The United States must cement a core group of allies in the Middle East as the basis for stability in a long-unstable region

While some have argued Israeli-Arab normalization will never happen, recent cooperation against Iranian missile attacks proves otherwise

Religious diplomacy is important, but religious leaders should focus on representing the truths of their religion and the concerns of their constituencies rather than working toward meta-religious consensus. They will be most successful when their diplomacy is understated and narrowly-construed.

The Arab coalition and the US find themselves in the awkward position of directly and indirectly supporting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula while they fight the Houthis in Yemen.

Though the Yemen conflict is in many ways a proxy war between Iran and the Saudi coalition, it is much more complicated, and not all the blame should be placed on the coalition for worsening the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.