There is more the President could do during his Middle East trip to improve the stability in the region: He should promote economic freedom. The Middle East and North Africa are two regions where countries lack the institutions to protect private property rights. In his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, …
As President Obama visits Israel, one of the biggest elephants in the room is the ongoing financial crisis just across the desert in Egypt. Since the Arab Spring uprising, Egypt’s economy has deteriorated. The country’s most immediate crisis is a foreign reserve shortage. Stocks of the country’s foreign currency reserves …
As the Syrian civil war escalates, it is increasingly spilling over Syria’s borders to threaten Syria’s neighbors and the long-established U.N. peacekeeping forces deployed along Syria’s border with Israel. On Wednesday, Syrian rebels captured 21 peacekeeping troops from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights near …
Israel was a conspicuous omission when the itinerary of Secretary of State John Kerry’s first trip overseas to Europe and the Middle East was announced this week. Although Kerry will visit Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates, he will not be visiting America’s most important ally in …
In his State of the Union address, President Obama showed a stunning lack of reality on terrorism and the Arab Spring. The President’s statement saluting “the courage and sacrifice of those who serve in dangerous places at great personal risk” unfortunately rings hollow when one considers the Administration’s treatment of the …
The Heritage Foundation will be holding a public event on February 13 to discuss the role of social media in the Arab Spring with experts from Heritage, Freedom House, and the Department of State. Social media showed its political potential during the Arab Spring, allowing “crowdsourcing” and the coordination of …
Qatar, a small peninsula off Saudi Arabia that’s the size of Connecticut, is a strong security partner to the United States on many issues, but its support for Islamist forces within many countries affected by the Arab Spring raises important questions. Last year, Qatar hosted Syrian opposition groups to discuss …
The conversion of corn to ethanol has contributed to a doubling in global food prices since 2005, according to a report by the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI). In a presentation at The Heritage Foundation, Dr. Yaneer Bar-Yam elaborated upon earlier research done by NECSI demonstrating a link between …
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently made comments that have fueled speculation about the looming confrontation with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. In an interview published by the Daily Beast on Friday, Barak was asked if there was any way that Israel could launch a military strike at Iran’s …
