How will President Barack Obama tackle the Middle East and the United States relationship with the region? That's the question up for debate tonight at the Frontline Club. We start at 7pm GMT / 11am PST tonight Tues 27 Januray. The event is sold out. If you can't make it to the club in person, you can catch the discussion live on the Frontline Club live channel.
Taking part will be Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, from the War Studies department at King's College London, Dr Emanuele Ottolenghi, executive director of the Transatlantic Institute, Sadeq Saba, BBC's Iranian affairs analyst, Zaki Chehab, political editor for the London-based broadsheet Al Hayat and a Senior Editor for the Arabic TV channel LBC and Dr Rosemary Hollis, director of City University London's Olive Tree Israeli-Palestinian scholarship programme. I hope you can come and join us. More details below,
As Obama prepares to take office as the 44th US president, he is set to face huge challenges in the Middle East. Will the renewed emphasis on diplomacy that he is proposing with the region pave the way for improved relations with Iran and prevent them from developing their nuclear programme? Will he be able to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace process where every US president before him has failed and how will he balance his commitment to Israel with his desire to build peace with the Palestinians? Who are his new panel of advisors and special envoys to the Middle East and what will they mean for the region? And will the man famed for his rhetoric be able to make his vision a reality? link
