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.

Kurdistan Referendum with Bilal Wahab

News

Few countries from the Middle East or North Africa were invited to participate in the Biden administration's December Summit for Democracy, a telling reflection of regional politics a decade after the Arab Spring. Tunisia—once considered the only successful Arab democracy—recently suffered significant backsliding on that front, while Sudan's attempted coup has raised doubts about its political transition. Meanwhile, a "new normal" of protests has settled in as citizens continue demanding improvements in healthcare, housing, jobs, freedom of expression, and more. Given such realities, where are countries like Tunisia and Sudan headed, and how should the administration shape its broader regional approach to democracy, human rights, and reform?

Listen to an expert conversation with the Tunisian political analyst Chiraz Arbi, the Sudanese scholar Yasir Zaidan, former U.S. diplomat Alberto Fernandez, and former Institute scholar Sarah Feuer. 

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Watch full video of this conversation: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/popular-protest-democratic-prospects-and-us-policy-dilemmas-middle-east

Democratic Backsliding with Chiraz Arbi, Yasir Zaidan, Alberto Fernandez, and Sarah Feuer

Marking the release of Anna Borshchevskaya's groundbreaking new book on Russia's Putin-era Middle East Policy, the Institute senior fellow held a lively conversation with a leading scholar of the Russian military and a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow. In this episode, we present their in-depth conversation on the full extent of Russian activity in the Middle East, how Moscow sees its interests and calculates costs and benefits, and the implications for U.S. policy. 

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Watch full video of this conversation: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/future-putins-war-syria

Read Anna Borshchevskaya's new book, "Putin's War in Syria": https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/putins-war-syria-russian-foreign-policy-and-price-americas-absence

Russia in the Middle East with Anna Borshchevskaya, Lester Grau, and Michael McFaul

Twenty years after the deadly terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, how has the global terrorist threat, and American strategy against it, evolved? And what lessons can we learn from the successes and failures of U.S. counterterrorism policy as we enter the third decade since 9/11? Two of the country's leading scholars of terrorist groups and counterterrorism assess twenty years of U.S. counterterrorism policy and the current state of the global terror threat. 

Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of its Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. 

Aaron Y. Zelin is the Richard Borow Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Read Matt's presidential transition memo, Rethinking U.S. Efforts on Counterterrorism: Toward a Sustainable Plan Two Decades After 9/11:  https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/rethinking-us-efforts-counterterrorism-toward-sustainable-plan-two-decades-after

Read Aaron's monograph, Your Sons Are at Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/your-sons-are-your-service-tunisias-missionaries-jihad; and his presidential transition memo, Syria at the Center of Power Competition and Counterterrorism:  https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/syria-center-power-competition-and-counterterrorism

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Counterterrorism Twenty Years after 9/11

How will America’s choice to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan, and the manner of our withdrawal over the course of the last two presidential administrations, affect America’s standing in the wider Middle East? How will our partners and adversaries on the ground in the Middle East’s hot spots view American commitment and credibility in light of the rapid fall of Kabul? And how will Russia’s increasingly assertive Middle East policy adjust in light of these events in nearby Afghanistan? 

Three Washington Institute scholars - Anna Borshchevskaya, Bilal Wahab, and Kathryn Wheelbarger - share their insights into how America's allies, partners, and adversaries will respond to the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rapid collapse of the previously U.S.-backed Afghan government in Kabul. 

Read Bilal Wahab's study, " Promoting Sovereignty and Accountability in Iraq: Guidelines for the Biden Administration," here: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/promoting-sovereignty-and-accountability-iraq-guidelines-biden-administration

Read Anna Borshchevskaya's article, "Russia’s Questionable Counterterrorism Record: Why Moscow Is an Unreliable Partner for the West" here: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/syria/2017-11-23/russias-questionable-counterterrorism-record; her article, "Afghanistan's Women Face a Dangerous and Uncertain Future," here: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/afghanistans-women-face-a-dangerous-and-uncertain-future; and her 2014 book, "Putin's War in Syria: Russian Foreign Policy and the Price of America's Absence," here: https://www.amazon.com/Putins-War-Syria-Russian-Americas/dp/0755634632

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Afghanistan Fallout with Anna Borshchevskaya, Bilal Wahab, and Kathryn Wheelbarger

To promote stability and other U.S. interests, Washington must reshape its approach to the increasingly complex staging ground for global competition that is the emerging Red Sea region. In the latest Middle East PolicyCast, Institute scholar Elana DeLozier expands on the economic and strategic risks and rewards facing the United States, and our Russian and Chinese adversaries, in this populous and increasingly prosperous region. 

To read Elana's recent presidential transition memo, " The Case for a Holistic U.S. Policy Toward the Emerging Red Sea Region ," go tohttps://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/case-holistic-us-policy-toward-emerging-red-sea-region

Middle East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Kurdistan Referendum with Bilal Wahab

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