September, 2020

• 29 September

  Is Abbas Rival Mohammed Dahlan Plotting a Comeback, With the UAE’s Help?

  After the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke with most Arab countries and established diplomatic relations with Israel, there are already signs of growing tensions in the Palestinian territories.

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• 29 September

  Can Pakistan Reboot Its ‘Belt and Road’ Partnership With China?

  After a series of setbacks, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a multibillion-dollar assortment of infrastructure projects that constitutes the Pakistani component of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, is poised for a resurgence.

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• 29 September

  Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Could Come at the Expense of Terrorism Victims

  If recent news reports are to be believed, Sudan may be on the verge of joining the list of Arab countries to normalize their relations with Israel, pushed by the Trump administration. Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese military chief who jointly leads the transitional government in Khartoum, met with both …

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• 29 September

  Russian dominance in the Black Sea: The Sea of Azov

  Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 was about maximizing power. Moscow aims to turn the Black Sea into a Russian lake to advance its national interest far and wide. For its part, NATO has been slow to respond to this challenge.

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• 29 September

  Turkey’s Sahel strategy

  On Sept. 9, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu embarked on a three-day trip to West Africa, which included stops in Mali, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. During his trip, Cavusoglu emphasized Turkey’s support for Mali’s post-coup transition process, struck infrastructure-related commercial deals with Guinea-Bissau, and underscored its commitment to engaging with multilateral …

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• 29 September

  Is Iran Losing Its Grip on Its Proxy Militias in Iraq?

  Earlier this month, a prominent researcher and security expert in Iraq, who was close to the new prime minister and to Western governments, was gunned down outside his home in Baghdad. While the identify of his assailants remains unknown, Hisham al-Hashimi had many enemies, given his history of speaking out …

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• 29 September

  Is Syria’s Assad as Weak as He Appears?

  It might seem like an all-too familiar story: With its economy cratered by civil war, and new pockets of anti-regime resistance, Syria is on the verge of state collapse. President Bashar al-Assad isn’t just on the back foot; he is weaker than ever. Is he about to fall?

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• 29 September

  With ISIS Resurgent, Can Iraq’s New Government Avoid a Repeat of the Past?

  BAGHDAD—The Islamic State is stepping up its attacks in Iraq, fulfilling the expectations of many analysts that the extremist group would mount a comeback after the Iraqi government declared victory over it in 2017.

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• 29 September

  This New, Narrow Vision for the Middle East Isn’t Really About Peace

  Imagine a different Middle East. “Were all outstanding hostilities resolved, border formalities simplified and roads unblocked, one might breakfast beside the Mediterranean in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, drive up to the Syrian capital of Damascus for lunch, race south to Jordan’s Amman for tea, make Jerusalem for an early …

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• 29 September

  Trump’s Iran Strategy Is Still Just an Anti-Obama Vendetta

  Since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the international deal designed to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, the time it might take Tehran to build such a weapon if it so chooses has dropped from more than a year to just a few months. The world …

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