This policy brief seeks to contribute to and inform the debate concerning a possible attack by the United States and/or Israel on Iranian nuclear and military facilities. The presumed aim of such an attack would be to weaken the Islamic Republic, particularly by hindering its ability to build a nuclear weapon. However, the history of the Iraqi invasion of Iran in September 1980 calls into question the contention that an attack will weaken the regime in Tehran. This policy brief examines Iran's reactions to the Iraqi invasion in order to shed light on Iran's possible reactions to a U.S. or Israeli attack.

Dr. Karam Dana, Dubai Initiative Fellow, is featured on the website of the Institute of Middle Eastern Understanding. Included on the site is a profile of Dr. Dana's body of work, as well as a short biography and information on forthcoming research.

Justin Dargin speaks with industry periodical Natural Gas Daily about energy output, both oil and gas, in Kuwait. The article focuses on the disappointing oil exports of the nation, but also about the potential for gas production in the region.

Justin Dargin, Dubai Initiative Associate, is quoted in an article on Kuwait's new Prime Minister and potential energy reform for Natural Gas Daily, an online publication affiliated with Interfax Global Energy Services, that provides worldwide coverage of every phase of the gas chain.

On the heels of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' application to the UN for full Palestinian statehood, the Belfer Center asked a number of its resident experts and scholars what their reactions were to the historic move.

Since the Six-Day War and Occupation of 1967, economics, an area of study that affects social and political formulations and transformations, has entered the study of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to a much larger extent: Palestinian workers in Israel, to an underdeveloped infrastructure in the Palestinian territories. More than four decades later, economic challenges continue to play a role in the affairs of the Palestinians: from affecting people’s lives and their leadership on the one hand, and the relationship between the Palestinian and Israel on the other. Within Palestinian society itself, the dynamics of state-society relations have demonstrably been affected by economic transformations, but have yet to be fully studied in places of continuous occupation and conflict like the West bank and the Gaza Strip. This paper explores the challenges that have faced developmental attempts in Palestine since the occupation of 1967.

Justin Dargin, Associate for the Dubai Initiative, served as Chairman of the LNG Technology World Summit 2011 in Doha, Qatar. He also delivered the keynote lecture at the event, brought speakers and panelists together to share their insights which will be indispensable to strengthen and create more efficient markets and develop effective competition energy industry.

It has been eleven months since the Arab citizen revolts started in Tunisia last December and rolled through the Arab world in a wave that has manifested itself in different ways across the region. The two most striking things about the past eleven months are also slightly contradictory. On the one hand, in virtually every Arab country, street demonstrators -- or less kinetic political protests in the form of petitions to the rulers -- have persisted, with several common issues defining citizen demands in all countries: real constitutional reforms that define citizenship rights and the limits of government powers, and a focus on social justice in a new social contract between rulers and ruled. On the other hand, this contrasts with the very different regime responses and the trajectories of the political reform process across the Arab region.

Justin Dargin, Dubai Initiative Associate, speaks with Interfax Energy Services about Qatar's new Minister of Energy and Industry and domestic long-term natural gas production and consumption.

Justin Dargin, Dubai Initiative associate and energy expert, is quoted in The National in an article on the newly found gas and oil stores in the Levant.

Dubai Initiative associate Justin Dargin is quoted in The National for an article on the efforts of international companies to extract oil and gas from the Levant Basin, where hydrocarbons are trapped under the seabed at depths of more than 7,000 meters.

Here in Doha, Qatar, it does not seem to be the new political vanguard and locomotive of the Arab world as reported by the international press. These reports followed the prominent role of Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani in the Arab League’s decision last weekend to suspend Syria and pressure it to stop using military force against its civilian protesters. The idea that Qatar is making its move now to assert a leadership role in the Arab world strikes me as exaggerated.

This book illustrates the historical trajectory of resource nationalism, spanning from its articulation as a legal system to extract resources in the Americas by imperial Spain to an anti-colonial platform developed to increase state control over the energy sector. In a fresh review of this contentious topic, this book provides a broad introduction to resource nationalism and considers whether the ideology has actually contributed to the economic growth and national development of energy-rich developing countries.

This book is a timely piece that can be used as an advanced textbook for graduate students in international affairs, as well as for energy practitioners who want to expand their knowledge of this topic. General readers will also find the text relevant and applicable to an everyday understanding of the drivers of politics in energy-rich developing countries.

Dubai Initiative associate Karam Dana is interviewd for an article about the 2012 presidential elections in the U.S. and the influence Muslim-Americans will have on the vote. The article also cites Dana's paper on Muslim-American political participation, "The American Muslim Voter: What Explains Voting When Nobody Cares?"

After an extended stay in the United States that allowed me to speak with Middle East specialists and interested citizens in many cities, I sense a new theme that broadly defines American attitudes about developments in the Middle East: perplexity. Of course, there is neither a single view among the diversity that comprises the United States, nor is there a single focus to the Middle East, which includes among its main issues the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran, oil, terrorism and the ongoing Arab uprisings and citizen revolts for dignity and democracy.

Just as I was leaving the United States last week after two months of traveling around the country and encountering the best of the people and culture, I read a newspaper story that reminded me of the dark and ugly side of the country. It was a New York Times report from Baghdad quoting senior U.S. and Iraqi officials who expressed, “growing concern that Al-Qaeda’s offshoot here, which just a few years ago waged a debilitating insurgency that plunged the country into a civil war, is poised for a deadly resurgence…U.S. and Iraqi analysts said Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia was shifting its tactics and strategies -- like attacking Iraqi security forces in small squads -- to exploit gaps left by the departing U.S. troops and to try to reignite sectarian violence.”

Dubai Initiative Associate Justin Dargin speaks with Al Jazeera about the latest report from the IAEA on the Iranian nuclear program. The report states that Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear wepons program, contrary to statements from Tehran.

I’ve had the moving and educational experience of spending a few days in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, studying the narratives and lessons of the civil rights movement in the United States. Simultaneously, I have kept an eye on the Arab world that is trying to make its own transition from a condition of autocracy and mass citizen rights denials to one of greater equality and human dignity. I will write in my next column on the many parallels I see between the American civil rights struggle and the two relevant struggles throughout our region: the citizen revolts in several Arab countries and the continuing Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, colonization and subjugation.

"The past year has been one of tremendous change in the Middle East and North Africa. The transformations that have come in the wake of momentous upheavals—now commonly known as the Arab Spring—have a wide and varying significance. For many people in the region, the past year has been one of daring, fearless action in pursuit of far-reaching political change. Their demands induced fear among the long-time, autocratic rulers, which has resulted either in the abdication of long-clung-to power or in brutal resistance and violence against masses of unarmed, pro-democracy protesters. World leaders have found themselves scrambling to protect various vital interests while struggling not to end up on the wrong side of history."

Dubai Initiative Associate Mehrangiz Kar discusses Islam and public rights within the Iranian constitution in a report by Jayshree Bajoria from the Council on Foreign Relations.

The paper is intended for all policy analysts interested in Tunisia, but it could be especially helpful for members of the NCA and the legal advisory committee recently established to advise them on constitutional law and drafting procedure. It explores the different challenges of legitimate procedure the NCA faces in drafting an inclusive constitution during this critical phase in their democratic transition.

The perception of Muslims living in the United States has deteriorated dramatically since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. U.S.-Muslims, a group that had already faced discrimination prior to the attacks, became even more visible to the public. Non-Muslim Americans began questioning American Muslim loyalties to the United States as well as their commitment to being “good” citizens. Such doubt extended to the political arena as well, prompting intrusive inquiries into Muslim-affiliated civic and political organizations and their members. Even non-Muslims with Muslim affiliations or Muslim-sounding names or appearances have been subject to public scrutiny.

At rare moments in life, history takes a sharp turn for the better, and sometimes you can see and feel this happening in front of your eyes. This past week was just such a moment for the Arab world, as three different things happened in Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan that probably portend better days ahead for Arab men and women who cherish life in free and equitable societies that leave behind their ugly legacy of the police and security state.

Dubai Initiative Associate Justin Dargin speaks with AMEinfo.com, the Middle East's business and finance news resource, in an interview on how the current Eurozone crisis will influence the global energy sector.

I celebrated two birthdays this past weekend, first my own biological birthday and then the political birth of the modern Arab world on Sunday, when Tunisians voted for their new 217-seat national assembly, or provisional parliament. Human birthdays occur every year, but the birth of the modern Arab world happens once in a lifetime, and it is exhilarating to watch the process unfold day by day. The significance and symbolism of the Tunisian election cannot be over-emphasized.

The prisoners exchange that Hamas and Israel concluded this week could be a potential historic turning point in an otherwise moribund “peace process” where no noteworthy breakthrough has occurred in the past nearly 20 years of American-mediated, and therefore mostly Israeli-defined, talks. The prisoners exchange is significant for showing that the most implacable and violent enemies are able to negotiate and reach agreement, when both sides obtain gains that are sufficiently important for them to be able then to make concessions on issues of equal importance to the other side.

Justin Dargin in an interview with Dubai One about the future steps that the UAE will take in its nuclear energy sector post-Fukushima.

Industrial and urban water reuse should be considered along with desalination as options for water supply in Saudi Arabia. Although the Saudi Ministry for Water and Electricity (MoWE) has estimated that an investment of $53 billion will be required for water desalination projects over the next 15 years [1], the evolving necessity to conserve fossil resources and mitigate GHG emissions requires Saudi policy makers to weigh in much more heavily the energy and environmental costs of desalination. Increasing water tariffs for groundwater and desalinated water to more adequately represent the costs of water supply could encourage conservation, but also reuse, which may be more appropriate for many inland and high-altitude cities.

The death of Muammar Gadhafi, as well as that of his son and his closest advisor, in addition to the fall of Sirte, allows the Transitional National Council to declare Libya’s freedom. However, it does not guarantee a peaceful transition any more than Saddam’s capture did in Iraq. The tough work of nation building and the creation of an inclusive political system will now begin. And while analysts have been concerned about the divisions that have recently emerged within the TNC, those divisions are a sign that the TNC is a truly diverse institution, bringing together a wide coalition of ideologies and interests. That is as good a start for the establishment of a democratic system as we can hope for.

Dubai Initiative Associate Justin Dargin is interviewed by Interfax Energy Services for an article on new energy policies in Kuwait. The article focuses on Kuwait's descision to effectively end development of nuclear power in the country in favor of long-term natural gas imports.