Qatar’s financial habits have been the subject of a lot of media coverage lately due to the successes of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and the setbacks the Syrian opposition actors the Gulf states were pinning their hopes on have suffered at the hands of ISIS. Kuwait, through its relative openness, plays a […]
On Sunday, for the first time ever, more than 41 million voters in Turkey went to polling stations to elect their president by popular vote. Despite turnout being low, with some suspecting the holiday season might be the reason, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan handily beat both of his rivals with 52 percent of the vote.
By Aryeh Neier There are no good alternatives. There seems no prospect that anything significant will come of the peace talks in Geneva. The government of President Bashar al-Assad considers that it is winning and, therefore, it is unwilling to agree to leave power or even to make meaningful concessions. Moreover, many of Assad’s supporters have […]
In an interview with Jerusalem Online News this week, Jordanian Palestinian pro-democracy activist and journalist Mudar Zahran, who has been mentioned as a possible successor to the Jordanian king, came out against Kerry’s peace plan, stressing that the main person who benefits from it is the Jordanian monarchy. Zahran feels that the average Palestinian and […]
The best long form reads and blog posts for the week of October 25. 2013.
Need some reading for the weekend? Check out our selection of longform reads and the best of ForeignPolicyBlogs.com.
By Manuel Langendorf With a heightened sense of urgency to act on Syria, Washington is resorting to moral arguments. What appears to have been a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, has made a potential U.S.-led military strike against the Syrian government a very real possibility. Shocking videos of dozens of dead […]
By Tyler Hooper On Thursday, June 13, the White House announced that it will now provide military weapons and supplies to Syrian rebels. The announcement came with claims by the Obama administration that they have found evidence of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime using chemical weapons against rebel forces, which is strictly prohibited by international […]
By Manuel Langendorf and Abul-Hasanat Siddique After decades of secular dictatorships, how will a new Middle East and North Africa alter centuries-old Arab-Western relations? This is the first of a two part series. Since December 2010, the Arab revolts have shaken an entire region. Uprisings, initiated by youth activists, have undoubtedly changed the history and […]
By Sarwar Kashmeri United States’ intelligence agencies and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are still not certain the Syrian government of President Assad has used chemical weapons against its opposition. Nothing has yet emerged from France, Germany or Britain to unequivocally confirm this charge either. But the clamor among the hawkish segment of Washington lawmakers to get […]
by Abul-Hasanat Siddique and Casper Wuite Abul-Hasanat Siddique and Casper Wuite, co-authors of The Arab Uprisings: An Introduction, talk about the political unrest in the Middle East, the Syrian Civil War, the globalization of media, and the future prospects for the region. Is the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa homegrown or a Western-sponsored revolution for change? Abul-Hasanat Siddique: Home-grown. […]
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