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  • Opinion: A Crisis in U.S.-Middle East Relations

    When the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates decline phone calls from the president of the United States, rebuff his requests to help lower oil prices, and shy away from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and when the U.A.E. hosts Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Abu Dhabi, there is no doubt that a major crisis in U.S.-Arab Gulf relations is under way.

  • Oil Thirst Is Forcing Biden to Pivot U.S. Back to Saudi Arabia

    President Joe Biden has been reluctantly drawn into closer ties with Saudi Arabia’s king-in-waiting, forced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to rethink a standoffish approach as the U.S. struggles to curb soaring oil prices. The problem is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman isn’t ready to play along. The softening U.S. attitude, described by a dozen people familiar with the debate, follows months of efforts by some senior administration officials to convince a wary president that ignoring the de facto Saudi leader was hampering U.S. foreign policy goals. The need to isolate Moscow gave new impetus to that push. One official described Russia’s aggression as a paradigm-shifting event that changes the way the U.S. looked at Saudi Arabia.

  • U.S. Sends Patriot Missiles to Saudi Arabia, Fulfilling Urgent Request

    U.S. officials said the decision to send the interceptors had taken months because of the high demand for the weapons by other U.S. allies and the need to go through normal vetting—not because the White House was deliberately delaying the resupply. The interceptors and other munitions sent to Saudi Arabia were taken from U.S. stockpiles elsewhere in the Middle East, one of the officials said.

  • U.S. Defense Attitudes Shifted Before Russia-Ukraine War

    Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Americans were divided evenly as to whether the U.S. was spending too little (32%), too much (31%) or about the right amount (34%) on the military and national defense. This marks a significant shift from two years ago, during Republican Donald Trump's administration and after significant increases in defense spending, when a record high 50% said spending was about right, while 17% said the U.S. was spending too little.

  • U.S. Power and Influence in the Middle East: Part Two

    In this episode, we will trace the story of the last 20 years of heavy U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, identifying lessons learned by U.S. forces, partners, and adversaries after two decades of heightened engagement in the region.

  • U.S. Strategy and the Real Lessons of the War in Ukraine: From Cooperation with Russia and China to Lasting Confrontation

    For all the talk of resuming the Cold War, the reality is radically different. The United States and its strategic partners now confront two superpowers – not just one – and powers that pose both a global as well as a regional challenge. A rising China is also becoming the most serious threat. It is becoming a serious nuclear power, it is modernizing its conventional forces far more quickly than Russia, and it is a growing technological rival to the U.S. and its partners. Its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as well as its global trade and investment efforts are also a far more effective method to use its civil-economic power to win strategic influence.

  • U.S. Won’t Negotiate Ukraine-Related Sanctions With Russia to Save Iran Nuclear Deal

    “I don’t see the scope for going beyond what is within the confines of the JCPOA,” the U.S. official said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “I think it’s pretty safe to say that there is no room for making exemptions beyond those.”

  • Missiles strike near U.S. Consulate in northern Iraq, officials say

    The attack appeared to mark a significant escalation in proxy and political conflicts on Iraqi soil as talks between Iran and the United States over the future of a 2015 nuclear deal shattered by President Donald Trump now stall as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

  • Analysis: You still need us, UAE tells U.S. as it flexes Gulf oil muscles

    "This was deliberate," Gulf Research Center Chairman Abdulaziz Sager said of the conflicting UAE comments, adding that the message being sent to Washington was: "You need us, we need you, so let's settle the issues between us."

  • U.S., Iran at loggerheads over nuclear deal after Russian interruption

    Russia's demand initially angered Tehran and appeared to help it and Washington move towards agreement on the few remaining thorny issues, diplomats said, but a sudden volley of public comments by Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday suggested the wind had turned.