From the Wires

The close alignment of some Republican Party stalwarts with Israel’s rightwing government signals a significant political shift on the

Apparently in response mounting pressure from hawks, the Obama administration is moving toward a harder line on Iran

Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke told an audience at the Center for American Progress that when it comes to U.S

Right-wing commentators are furiously working to discredit the liberal J Street organization, which lobbies for a two-state solution

A neocon think tank blames President Obama for an Iraqi raid on an enclave of Iranian dissidents that killed several

U.S. and UK forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand province are working to bring back the provincial police. But there

Many Israelis believe President Obama has been neglecting Israel. Will this perception harm his ability to broker a final Israeli

A new report from veteran Middle East hands urges the Obama administration to proceed cautiously with Iran, but move quickly

The recent release of five Iranians held by the U.S. military in Iraq highlights growing differences between Washington and

Although the Obama administration clearly believes an Israeli attack on Iran would be disastrous, recent events seem to point to

In an effort to put pressure on Iran, the Obama administration has revived the false Bush administration claim that Tehran

The pivotal role that Vice President Biden is likely to play in U.S.-Iraqi affairs has raised fears that

Neoconservatives’ support for the recent military coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is a reminder of their history as apologists

Western’s media’s recent focus on pro-regime change Iranian exile groups has given the authorities in Tehran a

Beltway pundits and partisans are debating which U.S. president deserves more credit for helping pave the way for the

As President Obama navigates the treacherous currents of Iran’s post-election political crisis, he faces a heated attack from

Rather than reining in the special ops units mainly responsible for civilian casualties, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan

The Obama administration remains quiet on how Iran’s post-election crisis will affect U.S. plans to engage the

As President Barack Obama takes a wait-and-see approach to the violent aftermath of Iran’s contested election, U

Despite receiving some support from the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call for a qualified Palestinian state

President Obama's Cairo speech represented a significant shift away from the ideological framework that shaped the Bush administration's

In his speech in Cairo, President Barack Obama extended a hand to the world’s 1.5 bil lion Muslims

As President Obama pushes Israel toward a two-state solution, right-wing hawks are pressing the U.S. administration to

Now that his administration has completed its review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Obama gets to

Divergent Israeli and U.S. views on the place of Iran and the Palestinian situation within the larger question of

The reaction by the Obama administration to North Korea’s nuclear test will send a message about how the new

A new film from a little-known U.S. organization with foreign right-wing ties claims that radical jihadists are

Despite recent face-to-face talks, it seems clear that President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu view

While the Obama administration says it wants its new commander in Afghanistan to carry out politically sensitive counterinsurgency tactics, Lt

Last week’s annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee provided a stark reminder that although the lobby

Foreign policy hawks speaking at a recent American Enterprise Institute conference revealed a softening in their rhetoric toward Iran and

The newly founded Foreign Policy Initiative, led by the same neocon writers who set up the Project for the New

As the United States boosts its forces in Afghanistan, hawks in both Republican and Democratic circles are championing small wars

Iran’s dismissive response to U.S. attempts at engagement will likely isolate it even further, much to the

Some analysts argue that the Obama administration’s battle against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is misplaced and will spur

President Obama issued well wishes to Iran on that country’s New Years celebration last Friday, striking a dramatically

A new report makes a series of recommendations to the new administration for finding common ground with Russia, after the

The United States might not be the dominant power in the Middle East that the Obama administration seems to presume

U.S. policy must end its misguided fear of Islamist parties and concentrate on human rights, experts assert in open

Will the lengthy and intrusive vetting process for nominees hamper the Obama’s administration ability to confront a number

A vitriolic battle waged by Republican lawmakers and Israel-centric hardliners spurred Charles “Chas” Freeman to withdraw from

A recent report by a hawkish U.S. think tank urges the administration to exert increasing pressure on Tehran to

Dutch MP Geert Wilders tours the United States, soliciting conservatives for financial and ideological support

A likely Likud-led coalition government in Israel will likely find itself at loggerheads with an Obama administration intent on

Planned U.S. congressional delegations to Syria underscore Obama's desire to restore diplomatic relations with Damascus

President Obama’s decision to stick to his campaign pledge regarding troop withdrawal from Iraq is facing strong opposition

Critics fear that Obama’s potential “surge” in Afghanistan may incite, rather than resolve, violence and resentment

The Pentagon and the arms industry are hoping for substantial increases in military spending despite a worsening financial crisis and

Within days of his inauguration, Obama had already begun to take substantive steps toward jumpstarting Arab-Israeli peace process

The arrival in Israel of There could be potential friction as U.S. peace envoy and longtime critic of settlement

Bush administration efforts to undermine Hamas appear to have paved the way for the recent Israeli assault on Gaza

Few historians would apparently disagree with Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal’s comment that the Bush administration has left

The president-elect’s stated goal of improving the Israeli-Palestinian situation has been complicated before he even starts

Some experts think the Obama administration may be the last chance the Middle East has for achieving a two-state

With the presidential transition running full-steam ahead, hardliners are busy lining up their arguments for why talks with Iran

(Inter Press Service) At the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations meeting in late October, it wasn't U

(Inter Press Service) The promotion of Robert M. Gates as President-Elect Barack Obama's secretary of defense appears to

(Inter Press Service) Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has been elected U.S. president at a time when the number

(Inter Press Service) With the 2008 presidential campaign at its end, pundits have begun to discuss in earnest what expected

(Inter Press Service) A cross-border raid into Syria by U.S. forces in Iraq, and the subsequent stonewalling by

(Inter Press Service) Increasingly frustrated by the "downward spiral" that the U.S. intelligence community sees in Afghanistan

(Inter Press Service) Calling Pakistan the "greatest single challenge" to the next U.S. administration, a bipartisan group

(Inter Press Service) A series of meetings between U.S. and Syrian diplomats—including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

(Inter Press Service) A group of hardline U.S. neoconservatives and former Israeli diplomats, among others, are behind the mass

(Inter Press Service) The Russia-Georgia peace deal indicates that the European Union (EU) is acting as an independent power

(Inter Press Service) The administration of President George W. Bush continues to expand government secrecy across a broad array of

(Inter Press Service) U.S. counterterrorism policies and support for the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia have

(Inter Press Service) Iran could emerge as a big winner, at least in the short term, from the rapidly escalating

(Inter Press Service) Whatever hopes the George W. Bush administration may have had for using its post-9/11 &ldquo

(Inter Press Service) Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation brings to an end an extraordinarily close relationship between Musharraf and

(Inter Press Service) After suffering a series of stinging defeats of its detention policies in four years of Supreme Court

(Inter Press Service) Just days after the outbreak of war between Russia and Georgia, the debate in Washington over how

(Inter Press Service) A military attack on Iran's major nuclear facilities by the United States or Israel would likely

(Inter Press Service) Instead of moving toward accommodating the demand of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a timetable

(Inter Press Service) The controversial Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee and thousands of supporters filled a convention center in downtown

(Inter Press Service) Two of Washington's most prominent foreign policy greybeards praised Saturday's direct participation in multinational talks

(Inter Press Service) It was neoconservative pundit Charles Krauthammer who, in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse, inaugurated

(Inter Press Service) Security has collapsed again in Fallujah, Iraq, despite U.S. military claims. Local militias supported by U

(Inter Press Service) Conciliatory noises from Tehran over the nuclear issue have left Washington and Brussels baffled and unconvinced of

(Inter Press Service) A senior Iranian official reportedly told members of the Iranian parliament Monday that Iran has agreed to

(Inter Press Service) A majority of global publics say their governments should "not take either side" in the

(Inter Press Service) If U.S. President George W. Bush wants to boost Republican chances of holding on to the

The rockets being fired into Israel from Gaza have stopped for now. So have the Israeli raids into the coastal

While the United States and Britain are talking about tougher sanctions on Iran, including sanctions on its gas and oil

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was more explicit than usual last Sunday, asserting that Israel's settlement activity

A foreign policy idea tabled by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has received support from a wide variety of camps

As Israel’s transportation minister, one might have expected that Shaul Mofaz would have given greater consideration to the

(Inter Press Service) Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for airstrikes against Iranian

(LobeLog.com) This week, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) holds its annual conference, and true to form, the

(Inter Press Service) “My name is Ahmed Mohammed,” she told police after her arrest outside the U.S

(Inter Press Service) If politics makes strange bedfellows, then the relationship between Iran, the United States, and the Supreme Islamic

In separate speeches delivered an ocean apart, the two standard bearers of the Republican Party last Thursday offered rosy visions

(Inter Press Service) Hezbollah’s recent rout of U.S.-backed forces in Lebanon has cast a shadow over

(Inter Press Service) Amid regional fears of a summer war between Israel and Syria, the two countries may in fact

(Inter Press Service) Three weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld established an official

(Inter Press Service) By negotiating a Shiite truce, Tehran embarrassed Washington in early April and arguably proved itself to be

(Inter Press Service) In the clearest indication yet that Israel now believes Iran's nuclear aspirations can be curbed through

(Inter Press Service) Despite renewed U.S. efforts to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement this year, popular views of

Despite a reduction in violence over the past 15 months, “the U.S. risks getting bogged down in Iraq

One of the Arab world's most widely respected nongovernmental organizations is charging that at least 14 Middle East and

The Fergana Valley in the heart of Central Asia has a reputation for instability, violent conflict, and Islamic fundamentalism. The

Iran's post-revolutionary education system continues to teach children to discriminate against women and religious minorities, according to a

Admiral William Fallon's request last week to resign from his position as head of U.S. Central Command (Centcom

U.S. foreign policy is becoming increasingly dominated by the Pentagon rather than the State Department, and Congress is doing

The George W. Bush administration has long pushed the “laptop documents”—1,000 pages of technical documents

A new report published by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) purports to show the reach and scope of Iranian influence

As the man responsible for the health and strength of the U.S. military, Pentagon chief Robert Gates is increasingly

Neoconservative hawks recently suffered another loss in the Bush administration when Stephen Coughlin, a controversial government expert on jihad, lost

As President George W. Bush seeks to deeply entrench U.S. military forces in Iraq, the Congress and foreign policy

White House officials have now admitted that George W. Bush was told that the intelligence assessment on a covert Iranian

When the George W. Bush administration asked Damascus to attend last month's Annapolis conference, Imad Moustapha, the Syrian

The reported White House resistance to the conclusion of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that Iran had abandoned a nuclear

A little over a week after a U.S. intelligence report concluded that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in

Despite the White House spin that the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) supports its policy of increasing pressure on Iran

It was initially billed as a "peace conference" to decisively address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But as President

What do the current Pakistani political crisis, Israel's September air strike against Syria, and Iran's continued pursuit of

Until late October 2007, the accepted explanation about the September 6 Israeli airstrike in Syria, constructed in a series of

Despite near-universal skepticism about the prospects for launching a serious, new Middle East peace process at this week's

Just as the White House claims that it has finally turned the corner in what it defines as the "

A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to

L. Bruce Laingen was working as a senior U.S. Foreign Service officer in Tehran in 1979 when student protestors

Vice President Dick Cheney and his neoconservative allies in the George W. Bush administration only began agitating for the use

When the U.S. military command accused the Iranian Quds Force last January of providing the armor-piercing explosively formed

Right-wing pundit David Horowitz was in rare form during a tightly controlled "public speech" at the George

Last Thursday, the heads of the U.S. State and Treasury Departments jointly announced new sanctions aimed at the further

The George W. Bush administration's shift from the military option of a massive strategic attack against Iran to a

The vice president gives a hostile assessment of Iran and the president links World War III to a nuclear Iran

In her most comprehensive—if characteristically cautious—foreign policy pronouncement to date, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

The George W. Bush administration has gone on the offensive against a non-binding House resolution recognizing as "genocide

Despite the U.S. military command's frequent assertions that the primary threat to U.S. forces in Iraq comes

With a strong majority of U.S. citizens favoring withdrawal from Iraq within a year and presidential elections set for

Senate Democrats plan to closely question Michael Mukasey, the nominee for the next U.S. attorney general, about his views

He called for more "research" into the unequivocal facts of the Holocaust, said Iranian women were among the

Amid growing speculation about prospects for U.S. military action against Iran, neoconservatives and other hawks won a

The George W. Bush administration is badly losing the so-called "war of ideas" in the Middle East

The George W. Bush administration recently concluded that the increase in rocket attacks on coalition targets by Shiite forces over

Nearly three weeks have passed since Israeli warplanes conducted a mysterious raid against an as yet unidentified target in northeast

Despite the addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to enhance security in Iraq, the freedom of average Iraqis to

In what was at least a symbolic blow to President George W. Bush, a prominent Iraqi tribal sheikh and self

In anticipation of U.S. Gen. David Petraeus' final report on Iraq, supporters of the troop surge have been busily

On the same day that Gen. David Petraeus delivered to Congress his much anticipated progress report on the U.S

As the U.S. Congress prepares for a critical September assessment of progress in Iraq, a draft of an upcoming

Israeli officials warned the George W. Bush administration that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilizing to the region and

September 15, 2007 is the deadline for the George W. Bush administration to submit a report to Congress defending its

The White House's decision last week to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization could deal

In hailing what he has called an "almost breathtaking" turnaround in Anbar Province that has weakened al-Qaida

The last few years have produced an enormous trove of literature about conflict and violence in the Middle East, no

When the United States sells state-of-the-art weapons systems to Arab nations, it invariably provides even more lethal

A shocking thing happens midway through Norman Solomon's documentary film War Made Easy. . While analyzing the George W. Bush

A bill that would ban permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives last Wednesday

Last Thursday afternoon, in a tightly packed press room of the U.S. Capitol building, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi stood at

At the end of June, a few members of Congress made a discreet move to limit U.S. exports of

President George W. Bush's major policy address on July 16, promoting a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine

There may have been moments during their summit at his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, when President George W

In a development that underlines the tensions between the anti-Iran agenda of the George W. Bush administration and the

As the George W. Bush administration struggles through its last two years in office, it appears that the agenda of

Four years after the emergence of the first signs of a serious insurgency in Iraq, President George W. Bush finds

Sen. Joseph Lieberman's (I-CT) recent call for air-strikes against Iran appears to be the culmination of a

Following revelations of a George W. Bush administration policy to hold Iran responsible for any al-Qaida attack on the

Outgoing World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who announced his resignation in mid-May (which will go into effect June 30

Two major studies by the U.S. intelligence community—distributed to senior officials in every relevant agency two months

Newly proposed legislation would expand existing Pentagon security and military aid programs in Iraq and Afghanistan to "coalition

With just over 18 months left in office, the administration of President George W. Bush appears once again to be

Israel should take advantage of the opportunity to renew peace negotiations with Syria while there is a real chance of

Of the top five outside international appointments made by embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz during his nearly two-year

It has an all too familiar ring to it. A crisis area—in this case, the Middle East&mdash

When the George W. Bush administration launched a high-profile campaign in January and February accusing Iran of exporting armor

Recent efforts to initiate dialogue with Iran and North Korea may give the impression that the Bush administration is gradually

As the dispute over Iran's seizure of British sailors continues to twist and turn, what may have been an

It was just nine months ago that Newsweek spoke for the conventional wisdom at that moment when it pronounced "

Two weeks ago, Pentagon officials allegedly discussed a strategy to escalate U.S. pressure on Iran with the intention of

In a move that has surprised many foreign policy analysts, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has appointed a prominent neoconservative

Two weeks after making major concessions for a nuclear accord with North Korea, the administration of President George W. Bush

For several weeks, Washington has been abuzz with rumors that President George W. Bush is preparing to attack nuclear and

U.S. and Israeli hopes of forging a Sunni Arab alliance to contain Iran and its regional allies may be

The supreme irony of President George W. Bush's campaign to blame Iran for the sectarian civil war in Iraq

A long-awaited study by the U.S. intelligence community released last Friday concludes that there is little, if any

While an in increasing number of Democratic and Republican legislators oppose the Bush administration's plan to “surge&rdquo

While most national and international observers focus their attention on plans by the Bush administration to increase the number of

Two incidents involving U.S. forces in the predominantly Shia southern Iraq over the past week appear to demonstrate the

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) may have effectively closed up shop two years ago, and its key

When former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized the U.S. military invasion of Iraq as an "illegal" act, neoconservatives

Even before Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Afghanistan this week and issued harsh words about Iranian activities in the Middle

In putting together his long-awaited new strategy on Iraq, President George W. Bush relied heavily on the counsel of

Neoconservative hawks inside and outside the administration of President George W. Bush had hoped that Israel would attack Syria during

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been touring the Middle East with a clear message: To make peace in the

The highly touted and long-awaited final report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group (ISG) appears headed toward an uncertain

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's months-long diplomatic effort to get five other powers to agree to a tough

The abrupt replacement of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld by former Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert Gates, combined with the Democratic

While U.S. President George W. Bush appeared last week to reject suggestions that Washington directly engage the government of

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has endured recent speculation about how long his tenure in office will last

For the many foreign policy experts who have reached an advanced state of despair over the ever-plunging image and

Encouraging Japan to build nuclear weapons, shipping food aid via submarines, and running secret sabotage operations inside North Korea's

In its initial reaction to North Korea's apparent nuclear test, the Bush administration indicated it would seek the strongest

In enacting new legislation last week governing the treatment and trial of suspects in Washington's "global war on terror

The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) recently retired top expert on radical Islamists has strongly denounced the conduct of U

Nearly two years before the 2008 presidential election, Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, is

Before Iran gave its formal counteroffer on August 22 to ambassadors of the six countries trying to negotiate with Tehran

On August 23, the Republican-chaired House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released a report suggesting that Iran might acquire

[Editor's Note: On August 14, 2006, the New Yorker posted on its website "Watching Lebanon" by Seymour Hersh, in

By the end of the 35-day Israel-Hezbollah conflict in southern Lebanon, the atmosphere in Washington had become stifling

Sen. Joe Lieberman's August 8 defeat in Connecticut's Democratic primary by a little-known anti-war candidate marks

A notion is gradually taking hold among some U.S. hardliners that is bound to make the Bush administration acutely

There is a growing consensus among the U.S. foreign policy elite that the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is the result

Israel's military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon have reenergized the neoconservatives, who see an opportunity to regain influence lost

The sudden opening on July 12 by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia of a second front in Israel's ongoing campaign

"Let us state the obvious," wrote Reuel Marc Gerecht, the resident Gulf specialist at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute in

It was Jim Hoagland, the Washington’s Post’s liberal hawk par excellence, who first pondered the possible

Daniel Pipes, the founder of the Middle East Forum and an anti-Islamist activist, is working to organize a new

WASHINGTON - While most of the world is still trying to come to terms with the neo-imperial ambitions of the