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Middle East and North Africa

Special Collection on the Middle East

This complete work consists of several dozen essays spread out over 8 parts tackling the region’s conflicts and historical evolution, relating them to contemporary issues. Divided into distinct regions and critical issues, the Special Collection of the Middle East is your source to better understand this volatile region and to be prepared for what comes next.

US-Kurdish Relations: From ‘Betrayal’ to Disillusion

Last month, the U.S. envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said the role of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as the primary fighting force against...

Iran’s Regime Is Headed for a Hard Landing

The 47th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 revolution is less than a week away, but instead of celebrating, the Islamic Republic is faced with an...

Daily Memo: Iran’s IRGC Set to Launch Drills

Iranian preparations. The naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will conduct live-fire exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Feb. 1-2, amid...

The Return of the Nation-State in the Middle East

During the Cold War, nation-states thrived throughout the Middle East, but the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 ushered in an era of intense instability...

Outgrowing Old Alliance Behavior

Though the Cold War is over, there are a variety of Cold War-era alliance structures that have continued to shape international relations. NATO –...

How Demographics Complicate Iran’s Situation

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(click to enlarge) In Iran, a prolonged period of high inflation has combined with a collapse in the value of the rial to produce mass...

2026 Forecast: Re-anchoring the World

Global In 2025, we noted that the world was becoming more unanchored compared to years past. Since World War II, the global order had had...

Iran: Regime Erosion and Frontier Fragility

The foundations of the Iranian regime are eroding and probably will continue to do so for a long time. In a bid to accelerate...

Competition in the Horn of Africa Heats Up

On Dec. 26, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his country would officially recognize Somaliland, the breakaway region of Somalia, as a sovereign...

Iran: Elite Paralysis and Systemic Decay

With the 47th anniversary of its founding just around the corner, the Islamic Republic of Iran is spiraling deeper into systemic instability. Ayatollah Ali...

Egyptian National Security, According to el-Sissi

President Gamal Abdel Nasser defined the concept of Egyptian national security in the 1950s, linking it to economic development, social justice, Arab unity and...

The New Maritime Operating Environment

A year ago, we argued that maritime insecurity risked becoming as destabilizing as land-based conflict. Today, that warning largely holds, and in some ways...

Israel Recognizes Somaliland’s Independence

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(click to enlarge) More than three decades after Somaliland claimed independence from Somalia, Israel became the first country to recognize its separation. It was a...

New Normals in the Middle East

The Middle East is entering a period of strategic adjustment as the United States offloads some of its responsibilities to regional allies. The region’s...

The Military Benefits of Quantum Technology

Modern militaries increasingly depend on the continuous functioning of complex systems rather than on decisive battlefield victories. Military advantages, then, are created less by...

The Enduring Wedge Between Syria and Lebanon

U.S. envoy to Syria and Lebanon Tom Barrack has established himself as a maverick diplomat, issuing bold declarations that have at times angered politicians...

Latest Posts

The meltdown of autocratic regimes currently underway in the Arab world has led to the growth of ungoverned spaces. The resulting vacuum is being dominated by armed Islamist non-state actors – in particular Salafist-jihadist militias.

The three non-Arab powers – Turkey, Iran and Israel – are trying to manage the regional commotion according to their national interests.

It was during the Cold War era that a deep ideological chasm in the Middle East began to coagulate. The struggle between those who adopted European secularism and those who crafted an ideology based on religious tradition had its roots in late 19th century Ottoman Empire. Roughly 100 years later, this struggle had polarized the region.

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Read Assessment of Saudi Arabia

Read Assessment of Turkey

Required Reads: Middle East and North Africa

From our Forecast...

The Vienna nuclear talks will result in a settlement. The Israeli Air Force will not attack Iran’s nuclear sites.

Middle East and North Africa in our Memos

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Latest Posts

The Deeper Meaning of Balkan Protests

It isn’t every day that we get to address the geopolitical importance of Albania, but that’s a testament to its relative stability in an...

Daily Memo: US-Iran Developments, Egypt-Russia Talks

Turning up the heat. The U.S. has considered seizing tankers carrying Iranian oil to increase pressure on Tehran, according to a Wall Street Journal...

Russo-Chinese Ties Lose Their Luster

Russo-Chinese relations seem to be doing well. Just ask their leaders. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (again) praised...

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