Al Jazeera

On Wednesday the New America Foundation, a public policy think tank, sponsored a forum dedicated to answering one question: How can the next president make the Middle East irrelevant?

Unsurprisingly, the consensus amongst those attending was that should the Democrats win the White House in November a major overhaul in policy and strategy is needed.

Greg Craig, the senior national security adviser on Barack Obama's campaign, told the forum that Obama's background would prove a strength when dealing with Iran, whose nuclear program has sparked a stand-off with Western… more

T.A. Frank discusses media bias and coverage of the controversial book, Obama Nation. LINK to video

..."Israel's main ally, the United States, is still at odds over what constitutes the right strategy on Iran. The Bush administration is divided. Vice President Dick Cheney would still want an attack, says Flynt Leverett, a former official in the US State Department and now a Middle East expert with the New America Foundation. However he believes the secretary of state favors a different approach: Condi Rice is buying time to get the president through his term..." LINK

Director of New America Foundation's American Strategy Program Steve Clemons appeared as a panelist on Al Jazeera's "Inside Iraq" to discuss the impact of General Petraeus's troop "surge" assessment. The special episode looked at the implications within the United States, and also explored what the American vision of its Iraq policy might mean for Iraq and its neighbours.

To watch the video of Steve Clemons, please visit the Al Jazeera website.

The author of In the Belly of the Green Bird tells Aljazeera.net that the conflict in Iraq is far more terrible than reported and could spill over and threaten the entire Middle East.

Nir Rosen - who speaks Arabic and has Middle Eastern looks - went to Iraq in April 2003, just days after Baghdad fell.

Entering mosques and tribal meeting halls, and afforded access to fighters' secret meetings and Iraqi homes, he documented the deadly behind-the-scenes manoeuvring in the post-Saddam… more