincing case to Israel and other members of the Quartet on the benefits of a continuing engagement with the group. Access the full article>>