From the Editor

On 3 December 2012, a distinguished group of former and current diplomats, retired elected officials, academics, journalists, and others assembled at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC, to pay tribute to the Mediterranean Quarterly's founder and long-time editor, Professor Nikolaos A. Stavrou, who died suddenly on 29 December 2011. An Emeritus Professor of International Affairs and Political Theory at Howard University, Nik Stavrou was (and, in a certain sense, continues to be) the driving force behind this journal. Though he frequently battled health issues late in his life, Nik Stavrou's passing was nevertheless a shock to everyone who knew him. Indeed, like the Mediterranean Quarterly itself, Nik Stavrou was someone who persevered no matter what the circumstances.

Although the MQ launched its inaugural issue in the fall of 1989 under the editorship of Robert J. McCloskey, the former US State Department spokesman as well as US ambassador to, among other countries, Cyprus (1973-74) and Greece (1978-81), it was Nik Stavrou's persistent desire for high-quality analysis and sober conclusions that was critical to the journal's long-time success. He served first as assistant editor and then, within a year, as the MQ's editor in chief.

Few people at the time knew, or fully understood, what the important events of 1989 would bring when this journal first started. The MQ was nevertheless at the forefront of policy discussions and historical debates from the very beginning of its existence. Important essays, for example, were written by Congressman Lee Hamilton, who later went on to serve as the vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, on the future of US relations with Southern Europe; by former British Prime Minister Edward Heath on Britain's role within the European Union and the impending 1992 Maastricht Summit; by former US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Colby on the evolution of intelligence after the end of the Cold War; and by historian Kenneth W. Thompson on the "End of History" debate that Francis Fukuyama's article in the National Interest instigated in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. These are but a few examples.

The motivating purpose of the MQ over the past twenty-four years was Nik Stavrou's strong and sincere desire to find the truth. As he wrote in the spring of 2001, "When policymakers operate in a historical vacuum, mythology and history acquire equal value,"¹ and as editor of the MQ, Nik Stavrou constantly tried to guard against just this in the pages of this journal. Although he personally maintained many strong opinions, he always respected the views of others so that the readers of the MQ could find the truth, make informed policy decisions, or come to honest conclusions about important issues that for several millennia have plagued one of the most complicated and intractable areas of the world.

The Mediterranean region is as important today as it has ever been. Writing nearly a century ago, Count Antonio Cippico observed that "East and West meet in it, as in no other place on earth, either furiously colliding or intermingling. The battles which are fought upon its surface are full of destiny [and can] create and annihilate kingdoms and empires. The religions that rise from its shores, pantheism and anthropomorphism, Judaism and Christianity [and Islam], conquer a great part of the human races."² Indeed, few today would argue that much has changed.

For better and for worse, the Mediterranean must always deal with a multitude of issues, being the nexus of Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as, because of its history, the nexus of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It is an area that is relatively rich in natural resources, though they are disproportionately distributed, and it is one of the world's largest transportation arteries. The Mediterranean is also where democratic countries of different varieties are neighbors to countries that have various shades of totalitarian government.

All of these sources of competition are being expressed today. In Syria, there is a civil war raging between Bashar al-Assad's government forces and Syrian rebels. In Libya, Muammar al...