Steven A. Cook, CFR’s Douglas Dillon fellow and an expert on the Middle East, says a sense of normalcy pervades Beirut despite the continuing political standoff.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s recent West Point speech promoted the need for better strategic thinking by the U.S. military to supplant a current emphasis on counterinsurgency tactics and natio…

Pakistan’s floods spell setbacks for the U.S. fight against extremism and its war effort in Afghanistan, says CFR’s Daniel Markey. He says beyond humanitarian aid relief, Washington must focus on boo…

Charles A. Kupchan, CFR’s top expert on Europe, says when President Bush meets with top European leaders in Vienna on Wednesday, the ongoing dialogue with Iran is likely to top the agenda, along with…

Steven Cook says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ call for a two-state negotiated solution was "a shrewd move" becuase it puts pressure on the Hamas-led PA government, but also serves to constrai…

Likening the leadership in Damascus to The Sopranos, Steven A. Cook, an Arab affairs expert at the Council, says the UN report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is c…

Steven A. Cook, who was director of the Council’s recent independent Task Force report, In Support of Arab Democracy: Why and How?, says Egypt’s September 7 presidential election marks the first time…

Robert Hunter, the U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Clinton presidency, urges the Bush administration to consider making Iraqi security a NATO mission and shifting civilian authority to the United…

Eric Schwartz, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who served as director of the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force on Iraq: The Day After, says that the United States has to m…