Enacted by a royal decree, by Oman's ruler, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said inaugurated the Royal Opera House in October last year, thereby establishing one of the Arab world's most remarkable cultural institutions in the capital of Muscat. While the Opera House occupies an extensive site of...

The Sultanate of Oman, strategically situated across Iran, north of Yemen and to the east of Saudi Arabia, has remarkably been able to skirt large scale political disruptions witnessed across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), despite being governed by an absolute monarch. Since ousting his father in 1970,...

Nearly nine months after NATO troops intervened to protect civilians from the regime of Muammar Al Gaddafi, the National Transitional Council (NTC) has begun to move the country towards democracy. Since the conflict officially ended last month, after the deposed strongman of 42-years was pronounced dead on October 20th, NATO...

Last week, former Mossad directors Meir Dagan and Efraim Halevy sharply warned Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister against attacking Iran. According to the influential Israeli newspaper Haaretz , the Netanyahu government tasked the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence organization, to probe a series...

Shortly after Turkey's support for the 2010 Gaza-bound "Freedom Flotilla," Israel began forming alternative alliances with several countries in the Balkans. In particular, ties with Bulgaria and Greece have blossomed over mutual concern over an increasingly assertive Turkey, while Israel has also significantly increased bilateral defense and intelligence cooperation with...

As we Norwegians mourn the deaths of the horrendous crimes committed by Anders Behring Breivik, Norway's spirit has not been broken. In fact, it is as strong as ever. Below, is a small story, from a country with a big heart. I wanted to share this story with my American...

Shortly after Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in at the Knesset as the Prime Minister of Israel, the veteran politician outlined his vision for how a two-state solution could be achieved. In a June 2009 policy address at Bar-Ilan University, Netanyahu said: "In my vision of peace, there are two free...

Over a fine glass of wine, overlooking the Arabian Sea from the Omani capital of Muscat, Ronald Mollinger revealed a remarkable and compelling story: According to the seconded Dutch career diplomat, the parties of the Middle East peace process quietly make significant strides towards solving their scarce water resources, despite...

On the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue hosted by Bahraini King Hamad ibn Isa al Khalifa and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, German Deputy Defense Minister Christian Schmidt articulated a changing trend within his country's defense establishment as Berlin is embracing its own national interests for the first time...

As regional leaders, international dignitaries and senior military officials convened at the seventh annual Manama Dialogue hosted by Bahraini King Hamad ibn Isa al Khalifa and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, participants engaged in a series of marathon talks addressing a plethora of issues ranging from maritime security, instability...

As world leaders gathered at the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, much of the attention was naturally given to whether the overall Afghan war strategy was working. In particular, while the head of U.S. Central Command General David Petraeus argued that the Atlantic Alliance had "broken the Taliban's momentum" following...

As Republicans are scheduled to resume control of the U.S. House of Representatives
this coming January, many Washington observers have begun speculating whether the new Congress will actively oppose the White House on a host on foreign affairs issues. In particular, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ever increasing defiance of...

Nearly seven months after President Barack Obama scolded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his government's decision to construct 1600 new housing units in the east-Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, the image of the Israeli leader's public humiliation has caused many Israelis and American Jews to question whether the U.S....