It is with deep sadness that the U.S. / Middle East Project marks the passing of its Senior Advisor and International Board member, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Dr. Brzezinski was one of the earliest supporters of the U.S./Middle East Project. He was actively involved in the policy interventions of the USMEP, and was a regular participant in our meetings. He offered a regional foreign policy
tour d’horizon at each of our biannual meetings. His enthusiasm for and encouragement of the work of our organization were a source of strength to our leadership over the years and ...
It apparently befalls every new American president to be greeted as a potential messiah by moderates in both the Israeli and Palestinian political class. The flipside also holds – that hardliners, especially on the Israeli side, go into a defensive crouch any time a U.S. president launches himself (it is invariably a ‘him’) at the Holy Land.
It is hardly surprising, then, that even before the intelligence leaks to Russia episode, the Israeli media had whipped itself up into quite a frenzy in advance of President Trump’s visit, which comes in the wake of having al...
The care and handling of intelligence information is as much art as anything else. It has been estimated that 70% or more of “finished intelligence” — that is, the reports and analyses that go forward to policymakers — derives from open sources and diplomatic reporting, meaning that much of what a policymaker reads can also be found in the media. The art of intelligence is to understand the value that is added by the nuggets of information gained from human or other sources. In this respect, the whole finished product must be treated as sensitive because of the way the ...
Palestinian leaders hit the headlines twice this week—once on May 3, when President Mahmoud Abbas was welcomed to the White House by President Trump and two days earlier, on May 1, when outgoing Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal launched the movement’s new “Document of General Principles and Policies” at a press conference in Doha.
The Washington presidential summit understandably garnered more attention, but it is the Hamas Doha document that may well be remembered as having a more significant and lasting impact on the Palestinian future and even on prospects for ...
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit the White House on Wednesday to meet with President Donald Trump and his administration.
While the meeting signals the administration's commitment to dialogue and engagement with the Palestinians, it could also present a valuable opportunity to explore meaningful and effective ways to establish a just peace by ending the occupation and ensuring the establishment of a viable sovereign Palestinian state.
If Trump is truly committed to "striking a deal," then it is imperative he distance himself from the repeat...
Six years after the fall of Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, Libya remains mired in conflict and political chaos. Devoid of any central authority or national security structure, the Libyan state now exists only in name. It is time for a new approach – one that the United States should actively support.
To be sure, Libya does have an internationally recognized government: the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), born of the December 2015 Libyan Political Agreement, signed in Skhirat, Morocco, under the auspices of the United Nations. But not only did that government recei...
On the surface, much of President Trump’s foreign policy seems to be reverting to the mainstream upon first contact with reality. Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s horrific use of chemical weapons produced a quick military response, applauded across partisan lines in Washington. Relations with Russia have settled to predictably adversarial depths. The administration is full of appropriately reassuring words about NATO, and the one-China policy was safely back in place for the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Senior national security appointments have been mostly traditionalis...
