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

Global Chess

April 25, 2008

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

"The stakes are obviously formidable for the United States. Without Russia, Washington may not succeed in bringing its policies in the Middle East to fruition."

Russia has in the past few years been busy regrouping and redrawing its role vis-a-vis the outside world. … Thus Iran and Syria are only pawns in a much bigger game and are used to challenge U.S. hegemony in the Middle East in order to ensure Russian hegemony in its own neighborhood. By the same token, Russia is not playing along easily with U.S. efforts to bring Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table. And what applies to the Palestinian question applies equally to Iraq … Finally … Putin knows how important the Iranian nuclear program is for the United States and its chief ally in the region, Israel, and he happens to hold some important keys to break the deadlock.

Against this backdrop, U.S. initiatives in the Middle East, including the Annapolis peace meeting, are not likely to bear fruit without a minimum of support and cooperation from Russia. Access the full article>>