On Wednesday, the Consensus For Development Reforms and Modernization Foreign Assistance Network hosted a discussion titled Palestine: the Bush Administration’ Legacy on Global Development: Lessons for the Next Decade and Beyond.  The panelists assessed the foreign assistance policy under President George W. Bush, the reform in this sector how it has impact the aid philosophy and policy. The discussion featured Ambassador John Danilovich, former CEO, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Ambassador ...

On Friday, the Cato Institute hosted a two panels questioning current U.S. policy towards Iran, focusing on whether the Obama Administration’s definition of "diplomacy" was limited to sanctions or pressure. In the first panel, “Can Diplomacy Work?,” featured Michael Adler, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Barbara Slavin, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Alireza Nader, a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation, and Justin Logan, director ...

According to The Economist, Arab governments may be enacting legislation in an effort to limit the influence of the internet has in their respective countries. An article published Thursday revealed examples of bill proposals that would come before legislative bodies in the coming month.  A bill (Eng.) defining “information-technology crimes” which is to be debated in the Iraqi parliament in April was cited as one of four laws that could potentially severely ...

On Thursday, the Center for Peacebuilding & Development at American University’s School of International Service hosted the first series of panels as part of their two day symposium: Reclaiming the Power of Nonviolence: Successes, obstacles, and Sustainability of Nonviolent Movements in the Arab Spring. The second panel featured Amer bani Amer, Director of the Al-Hayat Center in Jordan, Afra Jalabi, a Montreal based journalist, Maria Stephan, Strategic Planner at the ...

On Tuesday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a discussion titled hearing Palestine: Economic Challenges and Political Implications. The Palestinian economy made significant advances in recent years under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s institution building program, yet questions remain regarding the sustainability of such progress in light of the ongoing, and seemingly long-lasting, diplomatic stalemate with Israel. The discussion featured Robert Danin, Eni Enrico Mattei Fello, Council on Foreign Relations; ...

Al-Jazeera reported that the government argues that it has fulfilled the obligations of the BICI report released in November, but rights groups argue the opposite: the government has largely ignored “critical recommendations” and has yet to deal with “accountability for torture and relief for those unjustly imprisoned during the uprising.” On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch released a report documenting dozens of cases of citizens imprisoned simply for speaking out and demanding ...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on U.S. foreign policy options pertaining to Iran. The speakers were the Honorable Thomas R. Pickering, former under Secretary of State for political affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, General James E. Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mr. Karim Sadjadpour, senior associate at the Middle East Program Carnegie Endowment for International ...

Everette E. Dennis, dean of Northwestern University in Qatar,  published an article in the Huffington Post, expressing the need for a free and independent media to develop in Libya. Dennis writes that while Qaddafi left Libya with little societal infrastructure this has left a “blank slate,” and provides the Libyan people an opportunity to promote transparency and engage in “great debates that will shape their future” by building a free and independent ...

On Wednesday, The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East co-hosted a panel discussion focused on Egypt’s ongoing transition and U.S. policy options. The panel featured Shana Marshall, research fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Maikel Nabil, an Egyptian blogger and activist, and Michele Dunne, Director of the Hariri Middle East Center at the Atlantic Council. For the ...