US President Donald Trump recently proposed that Syria intervene militarily against Hizballah in Lebanon. Is that a good idea? This episode of Middle East Focus features a recent MEI Virtual Briefing. Director of Communications Zeina Al-Shaib is joined by Ambassador David Hale, MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow and Charles Lister, MEI Senior Fellow. Together they examine the prospects and implications of renewed Syrian involvement in Lebanon, the potential impact on US relations with both countries, and how evolving dynamics in Lebanon and Syria could reshape the regional balance of power and affect countries such as Turkey and Israel.
Trump’s Family Business Deals Risk Further Undermining the Credibility of US Middle East Policy
President Trump’s family businesses are once again in the spotlight as a new financial disclosure showed they earned $2 billion in income in 2025 — a dramatic increase on the year before, with much of it coming from Gulf entities, raising emoluments concerns. Mounting perceptions of corruption, combined with unresolved crises in Iran and Israel-Palestine, are eroding trust among key partners in the Middle East. With the 2026 midterms approaching, these entanglements could represent a major political vulnerability and further undermine America’s already-strained standing in the region.
After the US-Israel-Iran war — and the strikes that followed the cease-fire — the Gulf states find themselves dangerously exposed. Host Alistair Taylor is joined by MEI Associate Fellow Gregory Gause to discuss the war’s impact on the Gulf, their partnership with the United States, and whether the turmoil of recent months will push Gulf leaders to reassess their alliances and international engagement.
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.
Travelogue of a Nigerian Codesria Laureate in Lebanon (January–July 2006, July–November 2008)
On December 18th 2004, I discovered the Lebanese Emigration Research Centre (LERC), Notre Dame University, Zouk over the internet while searching for a post-doctoral research fellowship program on Lebanese studies in either Australia or New Zealand. I contacted the Director, Guita Hourani, who was instrumental in my winning the Codesria post-doctoral fellowship award. Elated, I departed for Beirut, Lebanon on February 21, 2006.
Kān Yāmā Kān: Curriculum Development in the GCC – Adopting (Adapting) Models of Higher Education
Once upon a time in the land where the light of creation first shone, the fertile grounds around Baghdad nurtured the House of Wisdom.[1] Even as Europeans were looking for the light at the end of the Dark Ages, Caliph Haroon al-Rasheed and his son Caliph al-Mamoon had made Baghdad a center of learning. In Baghdad, scholars put words on “real” paper. They preserved Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Euclid, Ptolemy, Pythagoras, and Brahmagupta and translated Greek, Persian, and Indian manuscripts.
Partnerships, Collaborations, and International Education in the UAE: The Question of Context and Relevancy
Education reform is essential for the continued social and educational development of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).[1] The country has grown considerably over the past decade, and opportunities for business and professional opportunities have expanded. Educational development has been deemed necessary for the citizens of the country to take advantage of such opportunities.
A New Paradigm of Educational Borrowing in the Gulf States: The Qatari Example
More than in any other world region, the Arab Gulf states are experiencing a “higher education boom” in terms of the quantity and quality of institutions and programs now available. Over the past two decades, the Gulf states have imported a Western, largely American, model of higher education to address inefficiencies in labor markets and invest in their economic futures, to meet national reform agendas, and in some cases, to function as profit-making ventures.
Internationalization of Higher Education in Jordan
There is a growing need in Jordan for universities to establish joint programs with overseas universities in countries such as the United Kingdom and to uphold partnerships with universities in the United States, Europe, and the Gulf states. Public universities are already highly regarded. Private universities are also seeking partnerships or joint programs with foreign institutions.
External and Internal Partnerships in Israeli Education
Educational reform in Israel has repeatedly shifted from expecting individual excellence to expecting access for all. Excellence and access reflects the early history of the country when Jewish funders from France, England, and Germany established educational systems for Jewish children. The Zionist organizations that structured much of the curriculum and the external funding streams insured the Jewish schools were far better funded than the British-supported schools during the Mandate.
Benefitting from the Knowledge Economy? Examining Secondary Education Reform in Jordan
Jordan today, in spite of the scarcity of its natural resources, is at the forefront of the region’s states in several areas, primary among them are education, economic growth rates, and the qualifications of the Jordanian youth who have always proved their excellence nationally and abroad.
Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why It Matters
The Middle East Institute is pleased to invite you to a lecture and book signing by James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute. The Arab world has been vastly misunderstood in the West. Zogby's Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why It Matters asks the questions, collects the answers, and shares the results that will help readers better understand the Arab world. The book brings into stark relief the myths, assumptions, and biases that prevent many from understanding the greater Middle East region and its people.
The Realities of Power Sharing in the Next Iraqi Government
MEI is proud to host Reidar Visser of the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs for a discussion on the current political situation in Iraq based on his latest publication, The United States and the Iraqi Transition, 2005-2010 (Just World Books, 2010). The book examines Iraq's process of democratization over the last five years and the impact of regional and international players, not least the US government, in shaping Iraq's new political system.
Oman Emerges: An American Company In An Ancient Kingdom
MEI is proud to host author Lois Critchfield for a discussion about her new book, Oman Emerges: An American Company In An Ancient Kingdom. When Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said deposed his father in 1970, he inherited a neglected country with a modest oil income, but virtually no one qualified to advocate for his interests to the executives of Shell Oil – until he met James Critchfield, the author's late husband.
Turkey's Engagement in Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities for US Foreign Policy
The Middle East Institute's Center for Turkish Studies is proud to host Qubad Talabani, Charles Dunne, Can Oguz, and Gonul Tol for a discussion on Turkey's engagement in Iraq and its ramifications for US policy. In the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Iraq, vital US interests – including improving regional stability, limiting Iranian influence, maintaining an independent Iraq and preventing Iraq from becoming a haven for international terrorists – are still at stake in Iraq and the region.
The Middle East Institute is proud to host the IMF's Masood Ahmed for a discussion about the economic prospects in the MENA region. Specifically, he will discuss the prospects for the Middle East and North Africa region in light of the global economic recovery that has begun to gain traction after the deepest downturn in recent history. The region's oil-exporting countries are benefiting from solid oil prices, and oil importers are recovering from last year's economic slowdown.
Deja Vu in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Economic Activity; Political Despair
Amira Hass is an award-winning correspondent for the Israeli daily, Ha'aretz. In her over 20 years covering Palestinian affairs in the occupied territories for Ha'aretz, Ms. Hass has lived three years in Gaza, and thirteen in Ramallah, the West Bank. She is the author of the highly acclaimed book "Drinking the Sea at Gaza" (Henry Holt, N.Y.) and "Reporting from Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land" (Semiotext). She also wrote the foreword and afterword of "Diary of Bergen Belsen 1944–1945 by Hanna Levy Hass (Haymarket Books).
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.
