Learning From Barbarian Underdogs
April 21, 2014 10 min. read

“I have no forts, no houses, no country. I have no cultivated fields, no silver or gold for you to take — all you can get from me is war, nothing else. I have met your men in battle and have killed them. We are greatly pleased about this. Our men who have fallen in […]

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Was Assad Not Responsible for the Chemical Weapons Attack Last August?
April 14, 2014 6 min. read

The journalist who broke the story of the My Lai massacre and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal believes that the al Nusra Front backed by Turkey, not Assad, was responsible for the chemical weapons attack last August. Numerous Turkish commentators disagree with his assessment. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who broke the story of the My […]

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MILF Signs Peace Agreement in the Philippines
April 7, 2014 5 min. read

Following forty years of fighting and tens of thousands dead, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed a peace deal with President Benigno Aquino’s government at a high-profile ceremony in Manila on Thursday. The conflict over control of this resource-rich area stems from the claims of its Muslim population to an ancestral homeland, dating back […]

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Armed to the Teeth: The Security Problem with Libya and its Weapons Cache
March 31, 2014 5 min. read

  When the Libyan Civil War ended with the death of Muammar Gaddafi in October of 2011, the country rejoiced, as they had finally rid themselves of tyrannical rule that lasted 42 years. Shortly after, the National Transitional Council (NTC) declared Libya “liberated” and announced the plans to hold elections in eight months time. This […]

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Defining Sexism in the Middle East, Latin America and Everywhere Else
March 26, 2014 4 min. read

One famous singing icon who has a particularly strong following in Latin America and the Middle East due to her cultural connections to both regions is Shakira. Recently, a debate arose worldwide over her boyfriend, famous footballer Gerald Pique “forbidding” Shakira from doing sensual music videos with men, raising the question to whether a partner […]

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Libya pleads for international help amid government failures
March 21, 2014 4 min. read

  In its most hard-worded statement to date, the Libyan government on Mar. 20 vowed to eliminate terrorism and mobilize “the national military force” to confront the threat. According to the release, “the cities of Benghazi, Derna, Sirte and others face a terrorist war led by Libyan and foreign elements that have hostile and sinister […]

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Al-Shabaab and Party Balloon Effect
March 20, 2014 8 min. read

From the outset, let me make one thing clear: Al-Shabaab, and its extremist world view is neither constructive nor sustainable. This extremist neo-Islamist group represents one of a two nihilistic worldviews that dominated the twenty first century political discourse—global (dysfunctional) jihadism and global war on terrorism. Both, due to their applied mantra—with hammer, all problems […]

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Assad Re-captures Yabroud and Lebanon Takes a Plunge
March 18, 2014 6 min. read

Merely a day after the Syrian civil war entered its fourth year the Assad regime scored a major victory against rebels in the town of Yabroud. Located in the Qalamoun region, a mountainous area near the Lebanese border, Yabroud had served as a crucial gateway for the transit of rebel supplies and fighters into the […]

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Egypt’s political climate as seen through the Muslim Brotherhood trials
March 4, 2014 2 min. read

In his new piece for the New Yorker, “Revolution on Trial: The strange world of the Muslim Brotherhood court cases,” Peter Hessler brings his readers into the courtroom of the ongoing trial against former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, and his co-defendants. Morsi and a number of other Muslim Brotherhood members are charged in connection with multiple […]

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Somalia’s Sullied Security
February 26, 2014 7 min. read

“We cannot have our right hand tied in our back and be asked to defend ourselves with our crippled left hand.” – Abdirahman Sheikh Issa The recent al-Shabaab attack at the heart of the government’s compound, Villa Somalia, marks a turning point; both in terms of the audacity of the group’s militancy and the massive […]

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As U.S. pulls back, Egypt looks to Russia for military aid
February 25, 2014 3 min. read

As Egyptian military leaders scramble to consolidate power ahead of a presidential election in April, it is seeking help from a former ally. After meetings last week in Moscow, it was reported that Russia will supply Egypt with $3 billion in arms and military aircraft. From Egypt’s standpoint, the deal will help make up for […]

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A Candid Discussion with Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin on Suicide Terrorism
February 22, 2014 21 min. read

Throughout the Middle East, many Muslims and non-Muslims have fallen victim to suicide bombings. In fact, more Muslims have been killed in suicide bombings in the region than Jews and Christians. This extreme form of violence has been the subject of many studies. Researchers have been baffled as to why someone, mostly at a young […]

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