Category: Middle East/North Africa

Iran trying to shut down UN Human Rights investigation

     

Iran executed nearly 1,000 prisoners last year, the highest number in two decades, and hundreds of journalists, activists and opposition figures languish in custody, a United Nations investigator said on… Read more »

Turkey’s Erdogan must reform or resign

     

Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has steadily descended into authoritarianism and instability, according to Mort Abramowitz* and Eric Edelman, both former U.S. ambassadors to Turkey, and… Read more »

Moderates’ election gains ‘a setback to Iranian democracy’

     

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday hailed last month’s elections that saw gains for allies of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, denying they lacked competition, AFP reports: The February… Read more »

The Obama Doctrine: advancing democracy, but….

     

President Barack Obama is a democratic internationalist, he tells The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, but experience has also taught him to temper his idealism with a pragmatic, realist approach to foreign… Read more »

EU surrendering soft power with ‘morally bankrupt’ Turkey deal

     

The EU-Turkey deal lauded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a possible “breakthrough” in the refugee crisis met with considerable criticism after being presented to the European Parliament on Wednesday,… Read more »

UN concerned over crackdown in Egypt’s ‘republic of dread’

     

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression today voiced his concerns regarding the state of freedom of expression… Read more »

How the military changed during Tunisia’s democratic transition

     

Five years after the Arab Spring, only Tunisia remains on the path to democracy. To explain the Tunisian success story, scholars often point to the Tunisian military, which, unlike other… Read more »

Palestinian teachers’ protest ‘revitalizing’ democracy, exposing PA corruption

     

One of the largest protests the West Bank has seen in recent years is not aimed against the Israeli occupation, but to deliver a message to the Palestinian Authority, Al… Read more »

Iran sought client state in Iraq, says envoy

     

Senior American officials held confidential talks with Iran about Iraq’s future in advance of the United States-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and secured a promise that the Iranian military would not fire… Read more »

Iran’s election wasn’t about moderation or democracy

     

The elections in Iran confirm that the Syrian crisis has taught Iranians who are otherwise eager for change a few lessons, Harvard University researcher Amir Mahdavi writes for The Washington… Read more »