On September 2, 2010, new direct negotiations between Mahmud Abbas and Benjamin Netanjahu started in the USA. The international community is watching these discussions with great interest, but also with some concern.

by Gerhard Wahlers

The West faces a dilemma with the Iranian nuclear program: taking military action against Iran or an Iran which possesses nuclear weapons – both alternatives bring considerable risks and seem more and more inevitable in the face of Iran’s progress to acquire nuclear capabilities. Up to now, the carrot of supporting the peaceful use of nuclear energy has been just as ineffective as the stick of sanctions.

by Thomas Birringer

What exactly is the GCC? Can it be considered a fullfledged security community that has over the time of its existence played a positive role in resolving security dilemmas in the Gulf? What do the terms of unity, integration, cooperation and coordination which are used so interchangeably actually mean within the context of this regional organization? And if the GCC has begun to shape the regional security environment, in what ways does this manifest itself?

by Christian Koch

How realistic is it that NATO troops would be able to secure an Israeli-Palestinian agreement stationed on the sensitive borders with Israel and Jordan, amid settlements that have to be vacated, or even in the densely populated Gaza Strip? Which requirements would have to be met for them to succeed in their mission? This article aims to discuss different approaches and stimulate discussion about a potential NATO mission.

by Felix Dane, Lars Hänsel

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will remain in her post and keep on running a minority government after elections of August 21st, 2010. Her predecessor Kevin Rudd, whom she overthrew in an internal party coup, will hold the post of foreign minister in the new cabinet.

by Wilhelm Hofmeister

In the light of the lasting development problems of many countries of the Muslim world – stretching from North Africa, across the Middle East to Southeast Asia – these states have by no means ruled out the search for economic concepts that promote development. Not least as a result of disappointment with the results of the capitalist and socialist economic systems, since the mid-1970s people have been progressively formulating ideas about an Islamic economic system, propagating them as an alternative to the unsatisfactory status quo.

by Volker Nienhaus