How can the Biden administration build a mature, balanced relationship with Saudi Arabia? Institute executive director Robert Satloff, coauthor of a new study on the opportunities and challenges facing the Washington-Riyadh relationship, outlines that can secure American interests and help cement positive developments in the kingdom.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Middle East PolicyCast

U.S.-Saudi Relations in the Biden Administration with Robert Satloff

Two experts on security and political issues in the Middle East, Grant Rumley and Neri Zilber, share insights into the causes and outcomes of the May 2021 Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza - and they offer policy advice for American, Israeli, and Palestinian leaders who seek to prevent the recurrence of such violence.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Military & Political Assessment of the Gaza Conflict with Grant Rumley & Neri Zilber

To promote stability and other U.S. interests, Washington must reshape its approach to the increasingly complex staging ground for global competition that is the emerging Red Sea region. In the latest Middle East PolicyCast, Institute scholar Elana DeLozier expands on the economic and strategic risks and rewards facing the United States, and our Russian and Chinese adversaries, in this populous and increasingly prosperous region. 

To read Elana's recent presidential transition memo, " The Case for a Holistic U.S. Policy Toward the Emerging Red Sea Region ," go tohttps://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/case-holistic-us-policy-toward-emerging-red-sea-region

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

A Holistic Policy for the Red Sea Region with Elana Delozier

How will America’s choice to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan, and the manner of our withdrawal over the course of the last two presidential administrations, affect America’s standing in the wider Middle East? How will our partners and adversaries on the ground in the Middle East’s hot spots view American commitment and credibility in light of the rapid fall of Kabul? And how will Russia’s increasingly assertive Middle East policy adjust in light of these events in nearby Afghanistan? 

Three Washington Institute scholars - Anna Borshchevskaya, Bilal Wahab, and Kathryn Wheelbarger - share their insights into how America's allies, partners, and adversaries will respond to the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rapid collapse of the previously U.S.-backed Afghan government in Kabul. 

Read Bilal Wahab's study, " Promoting Sovereignty and Accountability in Iraq: Guidelines for the Biden Administration," here: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/promoting-sovereignty-and-accountability-iraq-guidelines-biden-administration

Read Anna Borshchevskaya's article, "Russia’s Questionable Counterterrorism Record: Why Moscow Is an Unreliable Partner for the West" here: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/syria/2017-11-23/russias-questionable-counterterrorism-record; her article, "Afghanistan's Women Face a Dangerous and Uncertain Future," here: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/afghanistans-women-face-a-dangerous-and-uncertain-future; and her 2014 book, "Putin's War in Syria: Russian Foreign Policy and the Price of America's Absence," here: https://www.amazon.com/Putins-War-Syria-Russian-Americas/dp/0755634632

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Near East PolicyCast

Afghanistan Fallout with Anna Borshchevskaya, Bilal Wahab, and Kathryn Wheelbarger

Twenty years after the deadly terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, how has the global terrorist threat, and American strategy against it, evolved? And what lessons can we learn from the successes and failures of U.S. counterterrorism policy as we enter the third decade since 9/11? Two of the country's leading scholars of terrorist groups and counterterrorism assess twenty years of U.S. counterterrorism policy and the current state of the global terror threat. 

Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of its Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. 

Aaron Y. Zelin is the Richard Borow Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Read Matt's presidential transition memo, Rethinking U.S. Efforts on Counterterrorism: Toward a Sustainable Plan Two Decades After 9/11:  https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/rethinking-us-efforts-counterterrorism-toward-sustainable-plan-two-decades-after

Read Aaron's monograph, Your Sons Are at Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/your-sons-are-your-service-tunisias-missionaries-jihad; and his presidential transition memo, Syria at the Center of Power Competition and Counterterrorism:  https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/syria-center-power-competition-and-counterterrorism

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Counterterrorism Twenty Years after 9/11

Marking the release of Anna Borshchevskaya's groundbreaking new book on Russia's Putin-era Middle East Policy, the Institute senior fellow held a lively conversation with a leading scholar of the Russian military and a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow. In this episode, we present their in-depth conversation on the full extent of Russian activity in the Middle East, how Moscow sees its interests and calculates costs and benefits, and the implications for U.S. policy. 

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Watch full video of this conversation: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/future-putins-war-syria

Read Anna Borshchevskaya's new book, "Putin's War in Syria": https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/putins-war-syria-russian-foreign-policy-and-price-americas-absence

Russia in the Middle East with Anna Borshchevskaya, Lester Grau, and Michael McFaul

Few countries from the Middle East or North Africa were invited to participate in the Biden administration's December Summit for Democracy, a telling reflection of regional politics a decade after the Arab Spring. Tunisia—once considered the only successful Arab democracy—recently suffered significant backsliding on that front, while Sudan's attempted coup has raised doubts about its political transition. Meanwhile, a "new normal" of protests has settled in as citizens continue demanding improvements in healthcare, housing, jobs, freedom of expression, and more. Given such realities, where are countries like Tunisia and Sudan headed, and how should the administration shape its broader regional approach to democracy, human rights, and reform?

Listen to an expert conversation with the Tunisian political analyst Chiraz Arbi, the Sudanese scholar Yasir Zaidan, former U.S. diplomat Alberto Fernandez, and former Institute scholar Sarah Feuer. 

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Watch full video of this conversation: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/popular-protest-democratic-prospects-and-us-policy-dilemmas-middle-east

Democratic Backsliding with Chiraz Arbi, Yasir Zaidan, Alberto Fernandez, and Sarah Feuer

Diplomat-in-residence Olivier Decottignies from the French Foreign Ministry share an insider’s view of the jihadist threat facing Europe – how the Islamic State seeks to exploit economic, cultural, and political crises facing the European Union and what EU leaders are and should be doing about it.

Terror in Europe with Olivier Decottignies

From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State, the global terrorist threat has evolved rapidly in recent years, and will likely change further still in the next president’s term. Counterterrorism expert Matthew Levitt looks ahead to the next administration and the choices the 45th president will have to face to keep Americans safe from this adaptive global menace. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Middle East 2017: Challenges and Choices - Terrorism with Matthew Levitt

After a surprising presidential election, Americans and foreign leaders have closely watched the executive transition for clues to American priorities and policy under the Trump administration. What does Donald J. Trump’s victory tell us about American politics – and how will our allies and adversaries respond? Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

A New President and the Middle East with Norman Ornstein and Dennis Ross

If the Trump administration follows through on campaign commitments to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, how should it proceed? How will America's Arab partners respond? And could an embassy relocation play a positive role in reinvigorated American engagement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Join us for a conversation with the scholars David Makovsky and Ghaith al-Omari about a potential American embassy in Jerusalem. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

A U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with Ghaith al-Omari and David Makovsky

Less than a month into the new U.S. administration, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be the fourth foreign leader to confer with President Trump in Washington. How will the bilateral relationship change in the Trump administration? What is on the Israeli premier’s agenda on this first visit to the Trump White House? And how does the alliance with Israel serve America’s broader interests in the Middle East? Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 

Join us as two veteran observers preview the Trump-Netanyahu visit and the near-term agenda for bilateral relations.

The Trump-Netanyahu Visit with Robert Satloff and David Makovsky

Can Turkish democracy - and Turkey's strategic relationships with Europe and the United States - survive Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasing consolidation of domestic political power? Three Turkish experts, including the author of a timely new book on Erdogan's rise and ambitions, discuss the country's likely future. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Turkey's New Sultan? With Soner Cagaptay, Gonul Tol, and Amberin Zaman

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is in Washington, DC, for only the second time since 2010, and meets with President Trump at the White House on May 3. How should the U.S. administration approach Abbas as they begin to lay the groundwork for a new push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The Abbas-Trump Visit with Ghaith al-Omari, Ehud Yaari, David Makovsky, and Dennis Ross

Donald Trump is making his first foreign trip as president to the Middle East, with his initial stop in Saudi Arabia. President Trump will arrive in a kingdom on the precipice of major changes, including a youth boom, technological revolutions, a possible succession to a younger generation of royal leadership, and an ambitious economic reform program dubbed “Vision 2030.” Gulf and energy policy scholar Simon Henderson explains thepolitical, economic, and social changes facing Saudi Arabia, and what the future holds for the kingdom, for its Arab neighbors, and for Washington’s relations with Riyadh. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Vision 2030 and the Saudi Future with Simon Henderson

Iraqi Kurds voted overwhelmingly to seek national independence - and their neighbors, as well as the Baghdad government, have responded with a rapidly escalating war of words. Iraqi politics expert Bilal Wahab joins us to explain what comes next, whether armed conflict can be avoided, and how the United States can best approach the rising tensions between its vital partners, the Iraqi Kurds and the Iraqi national government. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Kurdistan Referendum with Bilal Wahab

Seventy-five years ago, in November 1942, American troops made their first landing in the modern Middle East. Operation Torch, the allied invasion of French North Africa, set the stage for subsequent offensives against Axis forces in Sicily, Italy, Greece, and France. Did American decisions during and after Torch also set the stage for the next eight decades of U.S. policy across the broader Middle East? Institute executive director Robert Satloff and historian Eliot Cohen explore the choices made by American diplomats and generals at the time of Operation Torch to trace their lasting effects on U.S. policy. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Operation Torch and the Making of U.S. Mideast Policy

What is the Shia Crescent, and how does Iran’s government exploit it to spread its influence and sow division across the region, from the Karun River to the Mediterranean Sea? Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar, a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute, discusses the Shia Crescent, Iranian influence, and the loss of the Lebanon she once knew. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The 'Shia Crescent' and Iranian Influence

Barbara Leaf served as U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 2014-2018 and recently joined The Washington Institute as Rosenblatt Distinguished Fellow. In this episode, Ambassador Leaf looks back at her time as American envoy in Abu Dhabi, what the future holds for American interests in the Gulf, and her own transition from policymaker to scholar. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Representing the U.S. in the Gulf

When he passed away in May, Bernard Lewis—the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton and inaugural recipient of The Washington Institute’s Scholar-Statesman Award—left behind a legacy of unparalleled scholarly consequence that crossed disciplines, centuries, continents, governments, and generations. To discuss his influence on the study, politics, and policy of the Middle East, the Institute hosted a forum with three of his former students: Martin Kramer, the Institute’s Koret Visiting Fellow and founding president of Shalem College in Jerusalem, Katherine Nouri Hughes, author of the highly acclaimed historical novel The Mapmaker’s Daughter, and Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Appreciating Bernard Lewis

"Turkey more isolated, more alone, and more exposed to foreign policy threats than it has been for decades if not centuries." Soner Cagaptay, author of a new book on Turkish foreign policy, details the ways in which Recep Tayyip Erdogan represents both a revolution in Ankara's regional relations and deep continuity with centuries of Ottoman and Turkish strategy. Find Cagaptay's new book, "Erdogan's Empire: Turkey and the Politics of the Middle East" at https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/erdogans-empire-turkey-and-the-politics-of-the-middle-east. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Erdogan's Empire with Soner Cagaptay

Listen to an exclusive press briefing on the Trump administration's newly announced peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Four expert, including former Palestinian and American peace negotiators and a veteran congressional foreign policy analyst, share their views of the ramifications of the peace plan for the Middle East and for domestic politics in Israel, the United States, and the Palestinian Authority.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The Trump Administration's Peace Plan

The head of the UN team charged with monitoring each group assesses their prospects for bouncing back and recommends further steps that governments can take to counter them.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The UN's Assessment of ISIS & al-Qaeda with Edmund Fitton-Brown

For two decades, rumors have swirled around the royal succession from Jordan’s King Hussein to his son, King Abdullah II. Hussein reinstated Abdullah as crown prince just days before Hussein died, a move that struck many at the time as sudden, controversial, even capricious. 

But in a private conversation years earlier, King Hussein told Robert Satloff in confidence of his plans to return Abdullah to the line of succession, and the deeply personal reasons why. Long sworn to secrecy, Satloff can now tell the story of how a royal father’s heartache changed the course of a kingdom.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Hussein and Abdullah with Robert Satloff

In the last decade, Tunisia has been seen as both a democratic bright spot of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and a major source of manpower for the Islamic State and other violent jihadist movements. How did this country of 12 million, with little history of domestic terrorism before 2011, come to play such a crucial role in filling the ranks of violent Islamist groups worldwide? Jihadism scholar Aaron Y. Zelin, author of the 2020 book "Your Sons Are at Your Service: Tunisia's Missionaries of Jihad," explains Tunisia’s little-known role in powering the Islamic State’s rise in Iraq and Syria, the “original sin” of the 2011 revolution that helped unleash Tunisian jihadism, and the lessons that the United States and other countries should learn from Tunisia’s experience. 

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Tunisia's Missionaries of Jihad with Aaron Zelin

What factors will shape Israel's decisionmaking, and how would unilateral annexation affect its relations with the Palestinians, Arab neighbors, Europe, and U.S. legislators? In this week's Middle East PolicyCast, we share a conversation between former U.S. peace process advisors David Makovsky and Ambassador Dennis Ross, former Palestinian peace process advisor Ghaith al-Omari, and former Senate Foreign Relations staff member Dana Stroul on the scenarios and implications of potential Israeli annexation of West Bank territory. 

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

West Bank Annexation with David Makovsky, Ghaith al-Omari, Dana Stroul, and Dennis Ross

Military analyst Michael Eisenstadt details how the Islamic Republic of Iran operates in the gray zone between war and peace to manage escalation, leverages asymmetries to achieve disproportionate effects, and employs its hybrid force structure for maximum effect. The current U.S. approach, he explains, is based on overt action, blunt force, and emphatic messaging, all of which entail a heightened potential for escalation. But an alternative approach—one focused on unacknowledged activities, indirection, subtlety, and discreet messaging—could more effectively deter Iran while reducing the risk of further escalation and broader conflict. 

Michael Eisenstadt is Kahn Fellow and director of the Military and Security Studies Program at The Washington Institute. He is the author of the recently published study, Operating in the Gray Zone: Countering Iran's Asymmetric Way of War. https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/operating-in-the-gray-zone-countering-irans-asymmetric-way-of-war

View a presentation on countering Iran's gray zone activities prepared by Michael Eisenstadt: https://www.slideshare.net/TWIPubs/operating-in-the-gray-zone-countering-irans-asymmetric-way-of-war

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Deterring Iran in the 'Gray Zone' with Michael Eisenstadt

Lebanese Hezbollah has been well-known to Americans as a deadly terrorist group for nearly forty years, but there has never been an accessible, all-in-one record of Hezbollah’s global terrorist and criminal activity. 

Until now. Hezbollah expert Matthew Levitt this month unveiled a comprehensive new interactive map and timeline that illuminates the full range of Hezbollah’s activities, from travel routes and aliases to larger themes related to the group’s founding, development, and relationships with state sponsors. (https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/hezbollahinteractivemap/)

In this episode of MIddle East PolicyCast, Matt offers a guided tour through this ambitious new interactive tool and shares the important lessons it can teach about Hezbollah's nature, its methods, and its objectives.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Mapping Hezbollah with Matthew Levitt

Israel has a couple of new friends in the Persian Gulf. On September 16, representatives from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Bahrain met at the White House, signing peace treaties that agree to fully normalize relations with the State of Israel. On this episode of Middle East PolicyCast, we've enlisted the help of three experts in order to understand where these deals came from, why American-made F-35 fighter jets are of such heated debate, and what these deals mean for the Middle East. Former U.S. Ambassador to the UAE Barbara A. Leaf, journalist Neri Zilber, and former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senior Staff Member Dana Stroul lead us through the complexities of this latest stride in Israeli-Arab peacemaking.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

New Israeli-Arab Peacemaking with Amb. Barbara Leaf, Dana Stroul & Neri Zilber

In a new paper from Amb. Dennis Ross, he argues that Iran, its nuclear program, and its threats to regional security will pose some of the toughest challenges for the incoming Biden administration. In this episode, we speak to Amb. Ross about how Biden can maximize U.S. leverage in order to compel the Iranian regime to change its destabilizing behavior.

His Transition Series paper, “The Coming Iran Nuclear Talks: Openings and Obstacles”, is available now at https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/coming-iran-nuclear-talks-openings-and-obstacles.

Ambassador Dennis Ross is the Counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He has served as a lead negotiator and diplomat in Democratic and Republican administrations, most recently as a special assistant to President Obama. He has also worked closely with Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher and James Baker.

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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