Ray Takeyh

Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.


Essays

No national interest was cited as a rationale for America's Libya campaign; the action was justified solely on humanitarian grounds. This marks a fundamental break with past U.S. policy prescriptions for such military interventions.

The way forward is to concentrate on solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which, because the many problems of the region are so interlinked, can create, in turn, momentum for dealing with the other regional disputes that feed it.

Ahmadinejad came of age in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War. He sees little benevolence in the West’s interventions and conflict is inevitable.

Washington must realize that unless Arab regimes allow pluralism, power-sharing and judicial independence, liberal autocracy--not democracy--will be the result.

If America promotes democracy in the Middle East, it must be prepared for some very unpleasant consequences.

Commentary

 Last Wednesday, Ari Fleischer reaffirmed President Bush's opinion that "the more there is movement toward democracy" in the Middle East, "the better the prospect for peace.

 The case for war against Iraq has always been predicated on the immediacy and immanence of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

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May 25, 2012