The U.S.’s troubled relationship with Pakistan continues to be eroded by crisis after crisis. Leave alone the pretense of any strategic convergence, the two countries are finding it difficult to maintain even a transactional relationship. If events surrounding a short visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Islamabad are any indicator, it will not be easy to reduce the trust gap in bilateral ties.
Iran under Sanctions: India and China over a Barrel
Bearish and bullish factors are both at play in the global oil market, weighing on prices. The next big date on the calendar is November 4 — the point at which the 180-day wind-down period ends and U.S. sanctions on the Iranian energy sector are to be reinstated. Two days later, the U.S. midterm elections are due to take place.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Jonathan M. Winer, Robert S. Ford, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including political turmoil in Libya, the meeting between Turkey and Russia to discuss the fate of Idlib province, and Iran’s attempts to forge new relationships to offset U.S. sanctions.
Tunisian jihadism five years after Ansar al-Sharia
Jihadism in Tunisia is currently at its greatest nadir since the 2011 revolution, which overthrew former President Zine al-Abidine Ben ‘Ali and subsequently provided a space for Tunisian jihadism to grow. Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) and later ISIS and Katibat ‘Uqbah Bin Nafi (KUBN) emerged as the most prominent such groups in Tunisia.
The jihadist threat is not new to the Maghreb. However, the fallout of the 2011 Arab uprisings has fundamentally altered the political and security environment of North African countries. While states such as Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia witnessed an increase in deaths from jihadist attacks, others like Algeria and Morocco experienced a reduced impact.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Charles Lister, Randa Slim, Jean-François Seznec, and Mirette F. Mabrouk provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including escalating tensions in Idlib, protests in Basra and their implications for Iraqi politics, a Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s loan to help make up for Aramco IPO revenue, and Egypt’s diplomatic outreach to China.
Saudi Arabia’s nuclear energy program is barely in its infancy but has already spurred much controversy. Amid a regional standoff between Saudi Arabia and Iran and provocative comments from Saudi leaders, some observers worry that the program is little more than a pretext for developing nuclear weapons. Others, however, point to what they see as legitimate peaceful motivations for the program. They note that as a member in good standing of the U.N.
For decades Malaysia’s Islamic identity has strongly factored into the latter’s ties with GCC members. Kuala Lumpur has long engaged the Arab Persian Gulf monarchies closely on issues of major ideological and geopolitical importance to the wider Arab/Islamic world from the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan to the unresolved question of Palestine. This article discusses the challenges Malaysia faces in preserving and further nurturing its long-standing relations with the GCC countries.
No Saudi official has been more applauded and vilified at the same time than Mohamed bin Salman, the Crown Prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. That is not surprising, given the transformational nature of the project he’s leading at home, which is bound to create both winners—those who wish to open up the kingdom—and losers—those who wish more or less to preserve the status quo.
This paper examines ISIS’s actions, publications, and communications to determine its insurgency strategies and long-term organizational outlook, emphasizing sources that have been largely overlooked by forces fighting the group.
India finds itself in a precarious situation. On one hand, Delhi does not want to antagonize the United States, with which it has developed a strong relationship over the past two decades. On the other hand, India has had a long-standing generally positive relationship with Iran that it is keen to maintain and in fact build upon. This essay examines the economic, domestic political, and international challenges that the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” approach poses for India.
In 2010, Lebanon had published the National Wind Atlas a report undertaken by the U.N. Development Programme that catalogued Lebanon’s extensive wind resources. This report inspired local policy makers in Lebanon to pursue wind generation projects. The mean potential of wind was estimated to be 6.1 gigawatts, a shocking amount given Lebanon’s size.
The Middle East has undergone several geopolitical transformations over the decades since World War II. While these in part were driven by political and economic realities indigenous to the region, the most profound changes have come about through the actions of outside actors, first by the Europeans and later by the United States and the Soviet Union.
Turkey’s damage-control campaign in Idlib | Weekly Briefing
In this week’s briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Randa Slim, Gerald Feierstein, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Turkey’s attempts to prevent a major escalation in Syria’s Idlib province, ongoing political turmoil in Iraq, the implications of the Trump administration’s decision to cut off U.S. aid to UNRWA, and Sec. Pompeo’s upcoming trip to Pakistan.
Iran and Pakistan vow to bolster ties in defiance of U.S. pressure
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif today held meetings with Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad to discuss ways to boost bilateral relations between the two countries, Iranian and
