An Open Letter to US Friends of Egypt

[W]hat the Switzerland negotiations ultimately lead to may help determine who the next U.S. president will be, as much as they will define the rules of the game in the Middle East.

Major wars do not always create permanent enemies. Sometimes they create the conditions for entirely new political arrangements.

The challenge for Washington is no longer whether it possesses sufficient capabilities, but whether the political system can align those capabilities behind a coherent long-term priority.

The Beijing summit did not produce a major agreement between the great powers on the region, but it firmly established that Middle Eastern crises are now deeply tied to the great-power dialogue.