The Council on Foreign Relations has launched a new roundtable series, the MBI Al Jaber Roundtable on Critical Issues in the Middle East, as a follow-on to the Independent Task Force on U.S. policy toward reform in the Arab world.

This series was established with the generous support of Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, chairman and CEO of MBI International, a hotel and development conglomerate based in London, Paris, and the Middle East.

The roundtable - consisting of Council members, noted Middle East experts, and U.S. foreign policy practitioners - will examine the prospects for political change in Syria, Egypt, Libya, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Steven A. Cook, the Council's Douglas Dillon fellow, is directing the series.