Research & Commentary Results

In 2011, China purchased 550,000 b/d, or 11% of its total crude oil imports, from Iran. However, the next year, China’s crude oil imports from Iran plummeted by 20% due to the imposition of nuclear-related sanctions on Iran by the U.S. and European countries. In 2012 and 2013 China’s purchases from Iran fell to just 8% of its total crude oil imports. Progress in the negotiations between Iran and the P-5+1 countries at the end of 2013 permitted China to restore crude imports from Iran to pre-sanction levels.

This essay draws on recent examples of efforts to respond to natural disasters in order to shed light on some of the main reasons such efforts often fall short of their desired outcome. To address these shortcomings, the author advocates, above all, the adoption of a long-term, holistic approach to disasters that could mitigate the risks associated with “slow burn” crises.

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Daniel Serwer, Paul Scham, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Brexit’s impact on the Middle East, how Brexit is distracting the E.U. from Israel-Palestine issues, and Iran’s more moderate reshuffling of officials focusing on Syria. 

Brexit’s Impact on the Middle East
Daniel Serwer, MEI Scholar

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Paul Scham, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent events including the battle against ISIS for Fallujah, Israel’s upcoming address to the EU Parliament, and Pakistan’s upcoming accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

ISIS to Lose Fallujah
Robert S. Ford, Senior Fellow

Read the full article on The National Interest.

Read the full article at The Cipher Brief.

The article was first published on NPR’s Parallels blog.

Summary

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Marvin G. Weinbaum, Charles Lister, Hassan Mneimneh, and Paul Scham provide analysis on recent events including the killing of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, deadly blasts targeting regime-held territory in Syria, Iraq’s intra-Shiite feud, and Avigdor Lieberman’s appointment as Israel’s Defense Minister.

Regional Cooperation Series

This Policy Paper is part of The Middle East Institute’s Regional Cooperation Series. Throughout 2016, MEI will be releasing several policy papers by renowned scholars and experts exploring possibilities to foster regional cooperation across an array of sectors. The purpose is to highlight the myriad benefits and opportunities associated with regional cooperation, and the high costs of the continued business-as-usual model of competition and intense rivalry.

Summary

The aftereffects of the Panama Papers’s leak continue to linger in Pakistan, and their damage only seems to grow worse. Over the next several weeks, there is the possibility that the disclosures may usher in a major political crisis. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is being asked to account for the sources of income that have allowed his family members to buy expensive property in London. At issue is whether these individuals have used offshore companies to avoid paying taxes against their property.

This paper is part of a MEI scholar series titled “The Middle East and the 2016 Presidential Elections.”

Philip Gordon, a former Middle East policy adviser in the White House, likes to say that President Barack Obama learned three lessons from the region’s unending turmoil.

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Randa Slim, Paul Salem, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent events including Tuesday’s meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Vienna, the death of Hezbollah senior leader Mustafa Badreddine, the global Refugee Summit to be held in Istanbul, and Indian PM Modi’s upcoming visit to Iran.

This paper is part of a MEI scholar series titled “The Middle East and the 2016 Presidential Elections.”

Introduction