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The Republican Palace in Baghdad, Iraq, 22 Feb. 2010. The palace served as the headquarters of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and the Green Zone developed around it.

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Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Don't Knock Offshore Balancing Until You've Tried It

| December 8, 2016

"Offshore balancing has not failed in the Middle East because it hasn't been U.S. strategy for almost a generation. The United States did act like an offshore balancer from 1945 to about 1990: It had vital interests in the region and wanted to prevent any state (including the Soviet Union) from controlling the Gulf. But it pursued this goal first by relying on Great Britain (until 1967) and then by turning to local allies like the shah of Iran. After the shah fell in 1979, the United States created the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) so it could affect the balance of power swiftly and directly and thus deter a possible Soviet foray into the Gulf. But it didn't park the RDF in the Gulf or elsewhere in the region; instead, it kept it offshore and over the horizon and didn't use it until Iraq seized Kuwait in August 1990."

In this photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, taken Sept. 23, 2016, a destroyed ambulance is seen outside the Syrian Civil Defense main center after airstrikes in the rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo, Syria.

AP

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

The Great Myth About U.S. Intervention in Syria

| October 24, 2016

"...[B]y far the worst argument for intervening in Syria is the suggestion that greater U.S. involvement is necessary to preserve U.S. credibility, to maintain its reputation as a distinctly moral great power, or to preserve the respect of allies and adversaries alike. The historical record shows that not intervening in humanitarian tragedies has had little impact on America's standing in the past, and the same is true today."

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Podcast: "Can the United States 'Manage' the Middle East? Should it Try?" with Stephen M. Walt

| May 5, 2015

An audio recording from Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School.

On April 29, 2015 at MEI, Prof. Stephen Walt assessed U.S. policy and interests in the Middle East, arguing that scaled back involvement might yield better results for the U.S. and the region.

Secretary of State John Kerry testifies about a congressional Authorization for the Use of Military Force against the Islamic State, the violent jihadist group that has seized parts of Syria and Iraq, during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Commi

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Analysis & Opinions - Agence Global

More Simplistic Nonsense from the United States Government

| December 10, 2014

"It is exasperating to listen to American officials pontificate about events in the Middle East and offer reasonable sounding proposals to resolve the area’s problems, when those same officials and the entire political power structure they represent refuse to acknowledge that they have played a major role in creating or expanding those problems. This is why it is astounding to watch the United States now lead the military assault against the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) by using the same techniques that contributed in a major way to the birth and growth of the militant Islamist ideology that forms the core of ISIS and its criminal deeds."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Holds Hearing Threat Of ISIS on December 2, 2014

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Analysis & Opinions - Agence Global

Obama's Dangerous Embrace of War

| November 29, 2014

"One of the surprising aspects of following U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East from within the United States, as I have done for several months now on an extended visit, is the peculiar gap between ordinary citizens’ sentiments and the fact that the United States is actively militarily engaged in several countries in the region. This dangerous trend means that the American president — it does not matter which party he is from, because they both act similarly irresponsibly abroad — can continue to use the country’s enormous capabilities to wage war around the world at will."

Negotiations table during meeting of world leaders in Vienna on November 24, 2014 to discuss Iran's nuclear program

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Analysis & Opinions - Agence Global

Important Lessons from the Iran Negotiations

| November 26, 2014

"This week’s extension in the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 is a welcomed jolt of composure and realism in a process that for years has been characterized by wild allegations, emotional retorts and intemperate actions. The decision to extend talks and keep negotiating to achieve a final agreement by next summer seems to cement the decision to deal with the accusations of Iran’s alleged desire to obtain a nuclear bomb as a technical issue that has a technical solution, rather than a continuation of the tendency of the United States and Israel, primarily, to treat Iran as a hapless colonial subject."

September 16, 2014: U.S. President Barack Obama (R) meets with Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL General John Allen (L)

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Analysis & Opinions - Agence Global

New Hare-brained American Ideas in the Mideast

| October 18, 2014

"Analysts in the United States this week are debating the precise meaning of the statements Wednesday by John Allen, the ex-Marine general who now coordinates the U.S.-led coalition’s response to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He said that the United States is not coordinating with the Free Syrian Army, and instead plans to develop from scratch new local ground units in Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS on two fronts."

Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby briefs reporters at the Pentagon, Sept. 25, 2014. Kirby showed slides and videos highlighting U.S. airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in Syria.

DoD

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Much Ado About the Islamic State

| October 13, 2014

"Absent effective political institutions, efforts to move from authoritarian to more participatory forms of government tend to provoke bitter quarrels between previously advantaged groups and those who have been excluded from wealth or power. In a world where most states are in fact multiethnic or multinational, democratization was bound to provoke greater internal conflicts, at least in the short term."

Lt. Gen. William C. Mayville Jr. speaks about the Syrian bombing campaign September 23, 2014

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Analysis & Opinions - Agence Global

Three Questions to Ask Before Unleashing the Military

| October 11, 2014

"The American-led air attacks against ISIS in Iraq and Syria have triggered new debates in the United States about how the U.S. should respond to this and other challenges in faraway lands that may or may not directly threaten American interests. I have had enjoyable and substantive discussions with students and faculty at the University of Oklahoma this week, in which this question has come up repeatedly — and understandably so, given that most Americans had felt that their country was withdrawing from its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than re-engaging in new combat action."

President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel participate in a joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 2, 2014. Obama and Merkel are putting on a display of trans-Atlantic unity against an assert

AP

Analysis & Opinions - The Boston Globe

Where’s the US on Ukraine?

| May 8, 2014

Nick Burns discusses why Putin's aggression in Ukraine matters to America's vital interests, and how the American and European response — weak, disjointed, and ineffective — has his colleagues around the world wondering, Where is American power and leadership when the world needs it most?.