“For the last two, probably three years, the deal we have been willing to settle for has grown significantly less good” Andrew Peek was a strategic advisor to the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan and foreign affairs advisor to two U.S. Senators. He is currently a professor and director of Claremont-McKenna College’s Washington […]
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“Americans are so hung up on the democracy thing. Get over it.”
Roby Barrett on the Middle East
“Americans are so hung up on the democracy thing; I think they have got to get over it. You have to look at the region, not just over the past 20 years, and not just for what you want to see, but how it has functioned over the past. That is where we have been […]
Why does Turkey hesitate?
Interview with Nick Danforth
By Troels Boldt Rømer TQT: Why has Turkey decided to join the anti-IS coalition now? And why did Turkey accept an influx of fighters and weapons through Turkey and to the Syrian battlefield for so long? Danforth: Turkey’s involvement in Syria has left Erdogan in a position where he has a great deal at stake […]
“The way I see it, there are actually serious contradictions between democracy and liberalism”REFLECTIONS: Chua Beng Huat
By Jelis Bosse and Helle Asbjørn Sørensen BACKGROUND. In less than 50 years, Singapore has evolved from a poor, colonial outpost without natural resources to an economically successful hub of international trade. Today, 5.4 million people reside in the city-state and with a tenfold rise in GDP per capita, the average Singaporean is now wealthier […]
How does the world look at Israel’s operation in Gaza?
Interview with Jonathan Rynhold
“Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the European Union and the United States are all on the same page. Everybody thinks that Hamas shouldn’t win or come out of this looking well.” Dr. JONATHAN RYNHOLD is educated at London School of Economics, and currently works as Director for the Argov Center for the study of Israel & […]
What stokes sectarianism in the Middle East?
Interview with Fatima Ayub
QUOTES: – A lot of what we call sectarian politics is purely cynical manipulation in times of crisis for the purpose of preserving and extending power – Lighting a match in the forest is easy, but putting out the fire is very difficult. In Iraq and Syria it’s the task of a generation to deal […]
Has Russia become more powerful? Interview with Steven Pifer
“The increase in Russian power, in the case of Syria, is due to a series of poor decisions made here in the US and not an actual increase in Russian power” By Sahra-Josephine Hjorth og Nadja Arøe Simonsen Is the world we live in unipolar, bipolar or multipolar? PIFER: In references to nuclear weapons it […]
Why is Saudi Arabia changing its foreign policy?
Interview with Toby Craig Jones
“The United States has shown a great deal of public deferrence to Saudi anxieties and positions, but I also suspect that the United Stated will be willing or able to live with an aggravated or aggrieved Saudi Arabia if it means that a settlement with Iran on the nuclear issue is a potential political outcome. […]
Will Iran and the US make a deal?
Interview with Rouzbeh Parsi
“[Rouhani] wants a deal but he is also going to stick to Iran’s red lines. We are dealing with a greater flexibility on the part of Iran on the modalities of reaching a goal which everyone is familiar with by now: Iran is going to have enrichment of uranium on their own soil. Anything else […]
The Middle East: How does Israel look at the crises in Syria and Egypt?
Interview with Eldad Beck
“Whatever illusions the Israeli public had about reaching peace with its Arab neighbours are really fading away. Many Israelis asks themselves why Israel should make more compromises in a situation where everything around them is burning.” Eldad Beck is Middle East correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, ynetnews.com and author of the 2009 book […]