On Thursday, The Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted a panel discussing the ongoing crises in Syria and Iran, the potential for escalation, and America’s role in the situation. Panelists included Saban Senior Fellows Robert Moran and Suzanne Maloney, and next generation fellow from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Syria Expert Andrew Tabler. Brookings Senior Fellow and Director of the Saban Center Kenneth Pollack ...

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia chaired by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) held a hearing on the U.S. Government’s policies towards the ever-changing situation in Syria and what kind of policy stances the White House should take in appropriately dealing with Syria. Fredric C. Hof, Special Coordinator for Regional Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace ...

On Thursday, the Middle East Institute in concert with Freedom House hosted a discussion panel on the implications of the Arab Spring for US policy and interests in the Middle East region. The discussion panel was also charged with introducing a planned and authored by numerous scholars in cooperation with MEI entitled, The Arab Spring: Implications for US Policy and Interests. Discussants on the panel were scholars who participated in ...

On Tuesday, the Middle East Institute Brookings Institution co-hosted an event entitled "Syria Under Growing International Pressure." Speakers included Murhaf Jouejati of the Middle East Institute and the National Defense University, Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Omer Taspinar of the Brookings Institution. Saban Center Senior Fellow Michael Doran moderated the discussion, while Kate Seelye provided an introduction. For full event notes, continue reading. Or, click ...

On Wednesday, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems held a panel discussion to discuss the current spate of post-revolutionary elections that have occurred in places like Tunisia and Egypt, and elections that are being prepared for currently in Libya. The discussion also focused on the technical hurdles that numerous countries face when planning and carrying out credible elections. All discussants but one were members of IFES including Nicolas Kaczorowski, IFES ...

Last Thursday, The New America Foundation held a panel discussion about the revolution in Yemen and the implications of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s resignation from office and the formation of a new government. Program Associate Jonathan Guyer of the New America Foundation moderated the discussion panel, which consisted of Laura Kasinof, Yemen correspondent for The New York Times, and Mohammed Albasha spokesman for the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen. For ...

On Monday, the Syrian Emergency Task Force hosted a Congressional briefing at the House of Representatives to discuss the ongoing humanitarian situation in Syria. The briefing was moderated by Cole Bockenfeld, advocacy director for the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). The panel included Toby Cadman, human rights lawyer and legal council for the Syrian Emergency Task Force, and numerous witnesses who either experienced violence from the Assad Regime or ...

On Wednesday, the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) at George Washington University hosted a panel discussion entitled "After Tunisia's Election" to assess the results of Tunisia's October 23 elections and their implications for the nation moving forward. Melani Cammett of Brown University, Chris Alexander of Davidson College, and John P. Entelis of Fordham University offered remarks. POMEPS Director Marc Lynch moderated the event. For full event notes, continue reading. ...

On Wednesday, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA) co-hosted an event entitled "Libya in Transition: The Significance of U.N. Resolution 1973 and Democracy in the Middle East and North Africa." Panelists included Dean Pittman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Laith Kubba, Senior Director of the Middle East and North Africa at the ...

On Monday, SAIS hosted numerous panelists to discuss the upcoming free elections in Tunisia, the “Arab Spring” in general, and what panelists saw next for Tunisia. Kurt Volker, managing director of Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR) moderated the panel discussion, which included: Mohamed Salah Tekaya, Tunisian ambassador to the United States, Tamara Wittes, deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs and deputy special coordinator for Middle East Transitions at the ...

On Friday, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy hosted Andrew Tabler, distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and via Skype, Ambassador Robert Ford, the current American ambassador to Syria. Robert Satloff, executive director at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, introduced the discussion. Both Tabler and Ford gave brief speeches and then spent the majority of the time taking questions from the audience. For full event notes, ...

On Thursday the United States Institute of Peace hosted four members of the newly formed Syria National Council for a discussion of the current status of the Syrian opposition and it’s future. The panel discussion was moderated by Steven Heydemann, Senior Advisor for Middle East Initiatives at USIP. Panelists included: Najib Ghadbian, associate professor at the University of Arkansas, Murhaf Jouejati, professor of Middle East studies at the National Defense ...

On Tuesday, the Middle East Institute hosted a presentation by Randa Slim, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and Levant expert, which discussed the future of Hezbollah in the context of the Arab Spring. Slim addressed the way that Hezbollah views the Arab Spring, the domestic strategies of Hezbollah in the changing landscape of the Middle East, and how the Arab Spring affected the standing of Hezbollah in the ...

On Tuesday, the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center hosted Maryam al-Khawaja, Head of Foreign Relations at the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Al-Khawaja discussed the human rights violations that have accompanied the Government of Bahrain's crackdown on popular protests. Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, moderated the event. For full event notes, continue reading. Or, click here for the PDF.  Al-Khawaja began her presentation ...

On Monday, American University’s School of International Service (SIS) hosted a panel discussion entitled “The Forgotten Arab Uprising: Politics and Human Rights in Bahrain.” The panel featured Maryam al- Khawaja from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Joe Stork from Human Rights Watch, Saqer al-Khalifa of Bahrain’s Cultural and Media Attaché and Kristin Diwan from the Comparative and Regional Studies program at SIS. The panel was moderated by SIS Professor ...

On Friday, the Middle East Institute hosted a discussion with Adel Abdellatif, the chief of the Regional Program Division of the Regional Bureau of Arab States, a division of the United Nations Development Program. Abdellatif focused on the deficiencies of the socio-political system in Arab countries that led to the Arab Spring, as well as the processes that needs to take place to continue the pro-democratic trend that is ...

Partners for a New Beginning hosted a panel discussion at the Aspen Institute on the rule of law in Egypt and the challenges Egyptian democracy is encountering, as it attempts to transition from its current state under a military-led council to a fully functioning parliamentary democracy. Hdeel Abdelhady, the co-founder of the Egyptian American Rule of Law Association, moderated the discussion. Panelists included Nathan Brown, professor of political science and ...

On Wednesday, the Elliot School of International Affairs of George Washington University hosted an event titled “The State of the Egyptian Revolution” focusing on whether the revolution in Egypt is still on going, if it has been defeated and what the future of Egypt is in the new political climate. All of the panelists agreed that Egypt has been irreversibly changed by the recent events, but that the revolution ...

On Tuesday, the Women’s Learning Partnership cohosted an event entitled “Women and Democratic Transition in the Middle East” with the Woodrow Wilson Center. The discussions addressed the challenges faced by women in the MENA region and how to achieve viable democracies, given that women’s position is a barometer for the success of democratic transition. For full event notes, continue reading. Or, click here for the PDF. Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle ...

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing to present Ambassador-designate to the Kingdom of Bahrain The Honorable Thomas C. Krajeski, Ambassador-designate to Luxembourg Robert A. Mandell, Ambassador-designate to the People's Republic of Bangladesh The Honorable Dan W. Mozena, and the nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Michael A. Hammer. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) presided over the hearing, and John Barrasso (R-WY) and James ...