Middle East & North Africa

Assad and the Peace Process: The Pivotal Role of Lebanon Dr Stephen C Pelletiere Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This study considers the remarkable performance of Syria's President Hafez al Assad, who took what apparently was a bankrupt negotiating stance in the Arab-Israeli peace talks and turned it into a position of strength"

Hamas and Hizbollah: The Radical Challenge to Israel in the Occupied Territories Dr Stephen C Pelletiere Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This study argues that Hamas and Hizbollah, the two main religious groups fighting Israel, probably are more threatening to U.S. interests than is generally believed. It discusses the various openings that the groups were able to exploit to advance themselves, and particularly how they profited from errors on the Israelis' part."

Energy and Security in Transcaucasia Dr Stephen J Blank Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "One of the world's enduring regional conflicts is in Nagorno-Karabakh. This war pits local Armenians and their cousins from Armenia against Azerbaidzhan and has enmeshed Russia, Turkey and the Western allies (France, Great Britain, and the United States) in a complex series of regional relationships. The international stakes of this war involve the control over exploration for natural gas and oil and the transhipment of these commodities from Azerbaidzhan to the West. Energy resources represent Azerbaidzhan's primary means of economic modernization and are therefore vital to its economic and political freedom."

Shari'a Law, Cult Violence and System Change in Egypt: The Dilemma Facing President Mubarak Dr Stephen C Pelletiere Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Egypt is one of the more economically deprived countries in the world. Societal stress is a major challenge. Few believe that Egypt will escape the poverty that has for so long oppressed it. For all its challenges, Egypt is of strategic importance to the United States, because of its leadership position in the Arab world. It would be extremely difficult for Washington to safeguard its interests in the Middle East without support from Cairo."

Turkey's Strategic Position at the Crossroads of World Affairs Dr Stephen J Blank, Dr William T Johnsen, Dr Stephen C Pelletiere Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "By virtue of its strategic location at the intersection of Europe and Asia, Turkey plays a pivotal role in the post-cold war system of states. It lies, one could say, at the epicenter of a series of conflicts, real and potential, in both continents. It also has enjoyed noticeable growth in both economic prosperity and democracy since 1980. And because Turkey has been, and remains, a faithful U.S. ally, Washington has called upon it to play a role in the Balkans, Near East, and former Soviet empire commensurate with its new-found political and economic development."

Afghanistan and Beyond: Reflections on the Future of Warfare Dr Stephen J Blank Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This report provides an historical analysis of lessons from one of the most important wars of the 1980s, the war in Afghanistan. After reading this study, you will better understand the nature of operations "other than war" in multiethnic states. Many fear that these wars will set the paradigm for wars in the 1990s and will exert pressure on U.S. forces to conduct peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and humanitarian assistance operations in especially dangerous areas. Yugoslavia and Somalia, each in their own way, bear out the ubiquity of these wars and the pressures on the United States to act."

Nuclear Pakistan and Nuclear India: Stable Deterrent or Proliferation Challenge? Dr George H Quester Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Nuclear proliferation, a security issue which has transcended the cold war, has been, and is, particularly troublesome in South Asia. There, India and Pakistan, neighbors with unresolved disputes since they were granted independence at the end of World War II, are believed to have nuclear weapons (although the leaders of both nations deny it) and are intermittently engaged in conflict with each other."

Strategic Insights: The Great Purge and the Future of the Turkish Military Dr. W. Andrew Terril Article by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press