Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, on how his beloved Syracuse basketball team's zone defense got him thinking about judicial review, the American constitution, and national life.

In Monday night's third and final presidential debate, which is focused on foreign policy, the escalating crisis in the Middle East will be sure to dominate. The violence in Syria, and now nearby Lebanon, seems to be heading to a full blown crisis.

30 Issues in 30 Days is our election year series on the important issues facing the country this election year. Today: The status of relations between the U.S. and countries in the Middle East. Visit the 30 Issue home page for all the conversations.

Rami Khouri, director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, talks about the Netanyahu and Abbas speeches at the U.N. and other news from the Middle East.

Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and David Makovsky, senior fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process, The Washington Institute, discuss the formation of a Palestinian Unity government and the implications for Israel and Palestine, as well as the role Egypt played in brokering the deal.

Moammar Gaddhafi's government agreed to a ceasefire this morning, in a dramatic about face following the UN Security Council authorization of military action and a no-fly zone over Libya. Rami Khouri, director of the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, discusses events leading up to the ceasefire, and what it means for Gadhafi and the anti-government protests in Libya.

Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, reviews the documents leaked to Al Jazeera from Palestinian/Israeli negotiations.

Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, talks about the portrayal of Arab leaders in the WikiLeaks cables, and the response overseas.

Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and David Makovsky, senior fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at The Washington Institute, discuss the current Middle East peace talks in Washington.

Lebanon's top Shia Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah died yesterday. He was revered for bridging religious divides and for promoting social services and women's rights. Rami Khouri, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, remembers the cleric. Khouri says that Fadlallah was an enlightened and progressive man in the class of Martin Luther King. However, the cleric was also known as a spiritual leader to Hezbollah and Washington labeled him a terrorist because of this association.

We've been discussing President Obama's address to the Muslim world from Cairo University. The president touched on a wide range of issues. To hear more global perspectives on his efforts to improve U.S. relations in the Middle East, we are joined by Marcus Mabry, New York Times international business editor, Rami Khouri, editor-at-large of the Daily Star in Beirut, and Muna Shikaki, a correspondent for Al Arabiya.

Vice President Joe Biden travels to Lebanon today to meet with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in Beirut. The meeting is a show of U.S. support for a leader facing tough elections in two weeks. Lebanon's militant Shiite group Hezbollah is expected to make electoral gains. This is the second visit to Lebanon by an American official. (Secretary of State Clinton was there a few weeks ago.) Why is Washington so concerned about this Lebanese vote? The Takeaway turns to Rami Khouri, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He is also the editor-at-large for The Daily Star newspaper in Beirut.

David Makovsky, a senior fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at The Washington Institute, and Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and editor-at-large of The

As Barack Obama’s trip to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe winds down, Josef Joffe, editor and publisher of Die Zeit, a weekly German newspaper, a fellow at the Hoover Institute and the author of Uberpower: The Imperial Temptation of America, then Rami Khouri, editor-at-large at The Daily Star ...

Rami Khouri, editor-at-large for The Daily Star and director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs in Beirut, Lebanon, and David Makovsky, a senior fellow and director of The Washington Institute's Project on the Middle East Peace Process, now in Jordan, give the Middle Eastern perspective ...