Turkish-American relations currently face two significant challenges. One has to do with the Turkish inclination to enter northern Iraq in order to deal with Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters operating there. The other is connected with an upcoming U.S. House of Representatives vote on a resolution to recognize as genocide the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Both challenges touch on very sensitive issues for the Turks, who are convinced that the U.S. is insufficiently attentive to their...
On March 10, a one-day conference on the stabilization of Iraq was held in Baghdad. The ambassadorial-level conference included representatives from Iraq itself and all of its neighbors, including Iran and Syria, from the five permanent members of the Security Council, and from several other states. The discussions focused on the question of how to help Iraq deal with the problem of internal violence and reconcile its various ethnic and sectarian groups. Conference participants described the meeting as a positive first step and...
On February 19, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) met in Jerusalem. The meeting was actually planned several weeks ago in keeping with President Bush’s promise, made during his speech about the situation in Iraq, to step up American involvement in the peace process. But the timing – after Hamas and Fatah had signed the Mecca Agreement on a Palestinian national unity government – complicated the situation for all parties and created...
A Nuclear Iran: What Does it Mean, and What Can be Done? argues that it is still possible to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, yet conditions to stop it do not currently exist, and time is running out. There is as yet no international consensus to implement effective sanctions. A military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, albeit possible, is a difficult option. Yet despite the severity of the Iranian nuclear threat, several factors could reduce the likelihood that Iran will use nuclear weapons against Israel....
President George W. Bush announced a “new strategy” in Iraq: a substantial improvement in the security situation in order to provide time for political arrangements to stabilize the country.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced last week that the US is now willing to engage in dialogue with Iran on the nuclear issue within the framework of multilateral talks with the EU-3, on condition that Iran suspends its uranium enrichment activities. This announcement was hailed as a major change in US policy on the Iranian nuclear crisis, as the US has not held direct official talks with Iran since diplomatic ties were severed by the US in April 1980, in the wake of the hostage crisis.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rushed off to Washington before his government was even three weeks old. His visit apparently had four main aims: to hold the launch ceremony in the White House which is necessary to entrench the status of any new Israeli Prime Minister; to establish a personal link with President George W. Bush; to get Bush’s blessing for the centerpiece of his policy agenda – his convergence plan; and to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat.
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s relations with American presidents, which have had their ups and downs since the 1970s and 1980s, reached a new peak with the May 15 announcement that Washington was renewing relations with Tripoli. On the same occasion, the US removed Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Since the US had also taken the initiative of breaking relations two and a half decades ago, this step closed a circle of enmity, terror and serious clashes of interest between two states so different, not only in...
2005 will be remembered as the year of the freest elections in Iraqi history. Iraqis will have gone to the polls three times by the end of this year. In January, they elected their representatives for an interim parliament, in October they voted on a constitution, and in December they are scheduled to choose a regular parliament. These events stand in sharp contrast to the experience of 35 years under Ba’thist rule, during which there were no elections at all for the first twelve years and then only sham votes for a powerless...
The Middle East Strategic Balance 2004-2005 Table of Contents Introduction Part I: Middle East Strategic Assessment Chapter 1 The Middle East: Still on the Brink of a New Era / Mark A. Heller External Penetration and Pressure for Change Regional Ramifications Future Directions Chapter 2 The Ongoing Iraqi Crisis / Ephraim Kam The Role of the...
In the early 1950s, Israel secretly launched a project designed to achieve a nuclear option. Initially supported by France, this daring project stood to engineer a dramatic change in Israel’s strategic position vis-à-vis its neighboring Arab states and the wider international community. A nuclear program was driven by the firm conviction of David Ben-Gurion that Israel’s existence could be guaranteed only with the aid of such a deterrent. The ensuing nuclear defense strategy was upheld by successive Israeli governments. Adamantly...
In the early 1950s, Israel secretly launched a project designed to achieve a nuclear option. Initially supported by France, this daring project stood to engineer a dramatic change in Israel’s strategic position vis-à-vis its neighboring Arab states and the wider international community. A nuclear program was driven by the firm conviction of David Ben-Gurion that Israel’s existence could be guaranteed only with the aid of such a deterrent. The ensuing nuclear defense strategy was upheld by successive Israeli governments. Adamantly...
