MIDDLE EAST
October 12, 2012
Samar Yazbek, "A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution"
News
An audio recording of Samar Yazbek's book talk on September 21 at Harvard Kennedy School.
October 11, 2012
Dr. Shafeeq Ghabra, "The Gulf Today: Assessing the Impact of the Arab Transformation"
News
By Krysten Hartman, Program Coordinator, Middle East Initiative
An audio recording and summary of Dr. Shafeeq Ghabra's lecture at Harvard Kennedy School on September 24.
August 31, 2012
"U.N. Peacekeepers Wrestle With Limitations"
Op-Ed, The Hartford Courant
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"There is no 'big idea' easier to pay homage to in principle, or harder to make work in practice, than the peacekeeping role of the United Nations," David Ignatius writes. "This is painfully clear in a new memoir by Kofi Annan, its former secretary-general."
September 5, 2012
"Syria’s Eerie Parallel to 1980s Afghanistan"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
David Ignatius writes that the United States and its allies "are moving in Syria toward a program of covert support for the rebels that, for better or worse, looks very much like what America and its friends did in Afghanistan in the 1980s."
(AP Photo/Ibrahim Alaguri, File)
September 12, 2012
"In Egypt and Libya, Radicals are Jockeying for Power"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"What’s happening in Cairo and Benghazi appears to be a case of political opportunism... by Salafist Islamic extremists who are unhappy with the success that more moderate Islamist and secularist parties in Egypt and Libya have had in building political support," writes David Ignatius.
AP Photo
August 16, 2012
"US Would Own the War in Syria"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Ideological justifications for intervention sound morally assuring. But because the world is not united in opposition to Assad, because France and most of Europe are not now calling for intervention, because the Arabs are not clamoring for US action, because Russia and China and Iran are sophisticated opponents, because the United Nations has not been able to gain traction, the United States would have to stand alone at the forefront."
AP Photo
August 4, 2012
"Attacking Iran: Lessons from the Iran-Iraq War — Part 2"
Op-Ed, Fair Observer
By Annie Tracy Samuel, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"Like the 1980 Iraqi invasion, an attack will be viewed in Iran as part of a pattern of Western subversion and aggression that links together British and Russian economic exploitation, occupation during World War II, the coup that overthrew Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953, and years of support for the Shah's repressive regime. For those in Iran who question the standard narrative of concerted and constant Western aggression, an attack on Iranian territory will dispel any doubt and engender the next generations of Iranians who subscribe to that view."
AP Photo
July 29, 2012
"Managing the Endgame in Syria"
Op-Ed, Diplomat
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"...[I]t increasingly looks like a new regime may be as unsavory as its predecessor and may threaten the four decades of calm that have prevailed on the Golan Heights. The danger of escalation is great, especially if Syria, or its Iranian and Hezbollah allies, in a desperate attempt to save itself in its final extremis, seek to divert attention from their shared problems by using Syria's vast chemical arsenal against Israel, Syria's own citizens, or international players, should they seek to intervene. A long-established rule of dictatorship is that an external crisis is always a good means of deflecting attention from domestic challenges."
AP Photo
July 28, 2012
"Attacking Iran: Lessons from the Iran-Iraq War — Part 1"
Op-Ed, Fair Observer
By Annie Tracy Samuel, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"While the regime may increase its strength in the wake of an attack, it may also be able to capitalize on an attack to eliminate its internal enemies. That is precisely what happened following the 1980 Iraqi invasion. Ayatollah Khomeini and his allies used the war to strengthen their control over the state along the war-making state-making nexus, following the pattern of revolutionary elites in other countries. Their main rival for power within the Islamic Republic was the secular leaning constituency led by President Abolhassan Banisadr, who had tried to gain the support of the regular armed forces and to steer the war effort in his role as commander in chief. To minimize Banisadr's power, Khomeini sent his own representatives to oversee the armed forces, which eroded their support for the president, and built up a competing powerbase in the IRGC."
AP Photo
July 24, 2012
"'Chess Is the Way We Establish Mastery Over the West'"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Clearly, by the nature of their regimes, neither the Russians nor the Chinese would be expected to countenance the idea of a popular uprising to overthrow a dictatorship. Together China and Russia have formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which can be described as a grouping of counter-revolutionary regimes, the leading members of which are bent on checkmating the West where possible. Iran, another like-minded autocratic power, is an observer member of the Organization."
