Daniel Huber (IAI) and Lorenzo Kamel (Bologna): Arab Spring: The Role of the Peripheries. Ariel Ahram (Virginia Tech): War-Making, State-Making, and Non-State Power in Iraq. James M. Dorsey (NTU): How Qatar is its Own Worst Enemy. Understanding the Gulf states: F. Gregory Gause on why the monarchies of the Persian Gulf fall out and get back together — and why it matters for the region and the world. Is the House of Saud teetering on the edge of collapse? A top Iranian figure thinks that the Saudi government is about to crack. A nuclear Iran will not lead to a nuclear Middle East, no matter what the Gulf states say. In an interview, Obama ties his legacy to a pact with Tehran, argues ISIS is not winning, warns Saudi Arabia not to pursue a nuclear-weapons program, and anguishes about Israel. Jeffrey Sachs on the case for peace with Iran. Split personality: Mona Christophersen on Hezbollah’s role in the New Middle East. Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper on how the sale of U.S. arms fuels the wars of Arab states. The plight of the Middle East’s Christians: Ancient communities in Syria and Iraq are in mortal peril — can the West find a way to preserve the Christian presence in the Middle East and stave off a “clash of civilizations”? Robert Kaplan on why it’s time to bring imperialism back to the Middle East: Empire may have fallen out of fashion, but history shows that the only other option is the kind of chaos we see today. Max Fisher on 40 maps that explain the Middle East.
