Richard Wike

Many critics have questioned whether Secretary of State John Kerry’s focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is worth the effort, given the region’s rich history of diplomatic disappointment, but Kerry has managed to bring the two sides together this week in Washington for their first talks in several years.  Polling finds limited optimism about the prospects […]

The Egyptian military issued an ultimatum to both President Mohamed Morsi and his opponents today, declaring that the two sides must find a resolution to the country’s political crisis in the next 48 hours or the military will impose its own “roadmap for the future.” Since the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak two and a […]

June 30 will mark one year since Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi took office, and the country’s opposition movement is planning to commemorate the anniversary with nationwide protests that, even by recent Egyptian standards, are likely to be quite large. Over the last year, Morsi has presided over growing political polarization and increasing disappointment with the […]

On Wednesday, Barack Obama returns to Berlin, home to one of the more dramatic moments from his first presidential campaign. In July 2008, speaking beneath the city’s 200-foot-tall Victory Column, Obama pledged to heal the transatlantic divisions that had erupted during then-President George W. Bush’s time in office. “The walls between old allies on either […]

As U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping prepare for their first summit on Friday, tensions between the publics of these two superpowers are on the rise. American attitudes toward China have turned sharply negative over the last two years. According to new Pew Research Center poll findings not yet released in a […]

Today marks four years since a newly elected President Barack Obama spoke to a packed, enthusiastic audience of students at Cairo University, calling for “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.” Four years later, much has changed in Egypt, but anti-Americanism persists.

As Secretary of State John Kerry visits the Middle East this week in the hope of reinvigorating the dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace process, he will confront considerable public skepticism in the region about the prospects for peace.

When 91% of the public thinks the country is on the wrong track, it’s usually a good sign for the opposition’s electoral hopes, and as Pakistan prepares for parliamentary elections on May 11, supporters of two major opposition parties are feeling optimistic. Moreover, as a new Pew Research Center poll highlights, the leaders of those […]