April 26, 2011

The fall of Hosni Mubarak was good news for the government of Iran, for a number of reasons. Most important is the expected change in Egypt’s diplomatic posture toward the Islamic Republic. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei can look forward to bilateral relations being upgraded to embassy level.

Despite the expected rapprochement, there are a number of areas where post-revolution Egypt will compete with Iran, the most notable being Hamas.

Compared to the situation under Mubarak, the new Egyptian government is very likely to improve its relations with the Hamas government in Gaza. This has been made amply clear by a number of Egyptian officials including Mohammad ElBaradei, who is expected to be a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.

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“We knew at the outset that the task would be difficult. We acknowledged that publicly and privately. We knew this would be a road with many bumps— and there have been many bumps—and that continues to this day. But we are not deterred. We are, to the contrary, determined more than ever to proceed to realize the common objective, which we all share, of a Middle East that is at peace with security and prosperity for the people of Israel, for Palestinians, and for all the people in the region. We will continue our efforts in that regard, undeterred and undaunted by the difficulties, the complexities or the bumps in the road.”—George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, remarks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, September 29, 2010

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May 17, 2011, 12:00pm – 1:15pm

From Afghanistan and Iraq to Pakistan, Somalia, and South Sudan, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is engaged daily in trying to help some of the most troubled nations on the planet make a lasting transition to stability, open markets, and democracy. Few areas of the agency’s work are more challenging or more controversial.

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