Iraq ‘must ignore Saudi-Qatari rivalry’
Abdul Mahdi’s new government knows that the Saudi-Qatari political and economic competition for Iraq is at its peak, Al-Monitor reports. “At this time, Iraq needs the support of both rich… Read more »
Category: Middle East/North Africa
Iranian democracy: the missing catalyst
The United States and other foreign governments must strategize about the potentially potent role of Iran’s ethnic minorities, argues Brenda Shaffer, a visiting researcher and professor in Georgetown’s Center for… Read more »
Two Decades of Combating Terrorism: a ‘democracy advantage’?
Nearly four times as many Sunni Islamic militants are operating around the world today as on Sept. 11, 2001, despite nearly two decades of American-led campaigns to combat Al… Read more »
Egypt: mass arrests aim ‘to quash what remains of civil society’
Egypt’s police and National Security Agency (NSA) forces have conducted a mass arrest campaign, rounding up at least 40 human rights workers, lawyers, and political activists since late October 2018,… Read more »
Iran’s militia allies ready to ‘call the shots’ in Iraq’s parliament?
The killing of a Muslim cleric who demonstrated over poor public services in Basra undermines the pillars of democracy in Iraq, a member of the parliament-elected Iraqi High Commission for… Read more »
Saudis and Iran using sectarian non-state actors to shape Middle East
The Saudi-Iran rivalry playing out in the Middle East’s divided societies, such as the ‘proxy arenas’ of Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, and particularly Syria and Yemen, has cultivated sectarian difference that… Read more »
An Arab anomaly? A danger to Tunisia’s democracy
Nidaa Tounes yesterday described a ministerial reshuffle in Tunisia as “a coup against the constitution and democracy in the country,” Middle East Monitor reports: Secretary-General of Nidaa Tounes Slim Riahi… Read more »
Conservative civil society pushing back against Western liberal norms
The rapid rise of Brazil’s new far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro may have surprised some observers but it did not come out of thin air. His success follows years of support… Read more »
After Khashoggi: end Saudi impunity, free Raif Badawi
For the past few weeks, the world has been riveted by the story of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance and murder. But while global attention is focused on Khashoggi’s fate,… Read more »
Iranian Repression: Architects of Human Rights Abuse in the Islamic Republic
“While representing political prisoners in the Soviet Union 45 years ago, I noted that ‘vacation time in the West is prison time in the Soviet Union,’ with the regime imprisoning… Read more »