Middle East
Barack Obama's dilemma: U.S. foreign policy and electoral realities
September 20, 2011By George Friedman, Stratfor / Austin, TX / -- STRATFOR does not normally involve itself in domestic American politics. Our focus is on international affairs, and American politics, like politics everywhere, is a passionate business. The vilification...
Despite cash crunch, America needs to remain a leader
April 07, 2011It’s easy to get lost in America’s big budget debate. There is so much talk of impending shutdowns and continuing resolutions, debt reduction and tax reform, revenues and spending cuts. And both U.S. President Barack Obama and the House Republicans...
Middle East: Lots of challenges; one big opportunity
March 10, 2011Something big is happening in the Middle East—precisely what is yet unclear. Unfolding developments and thoughtful analysis will no doubt tarnish some of the instant western labels affixed to the unrest—democratic wildfire, first Twitter...
Moldova starts media cooperation with Middle East
February 17, 2011Moldova has started media cooperation with the Middle East. An agreement on bilateral cooperation between the MOLDPRES state news agency and the Palestinian state news agency Wafa was signed in Chisinau. MOLDPRES director-general Vlad Darie told a...
Wildfire in the Middle East: Neither democracy nor radical Islam
February 09, 2011Last December 17, fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself aflame to protest his humiliation and beating at the hands of corrupt officials in Tunisia. This sparked a wildfire that smoked Tunisian strongman Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali out of office and...
Democracy needs a civil society: lessons for the Middle East from post-communist Europe
February 07, 2011Whether the Middle East can become -- or be made -- democratic has been a vexing question for decades. The current round of political unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, and other Arab countries raises the question again, with profound human and strategic considerations...
Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?
January 31, 2011Muslim Brotherhood: Radical Islamists Or Reluctant Democrats? For more than 30 years, the specter of the Iranian Revolution, with the overthrow of a strategically vital and friendly government by fundamentalist Islamists, has stalked Western policymakers...
Tawfik Hamid: What the US can do to save Egypt?
January 30, 2011Egypt has always been a strong ally of the United States. The country is now in a situation of near anarchy. Doing nothing is not an option, but improper intervention by the US could be destructive with extremely negative long-term consequences...
Arab Americans found hope, disappointment in 2010
December 29, 2010A group of Arab Americans meeting at the Al Hewar Center in suburban Washington consider the U.S. role in Middle East peace the cornerstone of Arab-American relations. For them President Barack Obama began his first year in office in 2009 with a clear...
Clinton policy speech not well received in Middle East
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December 13, 2010There has been a largely unenthusiastic reaction among Israelis and Palestinians to a Middle East policy speech by America's top diplomat. Israel's Cabinet discussed last Friday's speech by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in which she expressed...