William H. Luers, president of the United Nations Association of the United States, says the United Nations (UN) had a "surprisingly positive" record in 2005, which was marked by a number of new refo…

Gary Sick, former director of Columbia University’s Middle East Institute, forecasts a convergence of views between the United States and Iran because they “are now neighbors” and must broaden their …

Philip K. Verleger, a well-known expert on the economics of oil, says that the current price of oil, which has dropped below $70 a barrel, has probably peaked for the moment. Yet he warns that any pr…

Lawrence J. Korb, the Council’s Director of National Security Studies, asserts that the odds are about 60-40 that the U.S. will go to war against Iraq by late spring. He said that military act…

Marina S. Ottaway, a senior associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says the United States, as the occupying power in Iraq, is strugglin…

Jane Arraf, the Council’s Edward R. Murrow press fellow, who recently was CNN’s bureau chief in Baghdad, and earlier, the Reuters bureau chief in Amman, says what is striking about the continued terr…

The latest report by the U.S. inspector general for Iraq’s reconstruction says work continues to be hobbled by security concerns, poor oversight and corruption. Stuart Bowen Jr. tells cfr.org that in…

Stewart M. Patrick, a former member of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff, discusses the utility of international courts in combating rampant rights abuses.

Two key issues in Afghanistan are whether President Hamid Karzai will implement reforms and whether the American public is willing to invest the time it will take for a successful counterinsurgency, …

Ray Takeyh, the Council’s top expert on Iran, says that the latest round of diplomatic talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany—representing the European Union—are unlikely to produce any a…