We now know that the long-awaited Trump peace plan is going to be presented very soon. Without knowing what is in it, it is hard to evaluate it. Repeatedly, Mahmoud Abbas has said he will reject it without seeing it. He argues that the Trump Administration is biased and adopted hostile...
Donald Trump is not an internationalist. He engages with the world but dislikes international institutions. His speeches to the UN don’t extol the virtues of the organization, they emphasize his world view: everyone pursues their own national interest, and because war is not in anyone’s...
It feels like we are entering unchartered waters in the Middle East. If there were rules or norms that seemed to limit what actions state would take against their neighbors, those seem to be gone. True, Iran’s use of non-state proxy militias had already fuzzed the boundaries of the kind of...
On September 14, drones and cruise missiles struck Saudi Arabia’s most important oil-processing facility, at Abqaiq. The attacks don’t just threaten the global oil supply, of which Abqaiq accounts for roughly five percent. They pose a critical test for the administration of U.S. President Donald...
After developing their peace plan for more than two and a half years, there are now reports that the Trump administration intends to present it in the near future. Presumably, it will wait until after the Israeli election. But if the reports are to believed, and they seem to be growing out of...
Iran has now exceeded the amount of low enriched uranium that it can have stockpiled as part of the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal. Its Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, announced it will soon start enriching uranium above the 3.67 percent of purification that is permitted in the deal. Shia proxy...
Tensions are rising in the Middle East generally and especially in the Gulf. The Trump Administration decision to end the waivers for eight countries permitted to buy Iranian oil is, not surprisingly, having a dramatic effect on the Iranian economy. With Iranian exports of oil expected to drop...
The United States and Saudi Arabia have had a relationship with ups and downs over the last eight decades. Beginning with the meeting between President Franklyn Roosevelt and the Saudi King, Ibn Saud, a relationship was forged that reflected an understanding of our common interests. ...
The Trump Administration continues to say that it intends to come out with its peace plan soon, presumably after the April 9th Israeli election. How soon may depend on the outcome of the election. I say that because while the Administration has held discussions with Prime Minister Netanyahu on...
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One official I met in travelling in the Middle East said, “There are two projects in the Middle East. One is Turkey, Qatar, and Iran and the other is Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Israel. And, the United States should be supporting the latter group because they are committe...
