If you want a sense of where the Middle East is going, consider this viewpoint from an unlikely source… Continue reading
It’s once again time for that exciting game of Spin the Polls by the Pew Foundation. Here are the rules… Continue reading
U.S. policy toward Syria is turning into a scandal on both strategic and humanitarian grounds… Continue reading
Michael Hirsh has responded to my critique of his article. Amazingly, yet typical of our era, he didn’t engage with a single—not a single—idea I presented… Continue reading
Egypt will hold its presidential election May 23-24 with a possible run-off on June 16-17. It is impossible at this point to predict what’s going to happen but I can make a good guess… Continue reading
The trial of the two surviving members of the junta that seized power on September 12, 1980, in a coup that altered Turkey’s course, is an historic event, but… Continue reading
Sometimes a secretary of state is asked tough questions. How they are answered shows the underlying philosophy of official and government… Continue reading
After his release from prison in March 2011, the Deputy Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat Al-Shater was reportedly tasked by the Brotherhood’s Guidance Council to perform a comprehensive review… Continue reading
Iraq is in a mess. Violence continues. Factionalism leads to endless bickering. Corruption is at high levels. Christians live in fear or flee altogether. Islamism is constantly creeping forward… Continue reading
Now the initial euphoria about the Arab revolts has subsided, it’s clear the ‘Arab Spring’ will not bring a liberal, secular, Western (or Islamic) model of democracy to the Arab world… Continue reading
A year ago we were told that Egypt was going to become a moderate democratic state ruled by hip Facebook kids. Now Egypt is going to become a moderate Islamist republic ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood… Continue reading
Claude Guéant, the French interior minister, sparked a firestorm last month when he praised Western values as “superior” to the oppressive ones found elsewhere, namely the Islamic world… Continue reading
The Damascus Declaration was a statement of unity by Syrian opposition figures issued October 16, 2005 criticizing the Assad regime… Continue reading
Authoritarian regimes have traditionally been disinclined to accept any political or social opposition and have been hostile to the development of an independent civil society that could form a counterweight to state power… Continue reading
Turkey’s old habits of state authoritarianism persist under the rule of the AKP… Continue reading
President Barack Obama is continuing his love affair with Turkish Islamist leader Recep Erdogan… Continue reading
As the high hopes for a brave new Middle East fade rapidly, Western policymakers must recognize that promoting market economics and its inevitable cultural changes are far more critical to the region’s well-being than encouraging free elections or resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict… Continue reading
I wonder how much higher are the number of visa applications from Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey to North America, Europe, and Australia… Continue reading
Since we can’t get good coverage of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the Western media, it’s necessary to turn to the Islamists’ intended victims — Arab liberals — to get a better picture… Continue reading
Most international attention has focused on the more than 100 journalists who are now in jail in Turkey as a result of what they have written or said… Continue reading
An international conference titled Islamic Awakening and Youths convened in Tehran last week… Continue reading
The Middle East is so strange in Western terms, so different, and having its own unique history and institutions that unless you are really aware of those differences please pick something else to be an expert on… Continue reading
Until now, Turkey’s presence in Iraq has generally been encouraged by all major Iraqi groups… Continue reading
A year ago this week, on January 25, 2011, the ground began to crumble under then-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s feet… Continue reading
We’re starting to get a good picture of what the lower house of Egypt’s parliament will be like… Continue reading
Many of the arguments and assumptions that governed the Arabic-speaking world for six decades have simply vanished… Continue reading
And the Americans brought them to power… Continue reading
The controversy sparked by Aliaa Magda ElMahdy after posting a nude photo she took of herself on her blog is followed by another controversial posting of a nude photograph… Continue reading
The political history of the modern Middle East can easily be divided into three eras… Continue reading
The region-wide upheaval known as “the Arab Spring” would make it seem that terrorism, especially Islamist terrorism, is pretty much as dead as are its thousands of victims… Continue reading
In a time when Western intellectuals, politicians, and journalists are trying to explain that the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t a radical Islamist group… Continue reading
The Iranian cyber police released new regulations imposing severe restrictions on Iran’s internet cafés… Continue reading
leading figures in Iran’s film industry released a memorandum of opinion condemning the Islamic Guidance Ministry’s decision to close the House of Cinema, the main trade union for those employed in the local film industry… Continue reading
Iran’s 2012 Parliamentary Elections: first vetting stage ends; Khamenei calls for mass participation
Iran’s top regime officials are stepping up efforts to ensure the highest possible voter turnout in the March 2 elections. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for mass participation in the elections… Continue reading
What if a democratically elected government decides to enforce such a system in a law legally passed by a democratically elected government? I guess that’s just democracy in action… Continue reading
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