Steven A. Cook - Revista de Prensa

Syrians Will Never All Get Along

Sábado, 15/Mar/2025 Foreign Policy MundoOriente PróximoSiria

It was only a matter of time before the realities of Syria pierced the mostly optimistic and encouraging recent accounts of the country’s transition from the Assad dynasty. On March 7, figures loyal to former President Bashar al-Assad staged an uprising against Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new Syrian order, clashing with authorities around Latakia, Tartus, and Jableh. After the Assadists scored some initial success, forces loyal to Sharaa mobilized and put down the uprising.

The details of these events are rather hazy given the deluge of rumors, misinformation, and disinformation that overwhelmed social media channels as well as the dearth of actual journalists in the area.… Seguir leyendo »

Trump and Netanyahu Won’t Get Along

Sábado, 02/Nov/2024 Foreign Policy MundoAméricaMundoOriente PróximoEEUU, Israel

The Times of Israel recently reported that two-thirds of Israelis prefer former U.S. President Donald Trump over U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. They clearly believe that he will be tougher on Iran and more supportive of Israel’s war efforts than the Biden-Harris administration, which is odd given the fact that both Trump and Harris do not want a direct confrontation with Tehran.

Also strange is the widespread notion that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in lockstep with each other.

If Jared Kushner’s memoir, which I reviewed, is to be believed, Netanyahu had a trust deficit with Trump just as he has had with a long list of U.S.… Seguir leyendo »

Sinwar Is Dead. Hamas Is Very Much Alive

Domingo, 20/Oct/2024 Foreign Policy MundoOriente PróximoConflicto palestino-israelí

In 1948, Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi took the dramatic step of banning the Muslim Brotherhood, believing that if the group were dissolved, stability would return to his country. In the three years prior to that move, the Brotherhood had taken a leading role in fomenting riots, strikes, and violence, including the assassinations of a prime minister and a former finance minister.

Yet the ban on the Brotherhood produced more violence. Unmoored from their leader—Hassan al-Banna—armed cadres of Muslim Brothers took matters into their own hands in a vengeful spasm of violence, culminating in the assassination of Nuqrashi. The government responded by locking up thousands of Muslim Brothers, and in February 1949, Banna was assassinated in what was widely believed to be a government-sanctioned killing.… Seguir leyendo »

Israel Is Stuck in the Year 2000

Sábado, 20/Jul/2024 Foreign Policy MundoOriente PróximoConflicto palestino-israelí, Israel, Líbano

Whoever “they” are, they often say, “Everything old is new again”. That seems indisputable when it comes to pop culture. One of my daughters listens to classic rock, and she isn’t an outlier among her friends. Both kids dig 90s television, and I am told that pants cuffs and three-button suit jackets will be making a comeback soon. It is not just music, television, and fashion, however. The same “old is new” phenomenon is also true about the Middle East.

Many of the ideas that policymakers and the foreign-policy community have put forward to resolve the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians after the war between Israel and Hamas comes to an end are based on initiatives proffered in the second half of the 20th century—or even before then.… Seguir leyendo »

Prudence Means Fighting the Houthis Now

Domingo, 31/Dic/2023 Foreign Policy MundoOriente PróximoCanal de Suez, Mar Rojo, Seguridad marítima, Yemen

Yemen’s Ansar Allah—also known as the Houthis—poses a threat to commercial shipping in the Red Sea. From mid-November through mid-December, the group attacked at least 30 merchant ships in the area, prompting most of the world’s major shippers to reroute their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. The economic effects of these attacks have yet to be fully realized, but already insurances rates for shipping lines have doubled. Not only that, but circumnavigating Africa requires more time, fuel, and ships than routes through the Suez Canal, resulting in stretched supply chains and increased environmental damage.… Seguir leyendo »

The Hamas Attack Has Changed Everything

Viernes, 13/Oct/2023 Foreign Policy MundoOriente PróximoConflicto palestino-israelí

This was not supposed to happen. Israel’s vaunted military and ruthlessly efficient security services had Hamas bottled up in the Gaza Strip. Sure, every few years there was a conflict that followed a similar pattern: a provocation, Hamas rocket attacks, Israeli air strikes, Egyptian mediation, and then quiet again. Meanwhile, Israel’s diplomatic achievements piled up as it expanded its circle of peace to include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. Until a few days ago, Washington was debating when Saudi Arabia and Israel would normalize relations.

That was when people began getting news alerts on their devices informing them that Hamas had invaded Israel, killed many civilians and soldiers, and had yet to be subdued while a salvo of anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 rockets rained down on Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Tel Aviv.… Seguir leyendo »

Egypt’s Sisi Rules by Fear—and Is Ruled by It

Jueves, 31/Ago/2023 Foreign Policy MundoOriente PróximoEgipto

According to Nashat al-Daihi, the host of an Egyptian television program called “With Pen and Paper”, I am in the pay of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was not the only Egyptian outraged over my last column, which was about how Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ruined Egypt. Sisi’s online supporters poured forth an endless amount of whataboutism and personal insults on my Twitter—er, X—timeline for what seemed like days, revealing once again that all hope for thoughtful debate on social media was lost long ago.

The claim is absurd on its face. There is simply no way that the Muslim Brotherhood would pay me for anything based on who I am and what I have written about them.… Seguir leyendo »

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Turkey

Jueves, 19/Ene/2023 Foreign Policy EuropaTurquía

When I lived in Ankara in the early 2000s, I often spent time with Turks in their 20s and 30s. I recall a particular dinner conversation when we were discussing Turkish foreign policy and the country’s tortured relations with its NATO allies when one of them asked: “Why do Americans and Europeans insist that Turkey is either West or East? Why can’t we just be Turkey?” I fumbled around for an answer citing Turkish interests, the Cold War, and European Union membership before settling on “But Mustafa Kemal Atatürk! He wanted to ‘raise [Turkey] to the level of the most prosperous and civilized nations of the world.’… Seguir leyendo »

In trying to help Syria, an intervention would destroy it

Viernes, 30/Ago/2013 The Washington Post MundoOriente PróximoArmas químicas, Conflicto armado, Siria

Syrians are fond of saying that their country is “the beating heart of the Arab world,” having played an outsize role in the history and politics of the region, from the Islamic golden age in the 7th century and the Arab Revolt during World War I to the Arab-Israeli wars. After 2 1/2 years of civil conflict, however, it is becoming more difficult to think of Syria as the spirit and soul of the region.

Among the catalogue of horrors that Bashar al-Assad and his supporters have perpetrated against their people, the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta on Aug. 21 is particularly egregious.… Seguir leyendo »

How Europe can save Turkey

Viernes, 07/Jun/2013 The Washington Post EuropaUnión EuropeaPolítica ExteriorTurquía

In the past five years, Turkey has veered from what was once a promising path of liberal democracy — and the European Union can pull it back.

The recent massive street protests in Istanbul started as a backlash against the government’s plan to develop a beloved park into a shopping mall, but they also reflect popular frustration at the country’s authoritarian turn, made clear in the rise of crony capitalism, intimidation by government forces and the centralization of power in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was just a decade ago that then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told an audience at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy audience that the main reason his government was pursuing wide-ranging democratic reforms was the possibility of fully joining the European Union.… Seguir leyendo »

Egypt’s Never-Ending Revolution

Domingo, 12/Feb/2012 The New York Times MundoOriente PróximoConflicto social, Egipto

Cairo is tense and polarized. Egypt’s military is groping for solutions to the many political and economic problems that have beset the country since the fall of the old government. Various political parties and groups are united in their opposition to military rule despite being divided among themselves. The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, is trying to remain above the fray and out of the line of fire by making deals with the army. And despite the promise of parliamentary elections and the prospect of a new constitution, the situation remains highly unstable.

One could be forgiven for thinking this is a description of early 2012, but it is actually an account of early 1954, when Gamal Abdel Nasser and his military colleagues, known as the Free Officers, first consolidated their power in Egypt.… Seguir leyendo »

U.S. Policy on Egypt Needs a Big Shift

Jueves, 01/Dic/2011 The New York Times MundoOriente PróximoEgipto, Procesos electorales

Egyptians lined up this week to vote in the first Parliamentary elections since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. The high turnout in a peaceful, orderly election contrasted sharply with the violence and chaos of the previous week, when hundreds of thousands returned to Tahrir Square after security forces killed at least 42 people and left 3,000 injured. But Washington should not be fooled by the peace that has returned to Egyptian streets. Even successful elections can not erase months of political mismanagement by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (S.C.A.F.) or the bloodshed committed under its auspices.

The U.S.… Seguir leyendo »

Don't Blame Democracy Promotion

Sábado, 29/Jul/2006 The Washington Post ReflexionesDemocraciaMundoOriente Próximo

Democracy and democracy promotion have become dirty words when it comes to the Middle East. As Iraq continues to slide toward civil war and Israel fights Hamas and Hezbollah on two fronts, a growing chorus of analysts and observers places the blame squarely on Washington's efforts to forge a more democratic and open Arab world. It is appropriate to debate the wisdom of the Bush administration's approach to promoting political change in the Middle East, but the current fighting, particularly between Israelis and Arabs, has nothing to do with democracy in the Arab world. In fact, more democracy in Lebanon would have prevented the current crisis.… Seguir leyendo »