The U.S.-Egypt relationship is on the rocks. If it is to be salvaged, both sides will need to change course and pay attention to the concerns of their respective publics, both of whom now hold negative views of each other.

In the year that has passed...

If we are to believe what we are hearing and reading from a variety of confirmed and unconfirmed sources, in Israel and the U.S., some day in the next few months we may wake up to the news that Israel has bombed Iran's nuclear facilities. Or maybe not.

The...

ABU DHABI, UAE: I've just finished teaching a three-week January term course at New York University's Abu Dhabi campus (NYUAD). I've had the great fortune to teach before at some wonderful schools across the U.S. But this, for me, was a special experience, the result of the unique mix of...

I am writing this from Dubai one day before South Carolina voters go to the polls. While it might have been nice had I been able to wait until late Saturday night when the votes were counted, with deadlines being deadlines, I must write now. In a way, though, it...

I listened attentively to Syrian President Bashar al Assad's most recent speech in which he berated the Arab League's intervention to help stem the violence currently racking his country. Claiming that he was listening to his countrymen and speaking for them and that his regime was the standard-bearer of "Arabism,"...

Amidst all the fuss about President Obama's sagging poll numbers, the struggling U.S. economy, and "who's up and who's down" in the Republican presidential primary contest, American University professor Allan Lichtman has issued his "sure fire" prediction for the outcome of the November 2012 election.

Lichtman is no crystal ball...

Watching Tea Party radicals triumph over reasoned compromise in the Congress and Republican party candidates drive themselves rightward off the road in an effort to appeal to their increasingly hardline base reminds me of the adage we learned as children: It is dangerous to play with fire, not only because...

The dust left in the wake of U.S. forces departing from Iraq had barely settled when Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki intensified his crackdown against Sunni Arab leaders, deepening the country's sectarian divide. While American leaders may speak glowingly of Iraq's new democracy, all evidence points to serious...

Nine months into the "Arab Spring," we surveyed public opinion in seven Arab countries and Iran, asking over 6,000 respondents about their primary political concerns and their degree of satisfaction with the pace of change taking place in their countries. What we found was that an "Arab Spring" effect had...

On Dec. 7, 2011, six Republican candidates for president (Rep. Ron Paul was not invited) appeared before the Republican Jewish Coalition (NRC) to campaign for Christian votes. There are Jewish Republicans, to be sure, but not enough to make a difference in this primary contest. No, the real prize that...

In just one year, relations between the United States and Turkey have moved from tension to cooperation. This was the focus of remarks by a Turkish journalist speaking at the opening session at the second convention of the Turkic American Alliance. After reviewing the differences in the bilateral relationship, then...

With the date for U.S. forces to be fully withdrawn from Iraq fast approaching, it is important to remind ourselves how we got into that long and deadly war in the first place, to recognize that this conflict is far from over, and to hold accountable those who are responsible...

Shortly after Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, I was invited to a dinner at the Lebanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. in honor of Ray LaHood. LaHood had just been named as Secretary of Transportation, and the Embassy was proud that the grandson of Lebanese...

This presidential election couldn't have come at a worse time for America and the Arab World. Since candidates are more focused on politics than on sound policy, critical issues will not receive the thoughtfulness they require. And so instead of addressing and working creatively to resolve a number of crises...

The hysteria on display in Washington over UNESCO's vote to include Palestine as a member of the world body, though largely a manufactured effort, was, nevertheless, irritating and a sad commentary on the dysfunctional nature of U.S. politics.

From the Congressional letter urging the...

Several months back, when the Arab League suspended Libya's membership and passed a resolution supporting a "no-fly zone" over the country; it appeared to be a one-off affair. Muammar Gaddafi had worked hard, for decades, to make himself a regional pariah. His bizarre behavior, his reign of terror, and his...

In 1981, my brother, John Zogby, ran for Mayor of Utica, New York. Like other factory towns across New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-Western states, Utica was in decline. The factories that had employed tens of thousands had closed and gone south. With the loss of these jobs, the city...

This presidential election is beginning to look a lot like the contest of 1996, which saw a battered Bill Clinton win a second term in office by defeating Republican Senator Bob Dole. There are differences, to be sure, but the similarities are striking.

Coming into the '96 election season, Republicans...

Having spent time this week in both New Hampshire and Iowa, the states featuring the first presidential nominating contests of 2012, and having been in Michigan the week before, I am getting the feeling that this has all the makings of a very strange election. Foremost among the reasons for...

Back when I was in Catholic elementary school and in the Boy Scouts, we would often be enlisted to participate in fund-raising drives that had us going door-to-door in our neighborhoods collecting money for various charities or causes (school or church related projects, scouting trips, etc). Engaging in this exercise,...