Research Library

This brief explores the Trump administration's policy toward Iran and analyzes the ways in which it differs from that of the Obama administration.

President Donald Trump has announced that he will nominate CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Fellow Joe Barnes analyzes the implications of this decision and assesses Tillerson's short tenure as head of the State Department in a new post for the Baker Institute Blog.

This month, the Syrian Civil War will have lasted seven years. The authors of this brief explore how the United States — first under President Barack Obama and now under President Donald Trump — has struggled to develop a coherent strategy that balances U.S. interests in the conflict with the military, financial and diplomatic resources necessary to pursue them.

The list of 13 demands presented in June 2017 by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates suggests a supremely ambitious set of goals behind their embargo of Qatar, including “red lines” that touch directly upon Qatari sovereignty and that Doha will almost certainly reject. The stage is thus set for a contest of endurance, one that with every passing month looks more likely to result in favor of Qatar, writes fellow Gabriel Collins in this brief.