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Report
Stabilization Assistance amid Geopolitical Competition: A Case Study of Eastern Syria
January 12, 2021 | Daphne McCurdy Using eastern Syria as a case study, this CSIS brief examines how U.S. stabilization assistance can potentially serve as a tool in geopolitical competition by supporting locally legitimate political actors to stand up against external meddling.

Commentary
Enemies—and Partners—Will Get a Vote in the Middle East
January 11, 2021 | Jon B. Alterman The United States might feel it is done with the Middle East, but the reverse isn’t true.

Critical Questions
GCC Rift over Qatar Comes to an End
January 5, 2021 | Jon B. Alterman Dr. Jon B. Alterman explores pressing questions about the ending of the Arab Gulf crisis and implications of reconciliation.

Commentary
Enemies—and Partners—Will Get a Vote in the Middle East
December 17, 2020 | Jon B. Alterman Dr. Jon Alterman discusses how foreign powers might react to a U.S. rebalance away from the Middle East.

Commentary
A Kinder, Gentler Bear? Why Rumors of Russia’s Post-Soviet Retreat Are Premature
December 17, 2020 | Jeffrey Mankoff Claims of Russia’s post-imperial retreat are premature. Moscow’s response to crises in Belarus and Nagorno-Karabakh show that it has become more nuanced in its pursuit of regional influence as it navigates the entry of new great power actors.

Newsletter
Help Wanted
December 17, 2020 Getting housecleaning help in Kuwait has become expensive, and also exploitative. After new residency restrictions forced many foreign workers to leave the country, critics claim that the Kuwaiti domestic labor market has become a virtual “slave trade.”

In the Mediterranean Sea, the nuclear submarine "Saphir" surfaces during training exercises in 2009 off Toulon, France. | Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Interactive report
Securing U.S. Interests Across the Greater Mediterranean
December 16, 2020 | Rachel Ellehuus, Donatienne Ruy

The Greater Mediterranean is a single geographic area where threats and opportunities are shared from coast to coast. Viewing it as such exposes the overall impact of instability and influence in the region on U.S. interests and the space for action.

Report
The Importance of Marginalized Communities in Lebanon
December 14, 2020 | Natasha Hall CSIS’s Natasha Hall discusses the compounding crises impacting all Lebanese, but particularly its most vulnerable, marginalized communities. Hall explains why policymakers should take note and provides recommendations to improve conditions in the near term.

Commentary
The Biden Transition and the Real Impact of U.S. Force Cuts in Afghanistan
December 1, 2020 | Anthony H. Cordesman The Biden transition team will need to address much more than just troop cuts to advance a peace in Afghanistan, writes CSIS’s Burke Chair in Strategy.

Commentary
Iran: Looking Beyond the Assassination
November 30, 2020 | Anthony H. Cordesman The next steps taken in the U.S. relationship with Iran must be kept in a broader strategic context, writes CSIS’s Burke Chair in Strategy.

Commentary
Designating the Houthis as Terrorists Would Be a Mistake
November 30, 2020 | Jon B. Alterman CSIS’s Jon Alterman discusses the Trump administration’s possible designation of the Houthis as terrorists and the potential impact of such a move on U.S. and Iranian interests.

Newsletter
Middle East Notes and Comment: Covid-19 Hasn't Crushed the Middle East ... Yet
November 18, 2020 The Middle East is being hit hard by Covid-19 but, up to now, its regimes have not.

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