October 7, 2012

In-depth

America’s Future in the Mideast

Lee Smith of Tablet Magazine asks four experts how the president, post-November, should prioritize his Mideast policy.

The United States needs to start a race to the top in the Middle East, incentivizing creative approaches in modern education and modern democratic institution-building. Now that we have finished the fun part—bringing down nasty dictators—here’s where the really difficult part begins, in building a new model for consensual politics.

 

Cairo-Tehran: a love/hate relationship

Egyptian-Iranian relations have been slowly developing, but this in itself may not guarantee normalisation, writes Dina Ezzat in Al-Ahram. 

Egypt has still been reluctant to accept an Iranian offer of what would otherwise be much-needed investment in the country. The decline was prompted by an Egyptian decision to avoid going too far in soliciting rapprochement with Iran at the expense of US discomfort.

Daily Digest

• Times of Israel: Israeli warplanes trigger sonic booms over Lebanon in possible response to drone
• Haaretz: Report: Iran pulls elite army unit from Syria in wake of Tehran protests
• Jerusalem Post: UK think tank takes EU to task on Hezbollah stance
• Ynet: Blanks fired at French synagogue
• New York Times: Citing U.S. Fears, Arab Allies Limit Syrian Rebel Aid
• Washington Post: Mixed reviews as Egypt’s new president hits 100-day mark in office
• Wall Street Journal: The Specter of Turkish-Syrian War