ISIS and the detainee dilemma

MEI Vice President for Policy Ken Pollack joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to explore what the precedent set by the Trump administration's military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro could mean for US policy in the Middle East — particularly in light of ...  Show more

This bonus episode of Middle East Focus features a conversation from MEI's Virtual Briefing Series. Director of Communications Zeina Al-Shaib is joined by Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Alan Eyre and Senior Fellow Alex Vatanka to discuss the ongoing protests in Iran. The street ...  Show more

Syria's leader Ahmad Al Shara said on Tuesday that the country must unite around a state that has a “monopoly” on weapons. The former capital of the ISIS caliphate in Syria is facing an uncertain future, much like the rest of the country. After over a year of political and econom ...  Show more

So-called Islamic State is on the run. Caught in a pincer movement in Syria and Iraq, the group has lost large swathes of territory over the past year. With its revenues and numbers of fighters also dwindling, the demise of the caliphate appears all but unavoidable. And yet many ...  Show more

Peter Bergen is one of the world's foremost experts on global jihadist movements like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. He is a journalist who has covered this beat for decades, including the first television interview with Osama Bin Laden in 1997.  Peter Bergen discusses where ...

With the fall of the House of Assad, Syria is now under new management—but who’s really in charge? Buck Sexton breaks down the transition with Bill Roggio, Senior Editor at Long War Journal. From jihadist factions to the region's strategic importance, they explore the implication ...  Show more