Providence co-editor Robert Nicholson sat down with Ambassador Alberto Fernandez, president of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). Throughout an extensive conversation, Nicholson posed five questions to Fernandez on topics ranging from Syria to the prospect of democracy in the greater Middle East.

Recently, Providence editor Robert Nicholson sat down with Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. In a wide-ranging conversation, Hamid addressed the lack of cross-cultural understanding in the West, the value of pluralism, the possibilities of democratic reform, and the potential for increased Christian engagement with Muslim neighbors.

Should we support Middle Eastern majorities as they organize their states even when the results defy our notions of democracy? Or should we support Middle Eastern minorities—Christians, Jews, Yazidis, liberal Muslims—who stand in fear of tyrannous ochlocracy?

Earlier this month, large parts of southern Iraq rose in tumult and turmoil as hot, thirsty, and angry citizens complained about unemployment, lack of services, corruption, lack of water, and lack of electricity in a country with the world’s fifth largest proven oil reserves.

Michael Doran’s book shows how the Eisenhower administration made several mistakes in the Middle East, and today policymakers can learn from them.

Three years after Obama finalized the Iran deal, President Trump withdrew the US, and today Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out a new and very ambitious path forward.

Few would have estimated 70 years ago, let alone one thousand, that this week would arrive. On Monday, May 14, Israel celebrated the seventieth anniversary of becoming a nation. In light of this remarkable and unlikely reality, Christians are faced with the task of celebrating and interpreting this event against the backdrop of the last 70 years.

Israel’s founding was at once a victory for justice, a triumph for freedom, and a crushing blow to antisemitism. It was a story of David against Goliath. But 70 years later, things are different. Israel isn’t David anymore.

Bashar al-Assad’s regime has exploited Christians for years, and his government has effectively handed the country’s security to Shia militias that have shown little regard for Christians.