Middle East

Welcome to what could turn out to be the most important, and potentially the most destructive, week in international diplomacy since the end of the Cold War.

Read the full World Politics Review article Iran Talks, Greece Crisis Open Make-or-Break Week for West

Unless the Syrian refugee emergency is treated as a truly global responsibility, we can't expect hard-pressed countries to maintain the generosity they have demonstrated since the crisis erupted.

Read the full Open Democracy article Syria’s refugees: a global responsibility

Europe is trying to help Libya stem the human trafficking trade that has imperiled the lives of tens of thousands of desperate migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

Last week, the United Nations was thrust back into the center of international crisis management in the Arab world. 

The UN embarked this week on a renewed bid to negotiate a political transition in Syria.

Is U.S. President Barack Obama the last great Cold War statesman?

Read the full World Politics Review article Iran Nuclear Deal Reveals Cold War Roots of Obama’s Statesmanship

President Obama is laboring to defend not just the merits of a nuclear framework with Iran but how the finalization of such a pact would affect his ability to confront Tehran's growing influence.

Read the full Washington Examiner article After nuclear framework, will Obama be able to confront Iran?

The U.S., Iran and other world powers reached a framework agreement, curbing Iran's nuclear program for at least 10 years. Joy Reid, Fred Kaplan, and James Traub discuss the historic achievement and the critical reaction to it.

Relations between Israel and the US are at their most strained in years, following comments by newly-re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there wouldn't be a Palestinian state on “his watch.”

Read the full Voice of America article Palestinians Consider UN Options