How much is religious soft power worth? Jokowi searches for answers in Abu Dhabi
An Indonesian promise to work with the United Arab Emirates to promote ‘moderate’ Islam raises questions of what constitutes moderation and how it can...
Ultraconservative triumph puts Pakistan at risk
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan may have averted for now further violence by caving in to demands of a militant, supremacist religious group. But...
Sudan and the UAE: Pulling Sudanese strings
Sudan is the exception to the rule in the United Arab Emirates’ counterrevolutionary playbook.
In contrast to Egypt or Yemen, where it went out of...
Religious ultra-conservatism has a field day in Pakistan. It puts Saudi Arabia on the Spot
Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism is having a field day.
Barely three months after the Taliban claimed victory in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the second most populous Muslim-majority state,...
The pendulum gradually swings towards international engagement with the Taliban
The Taliban and Pakistan, both viewed warily by the West and others in the international community, appear to be benefitting from mounting concerns about...
Turkey and Iran find soft power more difficult than hard power
The times they are a changin’. Iranian leaders may not be Bob Dylan fans, but his words are likely to resonate as they contemplate...
Iran poll contains different messages for Biden and Raisi
“It’s the economy, stupid.” That is the message of a just-published survey of Iranian public opinion.
However, the substance of the message differs for newly...
Shaping US Middle East policy amidst failing states, failed democratization and increased activism
The future of US engagement in the Middle East hangs in the balance.
Two decades of forever war in Afghanistan and continued military engagement in...
US military presence in the Middle East: The less the better
It may not have been planned or coordinated but efforts by Middle Eastern states to dial down tensions serve as an example of what...
Gulf security: It’s not all bad news
Gulf states are in a pickle.
They fear that the emerging parameters of a reconfigured US commitment to security in the Middle East threaten to...