Killing terrorists is eliminating the exponents but not the cause of terrorism, because it does not eliminate the ideas and motives that spawn terrorists. The fight against terrorism must proactively discourage people from resorting to terrorism by the use of "soft power".

If a Millennial foreign policy exists, the concept of smart power—developing and employing the complete policy arsenal at our disposal to influence through soft power and, when necessary, compel with hard power—might be its central tenet.

A U.S. expert on the Middle East and public policy says the United States and other countries need to be engaged in the region to bring about peaceful changes. As fighting continues in Libya, Former Ambassador Edward Djerejian sees challenges ahead for the National Transitional Council as it seeks to create a new government there.

Our foreign policy should be directed at supporting resistance groups to dictators and funding radio, TV stations and the internet, in the same way the CIA did in the Cold War to undermine communism. Where is the Middle East equivalent to Radio Free Europe?

Turkey’s attitude towards the Syrian crisis, as it has thus far unfolded, makes it clear that the years ahead will likely see a more liberal imprint on Turkish foreign policy. Not only Turkish rulers will give more attention to what Turkish public opinion think....

Young adults helping to shape the future of the Middle East and North Africa will meet the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, at an event in London organised by the British Council. Their trip to the UK is part of the British Council’s work with young people around the world, and will help to inform the international response to the changing political landscape in the region.

American intelligence analysts, like most U.S. observers, have often referred to the process unfolding in the Middle East as the “Arab Spring,” with its implicit message of democratic birth and freedom.

The new Middle East is very much a work in progress, but... the latest developments...are making the stirring picture of freedom, democracy and secularism that so many had envisioned in the early days of the Arab Spring look more like a glassy mirage masking anti-liberal, anti-Western sentiment.