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 ...

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 ...

On Thursday, the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University hosted a discussion entitled ‘The Rise of Islamist Parties in the New Middle East’. The panel featured Dr. Jocelyne Cesari, Director of the Harvard Islam in the West Program and Dr. Nathan Brown, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Aaron Lobel, President of America Abroad ...

On Thursday, the Center for Contemporary Arabic Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University held its 2012 Annual Symposium, titled “The People Want the Fall of the Regime: The Arab Uprisings and the Future of Arab Politics.” The panel titled “Economics, Youth, and Technology in the ‘Arab Spring’” featured Joel Beinin of Stanford University, Adel Iskandar of Georgetown University, and Marwan M. Kraidy of the University of Pennsylvania and the American University ...

On Friday, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University hosted the second day of its annual symposium, “The People want the fall of the Regime: The Arab Uprisings and the future of Arab Politics.” The second panel discussed “Yemen, Syria, and the Gulf States,” featuring presentations from Stacey Philbrick Yadav, director of the Middle Eastern Studies program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Bassam Haddad, Director of the ...

On Friday, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University hosted the second day of its annual symposium “The People want the fall of the Regime: The Arab Uprisings and the Future of Arab Politics.” The first panel featured discussed “Tunisia and Egypt” featuring presentations from Eric Gobe from the Centre national de La Recherche Scientifique, Dina Bishara from George Washington University, and Elliot Colla from Georgetown University. Judith ...

On Thursday, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University hosted the first panel of its two-day annual symposium “The People want the fall of the Regime: The Arab Uprisings and the Future of Arab Politics.” The panel featured Professor Lisa Wedeen of the University of Chicago, Professor Eva Bellin of Brandeis University, and Joseph Sassoon of Georgetown University. The panelist discussed authoritarian politics in the Arab world, addressing ...

On Wednesday, the Middle East Institute hosted a discussion on the impact of the elections on the future of Iran's nuclear program, and the outlook for the forthcoming negotiations aimed at de-escalating U.S.-Iranian tensions. The speakers were Seyed Aliakbar Mousavi, a visiting fellow at the University of Maryland and former Member of Parliament in the 6th Parliament of Iran, and Geneive Abdo, the director of the Iran Program at The ...

On Tuesday, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted members of the U.N. Human Rights independent international Commission of Inquiry for Syria to discuss the findings of their recently released report. Paulo Pinhiero, the chairman of the commission, along with commissioners Yakin Erturk and Karen AbuZayd provided an overview of their investigation and described the current human rights situation in Syria. Senior Brookings Fellow Ted Piccone, deputy ...

On Wednesday, the Reserve Officers Association, in conjunction with the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), hosted an event examining Iran, Syria, and the ramifications that their relationship has for U.S. regional strategy. The event featured Jay Solomon, foreign affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, and Daniel Brumberg, USIP’s senior adviser in the Center for Conflict Management. The event was moderated by Steven Heydeman, the senior adviser for Middle East ...

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs conducted a hearing assessing the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) budget priorities in fiscal year 2013. The witness was the Honorable Rajiv Shah, administrator to USAID. Ilena Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) presided over the committee. For full event notes, continue reading below or click here for the PDF Ilena Ros-Lehtinen opened the hearing, saying that over the last year not much has changed ...

On Monday, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted a discussion on U.S. policy options in Syria. Panelists included Senior Fellow Daniel Byman, director of research for the Saban Center For Middle East Policy; Senior Fellow Michael Doran; Senior Fellow Kenneth Pollack; and Fellow Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center who appeared live from Doha Via video feed. Senior Fellow Tamara Cofman Wittes moderated the ...

On Friday, the Brookings Institution hosted a panel discussion on the prospects of US-Egypt relations. Discussants included Shadi Hamid, Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center, Khaled Elgindy, Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Tamara Cofman Wittes, Director of the Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Daniel Byman, Director of Research at the Saban Center, moderated the discussion. For the full text of the event notes, continue reading ...

On Thursday, the Middle East Institute hosted a talk on Russia's enduring relationship with Syria. The speaker was Mark Katz, a professor of government and politics at George Mason University. The event was moderated by Kate Seelye, vice president of the Middle East Institute. For the full text of event notes, continue reading below, or click here for the PDF   Kate Seelye opened the talk by describing the Russia-Syria relationship as "deep and complex," and ...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations conducted a hearing assessing the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) budget priorities in fiscal year 2013. The witness was the Honorable Rajiv Shah, administrator to USAID. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) presided over committee.   To read the full text of the hearing continue reading below, or click here for PDF version   Benjamin Cardin said he believed international development assistance is a critical investment for U.S. national ...

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee heard testimony from Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Dr. Raj Shah. The hearing discussed the fiscal year 2012 budget request. Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) presided over the committee, co-chaired by Ranking Member Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY). To read the full text of the hearing continue reading below, or click here for PDF version. Kay Granger (R-TX) opened by addressing ...

On Tuesday, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) hosted a panel addressing the challenges and issues that Yemen must address in order to successfully move forward into a democracy. The speakers were Elobaid Ahmed Elobaid, director of the U.N. Human Rights Training and Documentation Center for South West Asia and the Arab Region, Grant Kippen, the IFES chief of party for Yemen, and Ibrahim Sharqieh, deputy director of the ...

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs conducted a hearing assessing the U.S. foreign policy priorities amidst difficult economic conditions. The witness was the Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State. The hearing was led by Ilena Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chairwoman of the committee. For full event notes, continue reading below or click here for the PDF Ilena Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) opened the hearing suggesting the governments of Iraq and ...

On Wednesday, the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) hosted a panel at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to address the progress that Tunisia has made thus far in its democratic transition, and to discuss the challenges that lie ahead. Panelists were Omezzine Khelifa, Tunisian civil society activist and former candidate for Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly (Ettakatol Party), Mohamed Malouche, president of Tunisian American Young Professionals, and Alexis Arieff, ...

On Thursday, the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) and the Middle Eastand North Africa Program at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) hosted a roundtable discussion on the recent legislation adopted by the Iraqi government on the media restricting the freedom of expression after years of experiencing media freedom after the fall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.  The panel featured Oday Hatem Iraqi journalist and president of the ...