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May 2009
Book
For over a quarter-century, Iran has been one of America's chief nemeses. But as Ray Takeyh shows in this accessible and authoritative history of Iran's relations with the world since the revolution, behind the famous personalities and extremist slogans is a nation that is far more pragmatic—and complex—than many in the West have been led to believe.
See more in Iran, U.S. Strategy and Politics
April 2, 2009
Op-Ed
Middle East Bulletin
Steven A. Cook examines the decline in popular support for Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.
Updated: April 7, 2009
Expert Brief
CFR Senior Fellow Steven A. Cook argues that in an era of diminished resources for the United States, Turkey can play a critical and constructive role in the Middle East.
See more in Turkey, Middle East, International Peace and Security
March/April 2009
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
Bruce Rutherford's Egypt After Mubarak is an ambitious effort to explain how the Muslim Brotherhood, the judiciary, and the business sector can work in parallel, if not exactly together, to influence Egypt's political future.
See more in Egypt
February 12, 2009
Testimony
See more in Afghanistan, Iraq, Wars and Warfare
February 2, 2009
Op-Ed
Washington Post
Steven Simon reviews Patrick Tyler's new book "A World of Trouble:The White House and the Middle East -- From the Cold War to the War on Terror" for the Washington Post.
See more in Middle East, U.S. Strategy and Politics
January 5, 2009
Op-Ed
U.S. News & World Report
Steven A. Cook writes in U.S. News & World Report that Israel's exercise of military power in the Gaza Strip, employed legitimately or not, is unlikely to achieve its desired goals.
See more in Middle East, Israel, Palestinian Authority
December 29, 2008
Op-Ed
Washington Post
Ray Takeyh looks at what Iran would hope to achieve through talks with the United States.
See more in Middle East, Iran, U.S. Strategy and Politics
November 21, 2008
Expert Brief
CFR Senior Fellow Steven Cook writes that Turkey's economy is proving more resilient than expected in the face of the global economic downturn.
See more in Turkey, Financial Crises
September 25, 2008
Must Read
This monograph assesses the claim that future warfare is a matter of nonstate actors employing irregular methods against Western states through a detailed analysis of Hezbollah’s military behavior, coupled with deductive inference from observable Hezbollah behavior in the field to findings for their larger strategic intent for the campaign.
See more in Lebanon, International Peace and Security
September 6, 2008
Op-Ed
The Boston Globe
Ray Takeyh and Nikolas Gvosdev argue that "Russia’s assault on Georgia may produce no measurable change of its Iran policy."
See more in Russian Fed., Iran
September-October 2008
Article
American Interest
Steven A. Cook looks at how the next U.S. president can be successful in the Middle East.
See more in Middle East, U.S. Strategy and Politics, U.S. Election 2008
September/October 2008
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
The situation in Iraq is improving. With the right strategy, the United States will eventually be able to draw down troops without sacrificing stability.
See more in Iraq, Civil Reconstruction
September/October 2008
Podcast
From the September/October 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs: The next U.S. president will face problems that will require strength and a renewed sense of national purpose to solve.
See more in Iraq, Civil Reconstruction
September/October 2008
Podcast
This audio includes readings of selected articles from the September/October 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs.
See more in United States
August 5, 2008
Op-Ed
New York Times
“Having recently returned from a research trip to Iraq, we are convinced that a total withdrawal of combat troops any time soon would be unwise,” write Stephen Biddle, Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack. Although recent success in Iraq has prompted more calls for withdrawal, a continued American presence is needed to preserve the fragile peace in that country.
See more in Iraq, Conflict Assessment
July 17, 2008
Op-Ed
Bitterlemons-International.org
After almost six years of political stability and democratic progress, the rivalry between President Abdullah Gul and the military establishment has thrown Turkey into turmoil, writes Steven Cook.
See more in Turkey
July 15, 2008
Op-Ed
International Herald Tribune
The events of the past eight years have brought the Middle East to a precipice, write Richard Clarke, Steve Simon, and Ray Takeyh. To deal with this situation, America will need a president of intellectual independence, strategic flexibility and considerable political imagination.
See more in Middle East, International Peace and Security
June 17, 2008
Op-Ed
Foreign Policy
“Not only is it impossible to agree on a working definition of the word ‘moderate,’ but there is scant evidence that extremists really do moderate once they assume power,” says Steven Cook, dispelling “The Myth of Moderate Islam.”
See more in Religion
May 21, 2008
Op-Ed
International Herald Tribune
President Bush’s recent denunciation of Barack Obama’s foreign policy was wrong, argue Charles Kupchan and Ray Takeyh. Instead, they defend the Senator’s policies as being “hard-headed realism,” pointing to the historical record as evidence that engaging international rivals is a proven method of resolving conflicts.
See more in Diplomacy, Presidency
The David Rockefeller Studies Program is CFR’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving CFR’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.
The diplomatic storm over Iran's nuclear program continues to build. While experts say an Iranian bomb is years off, the program itself raises concern over the prospect of nuclear terrorism.
CFR.org tracks foreign policy, national and homeland security, immigration, and international economics in the presidential race on its Campaign 2008 site.
Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah may have ended, but the Middle Eastern conflict continues to fester.
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