Flynt Leverett

Senior Research Fellow, American Strategy Program and Director, Geopolitics of Energy Initiative
Flynt Leverett is a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, and global energy issues. From 1992 to 2003, he had a distinguished career in the U.S. government, serving as Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, Middle East Expert… more

JIM LEHRER: Our Middle East coverage starts with reports from Lebanon and Israel, beginning with Tim Ewart of Independent Television News in Beirut.

TIM EWART, ITV News Correspondent: The international airport was bombed for the second time, dispelling any remaining hope that it might soon be reopened.

Well, this is the area of southern Beirut, which is the focus for Israeli attacks at the moment. This is where the Israelis believe Hezbollah had their stronghold and where leaders of Hezbollah are still… more

Israel's escalating incursion into Lebanon -- with bombing attacks on Beirut's airport and a naval blockade -- could turn its border fight with militant Islamists into a regional war that Israel is openly warning might lead to Syria, and beyond that to Iran.

Already the violence has engaged the Israeli military on two fronts, against Hezbollah militias in Lebanon to the north and Hamas forces that control the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip to the west. But with… more

On May 31st, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced what appeared to be a major change in U.S. foreign policy. The Bush Administration, she said, would be willing to join Russia, China, and its European allies in direct talks with Iran about its nuclear program.

There was a condition, however: the negotiations would not begin until, as the President put it in a June 19th speech at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, “the Iranian regime fully and verifiably suspends its… more

While Washington is preoccupied with curbing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, avoiding policy failure in Iraq and cheering the "forward march of freedom," the political consequences of recent structural shifts in global energy markets are posing the most profound challenge to American hegemony since the end of the Cold War. The increasing control that state-owned companies exercise over the world's reserves of crude oil and natural gas is, under current market conditions, enabling some energy exporters to act… more

WASHINGTON, DC (June 20, 2006) -- The New America Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of Flynt Leverett as a Senior Fellow and Director of the Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of Energy Security Project in New America's American Strategy Program. Dr. Leverett will continue his renowned research and writing on Middle Eastern affairs and will develop a comprehensive, solutions-based strategy to address the rapidly changing nature of the international energy industry.

"As America and the world grapple with an unprecedented… more

As the world watches the political maneuvering over restarting nuclear talks with Iran -- this time with American participation -- few are paying attention to a broader strategic competition that has started between the United States, Russia and China. Ultimately, this competition will decide not only the direction of Iran's nuclear activities but also its economic, political and military role in the Middle East and beyond. The outcome hinges on which countries will assume dominance in developing Iran's enormous oil… more