Unfriending Pakistan
A reconsideration of the relationship is long overdue
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Qatar is worst in the region on counterterrorism, but other Gulf monarchies are not off the hook
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly ...
Op-eds
Attacks Highlight Terrorists’ Goals in Saudi Arabia, but Also Limits
Suicide bombers struck three Saudi cities on Monday, detonating themselves near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, a U.S. diplomatic facility in Jeddah, and a Shiite mosque in the eastern city...
Policy Briefs
Hate Preachers on Qatar Campus: Obama Gives Qatar Undeserved A+ on Fighting Incitement
“Kill the infidels... Count them in number and do not spare one.” Blatant religious incitement of this sort feels like such a caricature of radical Is...
Op-eds
The Mr. Rogers Doctrine
Barack Obama last week visited Saudi Arabia, an unusual nation with which the United States has had a relationship that can be accurately characterized as both strategic and strange — and o...
Op-eds
Saudi Clerics’ Rhetoric — and Implications for Global Security
President Barack Obama’s meeting Wednesday with King Salman of Saudi Arabia...
Op-eds
Michelle’s Dangerous Journey to Qatar
First Lady Michelle Obama, on her first solo trip to the Middle East, is scheduled Wednesday...
Op-eds
The Gulf Cooperation Council Camp David Summit: Any Results?
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Deutch, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: thank you on behalf of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies for the opportunity to testify before...
Congressional Testimonies
Preaching Hate and Sectarianism in the Gulf
As Saudi Arabia expands its involvement in wars across the Middle East, the kingdom has given a platform to an extremist cleric who seems to believe this struggle is not...
Op-eds
Qatar Needs Tough Love
In his closing remarks at the White House summit on countering violent extremism this past week, President Barack Obama ...
Op-eds
Gitmo ‘Poet’ Now Recruiting for Islamic State
An ex-Guantanamo detainee based in northern Pakistan is leading an effort to recruit jihadists for the Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that controls large portions of Iraq and Syria....
Op-eds
Syria Spillover: The Growing Threat of Terrorism and Sectarianism in the Middle East
Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Corker, and distinguished members of the committee, on behalf of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,it is a...
Congressional Testimonies
The Persian Triangle
On November 24, 2013, a “Joint Plan of Action” was concluded in Geneva by Iran and the permanent members of the UN Security Council—the United States, the United Kingdom, France...
Op-eds
Faith-Based Negotiations
O believers, when you encounter the unbelievers marching to battle, turn not your backs to them. Whoso turns his back that day to them, unless withdrawing to fight again...
Op-eds
Black Gold And Black Veils
Women aren't allowed to drive, even to save their lives. Political parties are banned. Free speech doesn't exist.
Op-eds
The 140-Character Fatwa
Despite assurances from the Saudi government that it is cracking down on religious radicalism, the kingdom's top clerics continue calling for attacks on Christians across the Arab world. And...
Op-eds
Review — The Kingdom: Saudi Arabia and the Challenge of the 21st Century
Drawing from articles that appeared on the now-defunct SaudiDebate.com website in 2006 and 2007, journalist Mark Huband and PhD student Joshua Craze have assembled a poignant portrayal of Saudi p...
Op-eds
Islam, Democracy & Assimilation
A year after the van Gogh murder, Francis Fukuyama asks some of the hard questions.