Middle East & North Africa

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On Christmas and “Holy Wisdom”: Orthodoxy in Turkey
January 6, 2014 2 min. read

January 7 marks Christmas Day for Julian Calendar-abiding Orthodox Christians (Eastern and Armenian) and Turkey’s EU Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has taken the opportunity to wish Turkey’s dwindling Christian population a merry Christmas. Hurriyet Daily News reports: Anatolia has always been a country of tolerance and home to different beliefs and cultures throughout history, Çavuşoğlu said in a […]

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Iran’s Citizens’ Rights Charter and its Religious Minorities
January 2, 2014 6 min. read

Editor’s Note: Kaveh Shahrooz is a Toronto-based lawyer. He was formerly a Senior Policy Advisor with Canada`s Department of Foreign Affairs, where he advised the government on Canada’s role at the UN Human Rights Council. As a lawyer Mr. Shahrooz practiced at a leading international law firm in New York and was an Editor-in-Chief of […]

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South Sudan in Crisis
January 1, 2014 4 min. read

[European Union] South Sudan earned its independence just over two years ago. Yesterday, really. By the standards of international policy most countries had not even begun to think about South Sudan as anything other than a regional roadblock, never mind as its own entity. Hell, I don’t even have a coherent view of South Sudan. […]

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Where the ‘Ikhwan’ goes, so shall Egypt
December 31, 2013 9 min. read

There are many—both in the East and the West—who have been confidently betting on the overt plan to marginalize, and, in due course, eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) as a sociopolitical movement. In light of the on-going vicious Ikhwanophobia and emboldened brutality of the coup regime, it is hard to counter such contemptuous optimism. But, […]

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As Military Cracks Down, Students React
December 23, 2013 2 min. read

Last week Egypt’s secular military dictatorship continued its increasingly brutal campaign to suppress dissent. In the span of just a few days it formally accused the deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood associates of participating in a far-fetched terrorist plot and sent security agents to raid the office of the Egyptian Center for […]

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Erdogan’s Base Shaken in Massive Corruption Probe
December 18, 2013 2 min. read

The BBC reports that approximately 52 people, including five police chiefs and three sons of cabinet ministers were arrested yesterday for their alleged involvement in a bribery scandal. The operation is believed to be a part a larger political offensive led by Fethullah Gulen, a prominent Turkish Muslim leader currently living in exile in the U.S., and […]

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Street Art: A Tool for Peace
November 21, 2013 3 min. read
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A unique humanitarian effort to shed light on and offer hope to those affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria harnessed the power of art. From November 3-6, areas along the Syrian border became canvases for international graffiti artists. In this demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria, deep in the area known as the Golan […]

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Iran Nuclear Talks: Elephants in the Room
November 20, 2013 8 min. read

  Iran and world powers gather in Geneva to resume nuclear talks. Iran and the six world powers of P5+1 (the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain plus Germany), meet today, November 20 in Geneva to resume the stalled nuclear talks. Represented by moderate Foreign Minister […]

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MR. ROUHANI, BRING DOWN THAT ELECTRONIC WALL !
November 19, 2013 5 min. read

  Editor’s Note: The following Op-Ed piece is by Bijan Kian. The Honorable Bijan R. Kian is a globally recognized senior commercial diplomat, business leader and international banker. Twice confirmed by the Senate of the United States, he served under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama as a member of the Board of Directors of the Export […]

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Human Rights Are Not Negotiable
November 19, 2013 3 min. read

  Show your support on Twitter and Facebook by reposting and retweeting United for Iran’s messages on Monday, November 18th and Tuesday the 19th. Use the hashtag #IranVote. As the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee prepares to vote on the resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in Iran on November 19, 25 […]

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The Iran Deal, and the Skeptics
November 18, 2013 10 min. read

The prospect of a nuclear deal with Iran is in the air. Members of Congress and friends of the United States on multiple continents are pouncing on it. Attention was drawn last week to the failure of negotiations to produce a breakthrough on Iran’s nuclear program. As in the past, the talks included Iran and […]

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Where’s a leader when you need one? In Morocco.
November 13, 2013 2 min. read

Check out this very insightful piece from Ahmed Charai on Huffington Post, “A Regal Response to an Undue Provocation.” Ahmed makes a very good point that what makes Morocco stand out in a region of instability is King Mohammed VI’s visionary leadership. (It goes to show what I have always believed that good leadership, an open […]

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