Mohamad Bazzi reviews Robin Wright's Rock the Casbah.

Mohamad Bazzi discusses Bashar al-Assad and the Baathist regime in Syria.

Mohamad Bazzi discusses Muammar el-Qaddafi's "Green Book."

Mohamad Bazzi reviews "Heaven on Earth," by Sadaket Kadri, which describes the historic debates around Islamic law. Bazzi asks how the Islamic parties in Tunisia and Egypt will shape the evolution of Sharia in the future.

The Arab League summit in Baghdad is focused on Syria, but events on the ground appear to have already outpaced the regional group, says CFR's Mohamad Bazzi.

Syria is faced with an increasing number of international sanctions for its bloody crackdown against protesters. CFR's Mohamad Bazzi says the crises facing the regime are unprecedented, but the regime doesn't appear to be giving in.

Mohamad Bazzi says that unfortunately for him and for Libya, Muammar al-Qaddafi betrayed his own revolution, just as the other Arab strongmen of his generation had. His death marks the end of the rule of these old-style nationalist leaders.

Mohamad Bazzi reviews Robin Wright's Rock the Casbah.

Mohamad Bazzi says Iraq faces a decision on the U.S. troop presence, but the unwieldly government coalition means that domestic rivalries could force the issue.

Mohamad Bazzi discusses Bashar al-Assad and the Baathist regime in Syria.

Mohamad Bazzi discusses Muammar el-Qaddafi's "Green Book."

Fuad Siniora, former prime minister of Lebanon, discusses the implications of Osama bin Laden's death for the Middle East, the Hamas-Fatah agreement, and the U.S. role in supporting the Arab Spring with Mohamad Bazzi, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mohamad Bazzi discusses Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown in response to protests.

Mohamad Bazzi says President Bashar al Assad's resistance to serious concessions will not work over the long term for Syria.

Syria's Ba'athist regime has responded to widening pro-reform protests by tightening its crackdown, but this approach is unlikely to quiet restive Syrians like it has in the past, writes CFR's Mohamad Bazzi.

Mohamad Bazzi says that as protests spread through Egypt, the Obama administration must face a choice on which side of history it wants to be.

Mohamad Bazzi says, "Hezbollah is the most powerful force in Lebanon, and it has the guns to guarantee it."

Mohamad Bazzi argues that the U.S. response to the uprising in Tunisia demonstrates Washington's preference for stability over democracy.

Mohamad Bazzi says the people of Lebanon are once again staring into a political abyss.

Mohamad Bazzi says Muqtada al-Sadr has returned home to play a central part in Iraqi politics and to oversee his movement's transition from a militia force to a powerful political group.

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's return to Iraq after self-imposed exile in Iran bolsters voices that want all U.S. troops out by the end of 2011 and marks the transition of his group from a militia to a powerful political force, says CFR's Mohamad Bazzi.

Mohamad Bazzi says last year's unrest and violent crackdown in Iran were actually battles in a larger war that has been raging for centuries within Shiism: a struggle over who should rule the faithful, and how.

Mohamad Bazzi says that as Nouri al-Maliki has finally cobbled together Iraq's new government, the bitter compromises and power-sharing deals are likely to unleash a sectarian clash between Shias, the minority Sunnis, and Kurds.