Ideas
Don't Raise a New Year's Toast for Defeating ISIS Just Yet
Now we must address America's ambiguity on Syria and the Kurds.
Ideas
America Shouldn’t Take Sides in the 1,400-Year-Old Sunni-Shia Conflict
The Iran-vs.-Saudi Arabia proxy war isn’t worth getting our military involved.
Ideas
The Future Has Arrived for Mohammed bin Salman
But in the wake of his ruthless purge, can he avoid the pitfalls and excesses of a previous generation of Saudi leaders?
Ideas
The Middle East Is Nearing an Explosion
Fear is the one thing preventing it—but could also precipitate it.
Policy
Paying Off Post-9/11 War Debt Could Cost $8 Trillion: Report
Analysts say a reckoning is coming — even as Republicans seek tax cuts that will add at least $1.5 trillion to the national debt.
Policy
Saudi Arabia’s New Strongman Wants the Kingdom to Become a Middle East Arms Powerhouse
The crown prince’s surprise arrests of rivals puts him in position to execute a sweeping diversification of the country’s economy.
Threats
Saudi Arabia's Very Public, Very Risky Palace Intrigue
The arrest of 11 senior figures, including one of the world’s richest men, is a sign of the crown prince’s consolidation of power.
Ideas
America Has Become Dispensable in Iraq
The conflict in Kirkuk offers further evidence of Iran’s steady rise.
Ideas
The War on ISIS Held the Middle East Together
With the fall of Raqqa, the sad story will pick up exactly where it left off in 2014.
Threats
‘We're Not Taking Sides,’ Trump Tells Clashing Kurds, Iraqis
The Pentagon watches two American allies turn on each other, as Iraq’s fractious politics are laid bare once again.
Ideas
Closing the Taliban’s Office in Qatar Would Be a Historic Mistake
With no military solution in Afghanistan, the US needs credible interlocutors to end the war — like the ones who secured the Bergdahl deal.
Threats
Turkey Opens Its Largest Overseas Military Base in Somalia
The military base in Somalia is also a reminder that despite Turkey’s growing regional and national problems, Africa remains central to its global expansion strategy.
Threats
Q&A: Deputy Commander of the War on ISIS
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Robert Sofge is helping to coordinate a two-front ground war in Iraq.
Threats
Dunford: Six Months From Now, ISIS Will Have ‘Less Credibility’
But they — and four other major threats to the U.S. — aren’t going anywhere, the Joint Chiefs chairman says.
Threats
'It’s Never a Good Time for the Iraqi Kurds to Become Independent’
The Turkish government believes that self-determination for the Kurds represents an existential threat to the NATO ally.
Threats
US Military Leaders Worry About Iran’s Media Operations
Forget Russian fake news. Iranian media and messaging are thwarting U.S. efforts across the Middle East.
Ideas
The Only Path to Peace is a Kurdistan Independent of Iraq
A Peshmerga commander says Iraq had its chance and failed to live up to its security promises to the people of Kurdistan.
Threats