China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” trades Chinese technical know-how and capital for influence, and Beijing’s recently-signed ten-year $600 billion deal with Tehran turns Iran into the a BRI crown jewel. What does Iran get and what does it pay for this China connection? How does it affect Tehran's power vis-à-vis its neighbors? And the United States?

President Biden struck Iranian-backed militias on the Iraqi-Syrian border in late February, a move surprising to those who expected his administration to return to Obama’s approach. What should one make of this event? Where does this president stand between his two predecessors on the question of Iran’s nuclear build-up?

Ashley Perry, Advisor to the Middle East Forums Israel Office, joins us here each Wednesday to update us on all the events going on in Israel. Mr. Perry will be giving us a briefing on current Israeli affairs for 15 minutes, then open it up for questions.

With just six days until Israel's elections, getting out the vote has become the challenge. What is each major party doing?

Congress Counters Turkey with Nick Larigakis by Middle East Forum

The Kurds: What Does The Future Hold? with Diliman Abdulkader by Middle East Forum

A wave of protests against Iranian meddling and corruption made Mustafa Al-Kadhimi Iraq’s prime minister in May 2020. His promise to reassert sovereignty faces 160,000 IRGC-controlled local militia members and their supporters in government. His efforts to combat endemic corruption have proven equally difficult. Can Al-Kadhimi succeed? Can Americans help?

Famed French statesman Talleyrand said of the House of Bourbon it had “learned nothing and forgotten nothing” upon its return to power. Will the same be said of Biden administration officials returning to the “peace process” to manage the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Douglas Feith notes that the pre-Trump approach has not worked and cannot work. He then explains its persistence despite so many decades of failure.

Polls show Netanyahu’s bloc capturing about 50 Knesset seats out of a needed 61, while the opposition encompasses too wide a spectrum of ideologies and egos to shoehorn easily into one government. Polls also show one-fifth of the electorate still hasn't made up its mind; what developments over the next few days might prove decisive?

Polls show Netanyahu’s bloc capturing about 50 Knesset seats out of a needed 61, While the opposition encompasses too wide a spectrum of ideologies and egos to shoehorn easily into one government. Polls also show one-fifth of the electorate still hasn't made up its mind; what developments over the next few days might prove decisive?