Foreign Policy Research Institute

Throughout history tiny Qatar has at times been overlooked or forgotten. Today, however, this small country, located on a peninsula that juts into the Arabian Gulf, has become an important strategic partner of the United States. In recent years Qatar has gained international stature in part because of its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Since coming to power in 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has made Qatar one of the more liberal Gulf...

Iran - or Persia, as it was known until the 1930s - is home to one of the world's oldest cultures. Over the years it has exerted a great influence over its neighbors in the Middle East and Central Asia. Although Iran was once a close ally of the United States, in 1979 supporters of the Islamic fundamentalist cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the government and instituted a new one based on strict interpretation of Islamic law. In the years...