Iraq heads to provincial elections, first in ten years
Today Iraq is trying to put some of its past behind it.
Yazidis
Facing failure in Lebanon
Why the U.S. should stop subsidizing Tehran’s proxy
Op-eds
Islamic State’s emir dead after U.S. military raid in Syria
Islamic State emir Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi died during a daring overnight raid conducted by U.S. special operations forces in Idlib province in northeastern Syria on Thursday, according to the...
Op-eds
Gaslighting Nations—Erdogan Makes a Mockery of U.N. General Assembly—Again
The term “United Nations,” which U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined in 1942, reflected a commitment, articulated in the Declaration of United Nations, to “defend life, liberty,...
Op-eds
Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: Late August
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Policy Tracker
Will Erdogan Use The Threat of Afghan Refugee Flows to Extract Additional Concessions from the European Union?
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan will have significant consequences for Turkey’s domestic politics as well as for its international relations. In early June, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan...
Op-eds
The Middle East’s religious minorities are facing extinction. The world must act.
Pope Francis began his first-ever papal trip to Iraq on Friday, marking a watershed moment in relations between the Catholic Church and the Middle East. Yet for all the optimism of the Pope’s message,...
Op-eds
Joe Biden Will Be America’s Most Pro-Kurdish President
The real test of Biden’s pro-Kurdish sentiments will be whether the need to maintain pragmatic cooperation with Ankara and Baghdad will ultimately force him to temper his commitment to the Kurds that the mountains are not their only friends.
Op-eds
The trouble with religious freedom
Some members of Congress disapprove of USCIRF’s defense of faith communities
Op-eds
The Battle of Baghdadi
A victory, to be sure, but Islamism goes marching on
Op-eds
Trump can get both Turkish and Kurdish support in Syria by negotiating peace deal
President Trump’s strategy of getting out of Syria but keeping the oil continues to stir up policy debates and emotions. Opponents of the U.S. withdrawal see this as a betrayal of the Syrian Kurds,...
Op-eds
Trump’s Capitulation to Erdogan Destroys U.S. Credibility
By abandoning America’s Kurdish partners in Syria, the White House has sent a message to allies everywhere that Washington can’t be trusted.
Op-eds
U.S. announces rewards for 3 Islamic State leaders
On Aug. 21, the US State Department Rewards for Justice Program announced rewards of up to $5 million each for three wanted Islamic State (ISIS) leaders: Sami Jasim Muhammad al-Jaburi, Amir Muhammad...
Op-eds
Why Istanbul’s rerun is a battle for the soul of Turkey
Six summers ago, Erdogan’s social engineering efforts triggered their first major backlash in Istanbul. And this March, spring came back to Istanbul.
Op-eds
Caliphate, interrupted
After being bombarded by four years of U.S. airstrikes, a relentless ground campaign by Kurdish-led U.S. allies, and attacks from Russian, Syri...
Op-eds
Scapegoats of Wrath, Subjects of Benevolence: Turkey’s Minorities Under Erdoğan
Op-eds
ISIS-Post Caliphate: Threat Implications for America and the West
Download the full testimony here. INTRODUCTION...
Legislative Testimonies
Latin America’s socialist-Islamist-narco-terrorist alliance
At the U.N. last week, President Trump had harsh words for the “socialist dictatorship” that has impoverished Venezuela. He railed against “Islamist extremism” and “...
Op-eds
Preaching violence from the pulpit
Imagine if a priest, minister or rabbi were to call for Muslims to be annihilated. It would be a scandal and it would spark a nation-wide controversy over Islamophobia, hate speech and incitement...
Op-eds
Faithless
“I believe that God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom.” So said President George W. Bush in 2004. Leave for another day the debate over whether such a belief is...