The epicenter of crisis : the new Middle East / edited by Alexander T.J. Lennon.

Text originally published in the Washington quarterly.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction : The epicenter of crisis / Alexander T.J. Lennon -- part 1. Saudi Arabia -- Rethinking religion : the legacy of the U.S.-Saudi relationship / Rachel Bronson -- Al Qaeda and the House of Saud : eternal enemies or secret bedfellows? / John R. Bradley -- The irony of islah (reform) / Gwenn Okruhlik -- part 2. Syria -- Bashar Al-Assad : in or out of the new world order? / Eyal Zisser -- U.S. policy toward a weak Assad / Dennis Ross -- Confronting Syrian-backed terrorism / Daniel Byman -- Hizballah and Syria : outgrowing the proxy relationship / Emile El-Hokayem -- part 3. Iraq -- The critical battles : political reconciliation and reconstruction in Iraq / Carols Pascual and Kenneth M. Pollack -- Is the media being fair in Iraq? / Michael O'Hanlon and Nina Kamp -- After Zarqawi : the dilemmas and future of Al Qaeda in Iraq / Brian Fishman -- part 4. Iran -- A win-win U.S. strategy for dealing with Iran / Michael McFaul, Abbas Milani, and Larry Diamond.

The Hizballah-Iran connection : model for Sunni resistance / Graham E. Fuller -- Understanding Iran's new authoritarianism / Elliot Hen-Tov -- How relevant is the Iranian street? / Karim Sadjadpour -- part 5. Afghanistan -- Poppies for peace : reforming Afghanistan's opium industry / Peter van Ham and Jorritt Kamminga -- Afghanistan : when counternarcotics undermines counterterrorism / Vanda Felbab-Brown -- part 6. Pakistan -- When $10 billion is not enough : rethinking U.S. strategy toward Pakistan / Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet -- U.S. strategy : assisting Pakistan's transformation / Ashley J. Tellis -- What if Pakistan fails? India isn't worried ... yet / C. Raja Mohan -- The role of Islam in Pakistan's future / Husain Haqqani.