Near East Policycast

How can policymakers deal with the urgent crises of the day without neglecting important issues of long-term strategy? Ambassador Dennis Ross has advised presidents from both parties since the 1980s, and he literally wrote the book on diplomacy and statecraft. In this episode, he connects the dots between immediate policy challenges in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, as well as the rising threat of a regional war, to chart a wider policy agenda for securing the most vital American interests in the Middle East. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

In a rare public address in Washington, D.C., Israel's defense minister explained his government's strategy for dealing with challenges including the emergence of a direct Iranian front to the north and recurrent mass protests along the Gaza border to the south. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

In military terms, what did the April 13 allied airstrikes on Syria accomplish? Will deterring the Assad regime from using chemical weapons change the Syrian battlefield? Veteran military analyst Michael Eisenstadt shares his insights into the tactical and strategic effects of the coalition airstrikes and the future course of the conflict there. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Amid dimming hopes for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and growing disarray in the Palestinian political scene, one bright spot remains the growing effectiveness and professionalism of the Palestinian Authority's 30,000-man security services. Neri Zilber and Ghaith al-Omari, coauthors of a new study of the past, present, and future of PA security forces, discuss the evolution of Palestinian domestic security services as well as whether and how they can retain morale and competence. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

David Cattler, the U.S. government's national intelligence manager for the Near East, recently shared a survey of the Middle East and American security and interests there. Will there be a "peace dividend" from the defeat of ISIS? What keeps the U.S. intelligence community up at night? How likely is war on Israel's northern border? Where do human rights rank among America's security priorities? Does the Middle East really matter to the United States? Cattler addressed these questions, and more, over the course of his presentation and the Q&A session that followed. Listen for a rare on-the-record account of how the U.S. intelligence community views and operates in the Middle East. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

From February 12 to 14, representatives of governments, NGOs, and private businesses from around the world met in Kuwait for a conference that was intended to raise $85 billion for rebuilding destroyed areas and resettling displaced Iraqis in formerly ISIS-controlled territory. In the end, the Kuwait conference raised $30 billion. Was this a failure for Iraqi reconstruction, or the start of a longer process? Is Baghdad equipped to handle and spend even that lower amount of reconstruction funding? Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

What is the Shia Crescent, and how does Iran’s government exploit it to spread its influence and sow division across the region, from the Karun River to the Mediterranean Sea? Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar, a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute, discusses the Shia Crescent, Iranian influence, and the loss of the Lebanon she once knew. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

During an eventful week in the Middle East – which included President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the death of Yemen’s former president Saleh – a fifty-person delegation from The Washington Institute traveled to the capitals of Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates to meet with senior leaders, engage with a broad range of local society, and learn about important changes under way in each country. Institute scholars Robert Satloff and Katherine Bauer share their findings from an eventful week traveling around the Gulf. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

On December 5, 2017, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy honored three former Israeli ambassadors who fought for justice and fairness at the United Nations: Dore Gold, Dan Gillerman, and Ron Prosor. The annual Scholar-Statesman Awards ceremony, held in New York City, took place on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the ratification of the UN's Partition Plan for Palestine. Institute executive director Robert Satloff led a lively conversation with Ambassadors Gold, Gillerman, and Prosor about Israel's relationship with the world body, institutional bias against the Jewish state, and prospects for leveraging improved bilateral ties to create opportunities for Israeli interests in multilateral forums. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Do Turkey’s political and social upheavals following that country’s 1980 military coup have anything to tell us about Turkey under President Erdogan today? Journalist Ece Temelkuran believes so, and in her new novel, “The Time of Mute Swans,” she tells a story of post-coup Ankra in which divisions and bloodshed blur the lines between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, beauty and ugliness. Listen to a conversation about authoritarianism and literature with Temelkuran, distinguished American diplomat and Turkish literature scholar Robert Finn, and the Institute's own Soner Cagaptay. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Seventy-five years ago, in November 1942, American troops made their first landing in the modern Middle East. Operation Torch, the allied invasion of French North Africa, set the stage for subsequent offensives against Axis forces in Sicily, Italy, Greece, and France. Did American decisions during and after Torch also set the stage for the next eight decades of U.S. policy across the broader Middle East? Institute executive director Robert Satloff and historian Eliot Cohen explore the choices made by American diplomats and generals at the time of Operation Torch to trace their lasting effects on U.S. policy. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Functioning as a state within the Lebanese state, Hezbollah has accumulated more rockets than many European militaries. But it is also an irregular army that uses terrorism as a strategic weapon against adversaries at home and abroad. Today, the conflicts in Syria and Iraq have reconfigured Hezbollah and other forces in ways that could lead to a new war, one far more destructive than previous Middle Eastern conflicts. In this episode, we'll hear from three senior European military leaders who have just published a detailed report on the growing likelihood of Hezbollah aggression against Israel, the devastating course such a conflict would take, and what Western governments can do now to prevent renewed bloodshed. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

On October 13, President Trump announced a new Iran strategy, including decertifying the 2015 nuclear deal and asking for changes from Congress and from international partners. Does this mean the end of the nuclear deal? What comes next for the executive branch and for Congress? Can the administration bring our allies on board for a comprehensive push to counter the full range of Iran's destabilizing activities? Institute scholar and former National Security Council senior official Michael Singh joins us to dig into the details of the Trump administration’s new Iran policy, from the nuclear agreement to terrorism sanctions, and to explain how the White House can turn the broad outlines of strategy into successful policy that advances American interests. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Iraqi Kurds voted overwhelmingly to seek national independence - and their neighbors, as well as the Baghdad government, have responded with a rapidly escalating war of words. Iraqi politics expert Bilal Wahab joins us to explain what comes next, whether armed conflict can be avoided, and how the United States can best approach the rising tensions between its vital partners, the Iraqi Kurds and the Iraqi national government. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

On September 7, distinguished Israeli general Yair Golan, who recently completed service as the IDF’s deputy chief of staff, delivered The Washington Institute's 2017 Zeev Schiff Memorial Lecture. General Golan’s remarks focused on three themes: the role of vision and founding values in Israeli society, the overall contours of Israeli national security policy, and military defense as a component of that policy. In assessing the current military situation, the general emphasized the threat posed by Iran, a sophisticated adversary that seeks "to become the most dominant power in the Middle East." Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Institute scholar Michael Knights says that the upcoming independence referendum in Iraq’s Kurdistan region is already yielding positive results in the form of compromise and cooperation among parties and movements whose enmity has long gridlocked Iraqi Kurdish politics. While a pro-independence result is a near certainty for the September 25 vote, the shape of an eventual settlement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq’s national government in Baghdad could take many forms, each with its own problems and benefits for U.S. interests in the region. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Why is the most successful and powerful leader in modern Turkey's history driven by insecurity and grievances? Author and Turkey expert Soner Cagaptay unpacks the ways in which Recep Tayyip Erdogan's biography shapes his politics and the fate of his nation. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Although terror attacks conducted by individuals are not a new phenomenon, recent years have seen an alarming increase in these "lone-wolf" incidents. The Islamic State, for instance, has been proactive in using its global tentacles to inspire individuals to carry out attacks in its name. Meanwhile, in Israel, solo operators unaffiliated with organized terror groups have taken to carrying out attacks with the weapons at hand—cars, knives, homemade. Are such attacks a growing trend and the future of jihadism, or are they simply another passing fad in the annals of terrorist activity? Four leading counterterrorism scholars and policymakers chart the rise and future of "lone-wolf" terrorism. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Gulf politics scholar and former intelligence analyst Lori Plotkin Boghardt explains the Qatar crisis - what it is, why it's happening now, and how it could affect American interests and alliances in the Middle East. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Jihadism scholar Aaron Zelin explains how al-Qaeda survived drones, revolutions, and the rise of ISIS to persist and re-emerge as a primary local, regional, and global terrorist threat. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.