Middle East

Russia’s policy in the Middle East is geared strictly to the country’s interests: to fulfil its role as a major power, stabilise the region and minimise every risk as much as possible. This offers opportunities.

The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs has appealed to the US and Iran to avoid escalation in the Persian Gulf region. The EU must continue to do everything within its power to save the nuclear deal.

Donald Trump is caught in a deadlock of his own making. He does not want to find himself responsible for a new war in the Middle East right in the middle of an election campaign. At the same time, he wants to look like a tough guy who never backtracks. This is what is making the situation so unpredictable.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is supporting and encouraging Trump’s confrontational stance towards Iran. However, a military escalation would be extremely dangerous for Israel.

The escalating nuclear conflict between Iran and the United States is making life harder for Irans population. In particular, the emergence of a middle class is under threat.

"Everything changes as soon as people have the feeling they can actually do something." Middle East Office Director Bente Scheller explains the current state of Syria, and what people can do about it.

Prof. Alexander Betts on his new study on Syrian refugees in Europe and the political consequences that their exclusion from the labour market might have.

A coalition of Syrian civil society, activists and lawyers have filed criminal complaints in Germany against some high-ranking Syrian officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction. A first step towards justice for the victims and survivors of all crimes committed in Syria.

No matter how complex and religiously driven the conflict in Syria may seem, its basic constellation is this: A regime with powerful allies wages a war of annihilation against wide parts of its own population. How could it get to this point? And what is the very least we can do?

The Goethe Medal 2017 will be given to Lebanese writer Emily Nasrallah. In her texts for adults and children, she has found a poetic language to describe everyday life in the Lebanon drawn by the civil war.