Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
(Washington, D.C.) –William J. Burns, Michèle Flournoy and Nancy Lindborg announced today the launch of an independent and non-partisan Study Group on Fragility. The Study Group’s aim is to identify principles and recommendations for a strategic and effective U.S. foreign policy response to the interrelated security, humanitarian and development challenges posed by fragile states.
Journalist Robin Wright, who has written about the Middle East since 1973, tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that the conflict between the countries comes at an especially sensitive time. "The timing of this confrontation is really dangerous, because January was the month of important developments on four different peace initiatives that were really part of the international effort to prevent the Middle East from disintegrating completely," Wright says.
As we did in the Second World War and during the Cold War, we should resist armed aggression against sovereign nations. We should maintain and toughen the economic sanctions in coordination with the European Union until Russia withdraws from Donbass and Crimea.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are using religious differences to inflame their deep-seated rivalry for power and influence — creating new instability in the Middle East. We hear what's at stake for the Iran nuclear deal, Syria's civil war, the fight against ISIS — and America's interests.
The inflamed tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the execution of a Shiite cleric by Saudi Arabia is widening, as nations take sides and the regions threatens to further divide along Shiite-Sunni lines.
After the dramatic drawdown in the number of U.S. and NATO troops, the Taliban were bound to seize ground as those forces withdrew. “When you go from 100,000 troops down to about 10,000, there should be no surprise that there’s a consequence in the security situation,” said Andrew Wilder
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran that date back decades have heated up this week after the Saudis executed a prominent Shiite opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Much of the regional rivalry is about who wields the most political muscle in the ... "The original schism between Islam's two largest sects was not over religious doctrine. It was over political leadership," said Robin Wright
After seven years in office, President Barack Obama has already engaged more broadly on Africa than any previous American president, but with one year remaining in the White House, there are still a few things he should do before he leaves, writes Johnnie Carson, the United States' top policy-maker on Africa in the first Obama administration.
The rule of thumb in the Middle East is that diplomacy often—too often—makes progress only to be overtaken by unforeseen violence on the ground. It’s happening again. Tensions between the Islamic world’s rival powers—the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite theocracy in Iran—that erupted over the New Year’s weekend now jeopardize a string of fragile peace initiatives...
Five years after the Arab Spring, hope for a nonviolent and Islam-inflected politics is narrower than ever.