» Michele Dunne Middle East Strategy at Harvard

Normal peace?

Posted in David Schenker, Egypt, Israel, Michele Dunne, Steven A. Cook on Oct 8th, 2009 2 Comments »

From David Schenker
Egypt’s National Democratic Party (NDP) conference is fast approaching, but the meeting—which will formally set the stage for political succession—isn’t making headlines these days. On October 6, the Los Angeles Times reported on how the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is reacting to sales of an Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit; still other news outlets have [...]

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The Egypt we have

Posted in Egypt, Israel, Michele Dunne, Palestinians, Steven A. Cook, Tamara Cofman Wittes on Aug 19th, 2009 2 Comments »

From Steven A. Cook
Mubarak is on his way back to Egypt. Well done, folks. It’s amazing how much mileage we can… all… squeeze… out… of a meeting that is notable for its general lack of newsworthiness. If I had to score this one, I hate to say it, but I would give the edge to [...]

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Obama and the Muslims

Posted in Alan Dowty, Bernard Haykel, Bruce Jentleson, Chuck Freilich, Egypt, Harvey Sicherman, Josef Joffe, Mark N. Katz, Mark T. Kimmitt, Martin Kramer, Michael Mandelbaum, Michael Reynolds, Michael Rubin, Michael Young, Michele Dunne, Philip Carl Salzman, Public Diplomacy, Raymond Tanter, Walter Laqueur on Jun 5th, 2009 3 Comments »

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On June 4, U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a much-anticipated address to the world’s Muslims, from a podium at Cairo University. (If you cannot see the embedded video above, click here. The text is here.) The following MESH members responded to an invitation to comment on the speech: Alan Dowty, [...]

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Ditching democracy in Egypt?

Posted in Democracy, Egypt, J. Scott Carpenter, Michele Dunne, Steven A. Cook, Tamara Cofman Wittes on May 29th, 2009 8 Comments »

From J. Scott Carpenter
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting yesterday with a group of young Egyptian activists at the State Department was a welcome and long-overdue development. These young people somehow managed to elicit the words “democracy” and “human rights” in the same sentence from the Secretary, something that until yesterday she had managed only [...]

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Egypt, Iran, the United States: All politics is local

Posted in Egypt, Iran, Jon Alterman, Michele Dunne on Apr 14th, 2009 3 Comments »

From Michele Dunne
After several years in which Egypt seemed to have ceded the mantle of Arab leadership to Saudi Arabia (and even to small states such as Qatar), the octogenarian Husni Mubarak has become reenergized in the last few months. He came out swinging against Hezbollah last week, charging the Lebanese group with efforts to [...]

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Obama’s Mideast debut

Posted in Adam Garfinkle, Bruce Jentleson, Harvey Sicherman, Hillel Fradkin, J. Scott Carpenter, Josef Joffe, Mark N. Katz, Michael Reynolds, Michael Rubin, Michael Young, Michele Dunne, Philip Carl Salzman, Public Diplomacy, Raymond Tanter, Soner Cagaptay, Turkey on Apr 8th, 2009 2 Comments »

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On April 6, U.S. President Barack Obama gave an address to the Turkish parliament in Ankara, on the occasion of his first visit to a Middle Eastern country as president. (If you cannot see the embedded video above, click here. The text is here.) In his speech, the President touched [...]

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Which side of history?

Posted in Barry Rubin, Democracy, Harvey Sicherman, Islamism, J. Scott Carpenter, Joshua Muravchik, Michael Rubin, Michele Dunne, Tamara Cofman Wittes on Mar 10th, 2009 9 Comments »

From Michele Dunne
I am one of more than 140 scholars and experts to sign a letter to President Obama, released today (March 10), asking him to take seriously his inaugural statement that leaders who “cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent” are “on the wrong side of history.” The question [...]

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