When the Strait of Hormuz closed in March, fertilizer prices spiked within weeks, triggering a food security crisis across North Africa and the Sahel. Host Alistair Taylor is joined by MEI Senior Fellow Intissar Fakir to explore what it means for the region, unpack the link between food security and regional stability, and assess how the strait’s reopening could impact those affected.
This backgrounder provides an overview of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional political and economic alliance comprising six states in the Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
A Strategic Conundrum: Pakistan’s Transit Corridor to Iran as Lifeline or Liability
The US-Iran standoff over the Strait of Hormuz — disruptive to global trade and energy flows, and devastating for debt-burdened economies — has handed Pakistan an unexpected geoeconomic opportunity, one that may persist even if the framework agreement announced on June 14 results in a lasting peace and permanent reopening of the strait. But seizing it will have interlocking consequences for Islamabad’s ties with Tehran, Washington, and the Gulf states.
The Houthis are a political-military faction and Zaydi religious movement founded in northwestern Yemen in the 1980s. A key member of Iran’s Axis of Resistance with links to other militant organizations in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the group has continued to pose a threat to Western interests on a global scale.
This backgrounder provides an overview of how the Abraham Accords came about, the US interests involved, their economic and strategic consequences, and the prospects for further enlargement going forward.
After a decade of post-Arab Spring isolation, Turkey’s leaders have recognized that their ambition to position the country as an agenda-setter on the world stage requires active engagement in all directions. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s consolidation of executive authority has centralized foreign policy decision-making and tied it to his domestic political priorities, transforming the country’s revisionist approach to one shaped primarily by personal and pragmatic interests.
As the Western Sahara conflict reaches its fifth decade, the territorial dispute remains unresolved and largely unknown. MEI’s Intissar Fakir unpacks the Western Sahara’s complex history and the rival claims by Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. She examines recent developments, such as President Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory and the collapse of a 30-year cease-fire, as well as the core questions that remain unanswered after half a century.
Podcasts
Middle East Focus
MEI’s flagship weekly podcast on US foreign policy and contemporary political and social issues in the Middle East.
MEI Senior Fellow Brian Katulis engages friends, colleagues, and policy experts in casual conversations on the most important happenings in the Middle East.
Yemen’s prisoners of war and detainees: Lessons learned from local mediation
Prisoners of war and political and civilian detainees are two of the most important humanitarian issues in Yemen. Local mediation has had impressive results, and local mediators, including women, have become key players in resolving this issue. Experience has shown that to bring an end to the war in Yemen, international mediators need to stop ignoring and excluding local efforts and peace builders. Achieving sustainable peace will not happen without the equal involvement of women leaders and the inclusion of those who had no hand in the war.
COVID-19 Fuels the Return of Islamism in Indonesia
Covid-19 has struck Indonesia harder than any other Southeast Asian country. Hardline Islamic cleric Rizieq Shihab seems to have timed his return to Indonesia after years in exile to exploit his opponents’ unfavorable circumstances as they struggle to bring the public health crisis under control and mitigate its adverse socioeconomic effects. As the economic fallout from the pandemic slowly hits the country’s informal sector — and thus the country’s poor — Rizieq will once again have a perfect opportunity to capitalize on people’s grievances and their desire for a better future.
“الحرب الخفية بين إيران وإسرائيل تدور رحاها الآن في الميادين الثلاثة: الجوي والبري والبحري. لكن نتيجتها ستُحسم في نهاية المطاف في ميدان الدبلوماسية والسياسة، وبشكل أساسي من خلال خيارات السياسة الأمريكية”.
A decade on, the Syrian crisis is far from over and the US must step up
As Syrians mark the 10-year anniversary of the 2011 uprising this week, it remains inescapably true that the country’s debilitating crisis is far from over. After a decade of conflict that was initiated and driven by an utterly ruthless regime and reinforced and diplomatically protected by its Russian and Iranian allies, Syria is broken.
ISIS and the Assad regime: Strategy and counter-strategy in Syria’s Badia
It has been more than a month since the launch of military operations by Syrian regime forces and their allies, with air support from the Russian air force, in the Syrian Badia — the country’s expansive central desert region — in an attempt to eliminate ISIS cells deployed there. To date, however, these operations have not yielded any tangible results.
"داعش" والنظام الاستراتيجية والاستراتيجية المضادة في البادية
مضى قرابة الشهر على العمليات العسكرية التي تشنها قوات النظام السوري وحلفائها، بدعم جوي من الطيران الروسي في البادية السورية، في محاولة للقضاء على خلايا تنظيم “داعش” المنتشرة في تلك المناطق، لكن تلك الهجمات لم تُثمر عن نتائج تذكر حتى اللحظة.
الهجمات العسكرية للقوات المعادية للتنظيم لم تتغير على الصعيدين العملياتي والاستراتيجي، فقد اقتصرت على عمليات توغل لقوات برية بأسلحة خفيفة ومتوسطة، بغطاء جوي من طائرات حربية روسية تُمهد بعمليات قصف جوي، وطائرات مروحية مرافقة للقوات المتقدمة برياً تحسباً لهجمات التنظيم الدفاعية.
Cyber violence against women is defined as a form of gender-based violence (GBV) carried out through digital means. The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically heightened the risk and incidence of violence against women both online and offline: the Australian eSafety Commissioner reported a 50% increase in domestic and cyber violence reports since March 2020. Globally, Facebook remains the most common platform for gendered violence online, followed closely by Instagram and WhatsApp. These developments show that special consideration must be given to the role of digital platforms in facilitating violence against women, and that policy solutions regarding violence against women must also consider the online context where that violence often takes place and escalates in plain sight.
The coming US-China cold war: The view from the Gulf
Around the world, leaders are scrambling to define their strategy for dealing with the inevitable U.S.-China cold war to come, and the Gulf is no exception. Considering the different objectives and perspectives that the region has in regard to the two superpowers, any misstep in forming alliances could be detrimental to its future.
Black Sea Connectivity in the South Caucasus is the latest report from MEI’s Frontier Europe Initiative. Dr. Mamuka Tsereteli, explores the potential for greater trade connectivity between Europe and wider Central Asia via the Black Sea and the South Caucasus.
“The war of hunger … scares me more than the war of cannons”: As inflation soars, Syria’s economy spirals downward
As the Syrian conflict reaches its 10-year anniversary, the economic consequences of a decade of war have been nothing less than catastrophic. Instability and inflation are likely to remain major problems over next 10 years — and possibly well beyond — but for now they have created a new level of despair in government-held areas. The Syrian economy has entered its most fragile phase yet and the prospects of a serious recovery remain all but a distant hope as the fiscal challenges confronting the country far outweigh the meagre remedies on offer.
Alex Vatanka joins host Alistair Taylor to discuss the future of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the branch of the Iranian military charged with safeguarding the Islamic Republic, and its proxy warfare strategy.
Middle East cyber priorities for the Biden administration
To promote stability in the Middle East and safeguard its interests, the new administration should adopt policies designed to limit damaging activities in cyberspace, support cyber norms in conjunction with strong cooperation agreements, recognize the obstacles to creating a NATO-like regional security alliance, and implement policies restricting the misuse of U.S. technologies by allies to commit human rights violations and spy on their own people.
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.
