Cuba’s reform going in reverse?
The slow pace of reform in Cuba is raising questions about President Raúl Castro’s legacy, reports suggest. Frustration has begun to set in, with energy cuts paralyzing production, the economy… Read more »
Tag: Elliott Abrams
Palestinian vote remote
Municipal elections rarely excite international attention, say analysts Nathan Brown and Caroline Zullo. However, when elections in the West Bank and Gaza were scheduled for October 8, they represented something… Read more »
MidEast governments’ hostility to foreign analysts prompts protest
Middle Eastern governments and media are demonstrating increasing hostility to foreign researchers and journalists, according to an open letter signed by a group of distinguished scholars, academics, journalists, and… Read more »
Palestine: crackdown on journalists, civil society activists
The Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza are arresting, abusing, and criminally charging journalists and activists who express peaceful criticism of the authorities, Human Rights Watch said today:… Read more »
A year on from JCPOA, Iran views civil society as security threat
To thwart widespread expectations that more open relations with the West would follow the signing of the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program last year, Ayatollah Khamenei has repeatedly warned… Read more »
How foreign policy is made
Policy details emerge from policy themes. The George W. Bush administration’s “freedom agenda” did not emerge from and was in fact resisted by the bureaucracy, notes Elliott Abrams, a senior… Read more »
Let Cubans decide
Members of the Christian Liberation (MCL) and the project Movement Cuba Decides delivered Thursday to the National Assembly over 10,000 signatures of citizens requesting a plebiscite for Cubans to decide on the… Read more »
Toward a negotiated transition in Syria?
Today, the Ides of March, marks the fifth anniversary of the rebellion in Syria against the Assad regime, notes Elliott Abrams, a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the… Read more »
Moderates’ election gains ‘a setback to Iranian democracy’
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday hailed last month’s elections that saw gains for allies of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, denying they lacked competition, AFP reports: The February… Read more »
As Cuba’s dissident crackdown peaks, Obama trip ‘could be a subversive moment’
Even some supporters of President Barack Obama’s moves to strengthen relations with Cuba are questioning the timing of his planned visit to the Communist island next month, after arrests… Read more »