U.S. interests to be pursued as the Assad regime crumbles include preventing the emergence of a radical Islamist successor government, curtailing Syrian support for terrorist groups, securing or destroying Syria's WMD arsenal, and weakening Iran's influence in Syria and Lebanon.

JINSA Visiting Fellow Evelyn Gordon on the Mideast powder keg caused by the combination of Egypt's revolution and a troubling change in Western attitudes toward the Israeli-Arab peace process. This combination has the potential to lead Egypt into a war with Israel.

Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, USA, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in Israel last week where he met with his IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and other officials.

JINSA Visiting Fellow, Yaakov Lappin on the recent hacking of an Israeli coupon website by a hacker claiming to be from Saudi Arabia. This is indicative of a new kind of conflict developing in the Middle East and should serve as a wake up call for the Israeli private sector to increase its online defenses.

Rear Admiral Terence E. McKnight, USN (ret.), member of JINSA's Board of Advisors, analyzes Iran's ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, the legal and military ramifications of such a closure, and how the U.S. Navy would seek to reopen that strategic waterway, critical to the global economy.

Iranian goals and behaviors will not change unless the White House and foreign governments demonstrate a more consistent and forceful approach. Now is that time as the newest set of sanctions demonstrate that widely backed punitive measures offer the best chance yet to overcome the menace of Iran as a nuclear power.

JINSA Visiting Fellow Evelyn Gordon on the military opportunities Israel has wasted in recent years and how costly those missed opportunities could become. If non military options fail in Iran, it is vital that Israel does not waste another opportunity.

JINSA Visiting Fellow Daniel Halper on the president's assertion that, "In fact, I am proud to say that no U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel's security than ours, none. Don't let anybody else tell you otherwise. It is a fact."

On December 21, 2011, Lt. Gen. Stephen G. Wood, USAF (ret.), former Deputy Commander, U.S. Forces Korea, briefed JINSA leaders via conference call on the theater and regional implications of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death.

JINSA Visiting Fellow, Yaakov Lappin, discusses the Egyptian military's weakening grip on power and how it is the last obstacle standing in the way of an alliance between a Cairo under Islamist rule and the Hamas regime in Gaza.