Stories written by Helena Cobban

IRAQ: U.S. Diplomatic Adviser’s Troubling Role in Oil Politics

By Helena Cobban
In 2003, U.S. diplomatist Peter Galbraith resigned at the end of a distinguished, 24-year government career. Over the years that followed, he worked as a contract-based adviser to leaders in Iraq's Kurdish community, while also arguing passionately in public media that Iraq's Kurds should be given maximum independence from Baghdad - including full control over any new sources of oil.

MIDEAST: U.S. Strategy in Doubt as Abbas Loses Popular Support

By Helena Cobban
Just two months ago, many western commentators were jubilant that Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S.-supported head of both the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the interim Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA), was making a comeback and reducing the influence in Palestinian society of the Islamist movement Hamas.

IRAN: Non-Western Big Powers Enjoy Growing Influence

By Helena Cobban
Thursday's seven-party talks in Geneva on Iran's nuclear programme resulted in a breakthrough agreement on Russian enrichment of materials Tehran needs for nuclear-medical work.

US-MIDEAST: A Week of Dimming Peace Prospects

By Helena Cobban
Eight months after Barack Obama launched his presidency by promising a speedy push for Palestinian-Israeli peace, that effort has stalled badly. And there are now growing fears that the top levels of Obama's peace team are torn by internal disagreements that may undermine the whole peace effort.

POLITICS: Obama and Netanyahu Still Tussling over Priorities

By Helena Cobban
As world leaders prepare to gather here for the all-star "general debate" at the U.N. General Assembly on Sep. 23, two of them - U.S. Pres. Barack Obama and Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu - are still tussling over whether to prioritise their anti-Iran campaign or the push for a Palestinian-Israeli peace.

MIDEAST: NGO Reports on Gaza War Belie Israeli Claims

By Helena Cobban
This week, two respected human rights organisations - one Palestinian, one Israeli - each came out with very full reports into the extent of the damage caused by the assault Israel waged against Gaza last winter.

IRAQ: Stormy Times as U.S. Withdraws

By Helena Cobban
Political violence in Iraq killed 456 Iraqis in August, the highest monthly death toll since July 2008. And with the U.S. showing no sign it plans to reverse the troop withdrawal that is now well underway, numerous struggles for power are shaping up inside Iraq.

MIDEAST: Can Final Peace Deal Overcome Settlements Roadblock?

By Helena Cobban
The Barack Obama administration - perhaps the president himself - will reportedly be launching a new round of authoritative Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations sometime during the upcoming U.N. General Assembly session, which is scheduled to start in New York on Sep. 15.

MIDEAST: Republicans Attack Obama on Palestine Policy

By Helena Cobban
Former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has been in Israel and the occupied West Bank this week, stridently criticising Pres. Barack Obama's policies of pushing for an Israeli settlement freeze and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

MIDEAST: Big Challenges Ahead for Mahmoud Abbas

By Helena Cobban
Mahmoud Abbas, the 74-year-old leader of the Palestinian Fatah movement, registered a significant achievement in holding the movement’s Sixth General Conference, which has been wrapping up its business in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week.

POLITICS: Saudi Arabia May Not Follow Obama’s Plan

By Helena Cobban
Pro-Israeli lobbyists here won the support of 77 senators (out of 100) for a letter sent to President Barack Obama that urged him to "press Arab leaders" to consider making dramatic, upfront peace overtures to Israel.

MIDEAST: Obama Maneuvres Between Jewish Israelis, Jewish Americans

By Helena Cobban
Pres. Barack Obama has repeatedly declared himself a close friend of Israel. But many Israelis inside and outside their country's government have now expressed concern about the lack of closeness, or even just of attention, with which they feel Obama is treating them.

MIDEAST: Fatah’s Leadership Crisis Deepens

By Helena Cobban
Fifty years ago, a small group of Palestinian teachers and engineers living in Kuwait founded a secretive movement aimed at liberating those portions of previously British-ruled Palestine that became the State of Israel in 1948.

MIDEAST: Turkey Gets Boost from Pipeline Politics

By Helena Cobban
The political geography of the modern Middle East has been affected for one hundred years by the appetite of westerners and other outsiders for the region's hydrocarbons.

MIDEAST: Succession Issues Face Key U.S. Allies

By Helena Cobban
Two key U.S. allies in the Arab world, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are now both facing succession crises that may absorb, or even split, their political elites. This promises a period of political unpredictability ahead in both countries.

US-MIDEAST: Carter Adds Weight to Shuttle Diplomacy Push

By Helena Cobban
Pres. Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and peace envoy Sen. George Mitchell have been moving steadily ahead with the campaign Obama launched on his first day in the White House, to broker a comprehensive and sustainable Arab-Israeli peace.

POLITICS: Syrian Foreign Minister Eager to Work with Obama

By Helena Cobban
Former U.S. senator George Mitchell is due to arrive in Syria's capital, Damascus, Friday on his first visit there since being named Pres. Barack Obama's special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace.

US-MIDEAST: Hamas Leader to Obama: Deeds, Not Words

By Helena Cobban
The head of Hamas's political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, gave a qualified welcome here Thursday to the big speech that Pres. Barack Obama addressed to the Muslim world in Cairo.

POLITICS: Where Iran Fits in the Mideast Peace Puzzle

By Helena Cobban
What is the relationship between the United States' policy towards Iran and its performance on Arab-Israeli peacemaking, including the crucial quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

POLITICS: At East-West Crossroads, Turkey Presses Ambitious Agenda

By Helena Cobban
Two soaring bridges link Asia and Europe in this historic city, which straddles the two continents.

POLITICS: U.S.-Israel Balance Echoes Tensions of 1991

By Helena Cobban
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Pres. Barack Obama in Washington next Monday, amid speculation that their two administrations may be heading for a confrontation worse than any they have known since 1991-92.
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