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1 month ago | 
tcf.org | Sajad Jiyad |Nicholas Danforth |Veena Ali-Khan |Thanassis Cambanis
Donald Trump has quickly made it clear that the guiding light in his relationships with Arab countries of the Gulf will be his trademark transactionalism. In the first days of his new term, he announced that he was entertaining the idea of Saudi Arabia being his first foreign destination—if the Kingdom helped bring down oil prices and increased its investments in the United States to $1 trillion.
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1 month ago | 
tcf.org | Thanassis Cambanis |Aron Lund |Sam Heller |Sajad Jiyad
The events of the last year have upended many assumptions about the Axis of Resistance, the loosely defined network of Iran and its core partners. For as long as the Islamic Republic of Iran has sought to export revolution and project power in the Arab Middle East, surprisingly persistent debates have raged over core questions. Did Iran tightly command a network of proxies and dependents—or did it stand at the center of a loose network of like-minded groups and opportunistic fellow travelers?
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1 month ago | 
tcf.org | Aron Lund |Sam Heller |Nicholas Danforth |Sajad Jiyad
The new masters of Sayida Zaynab, a famous Shia shrine in the countryside outside Damascus, strode with confidence across the nearly empty marble courtyard, ignoring audible grumbles from the few remaining pilgrims and staffers. Abu Omar, the shrine’s new head of security, wears his beard long and ragged, in a style often associated with purist Sunnis.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Thanassis Cambanis |Sajad Jiyad |Peter Salisbury |Veena Ali-Khan
Many Middle Eastern leaders welcomed Donald Trump’s election victory, convinced that Trump policies would better serve their regional interests. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly rooted for Trump. And while authoritarian leaders in Saudi Arabia and Egypt had warmed to the Biden administration, they historically prefer Republican leaders who dispense with even rhetorical demands for human rights.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Sam Heller |Thanassis Cambanis |Sajad Jiyad |Dalia Hatuqa
When Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations in March 2023, the rapprochement seemed fragile. The two regional powers set modest public expectations for the pact, with supporters hoping it would, at the very least, help contain violence in Arab countries where both states play a role, and prevent new wars from emerging.
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Oct 14, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Sajad Jiyad |Dalia Hatuqa |Thanassis Cambanis |Sam Heller
The United States has already embarked, alongside Israel, on a new cycle of regional Middle East wars that is sure to end as a generational catastrophe—in human and societal destruction for Palestinians and Lebanese, and in strategic disaster for everyone involved. America’s leaders have failed to heed the recent lessons of 9/11, apparently determined to repeat the central mistake of the forever wars and seek to remake Middle Eastern societies and governments through military force.
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Jul 15, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Veena Ali-Khan |Sam Heller |Thanassis Cambanis |Sajad Jiyad
Big Ideas, Clear PoliciesProgressives have been kept busy for far too long trying to stop terrible U.S. foreign policies, such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq and ongoing forever-war counterterrorism policies that have come to define America in the Middle East. But the progressive vision for America’s role in the world goes far beyond repairing the damage wrought by careless forever warriors and indifferent isolationists.
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Jul 3, 2024 | 
newlinesmag.com | Sajad Jiyad
Shortly after dawn on Feb. 22, 2006, explosions tore through the Askari Shrine, one of the holiest sites of Shiite Islam, in Samarra, Iraq. Al Qaeda was the culprit, and the attack seemed designed to spark communal violence at a time of grave insecurity in the country. In the aftermath of the bombings, anti-Sunni reprisals began immediately in Baghdad, and the situation became more serious by the hour.
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May 24, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Moien Odeh |Muhannad Ayyash |Sam Heller |Sajad Jiyad
Iraq’s December 2023 governorate council elections, the first local elections since 2013, resulted in major gains for incumbent parties and only a few minor wins for antiestablishment lists. Change-oriented political parties and independent Iraqi politicians won only a few, scattered seats across the country. I have dubbed these reform-oriented groups “change politicians” because their primary objective is disruption of the status quo through the current political system.
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Apr 5, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Sajad Jiyad |Ben Robin-D’Cruz |Fanar Haddad |Zeinab F. Shuker
Iraqi prime minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani will make his first official state visit to Washington, D.C. on April 15. The visit, long in the making, comes at a moment when the two countries are renegotiating their relationship. Iraqi factions have attacked U.S. bases on a regular basis, and the fragile ceasefire that holds could be broken at any moment.
