MIDDLE EAST

While the ‘Islamist idea’ will likely endure, the political actors face an existential struggle to survive the onslaught of the past decade Last month, Tunisia’s parliamentary speaker and head of the Ennahda Party, Rached Ghannouchi, came under fire for comments he made following a meeting with the French ambassador. Warning to all tyrants: The Arab …

Emirati leaders must learn that war and chaos are no longer model foreign policy strategies A tribesman leads camels through the UAE desert in 2013 (AFP) Some time ago, I had a chance meeting with a scholar working for an Emirati think tank, on the sidelines of an academic conference …

If you want to divert attention away from your own criminal behaviour, nothing works better, it seems, than starting a fire in someone else’s backyard. Even better if you can find some useful idiots to light the match. Israel is an expert at this, and it is with the help …

The Arab Spring which shook the very foundations of dictatorial regimes in the Middle East is ten years this month. Though the people’s burning desire for democracy and freedom were crushed by tyrants backed by United States, Europe and Israel the fire of freedom continue to burn in the hearts …

The Saudi government has sacked 100 Islamic imams and preachers who gave sermons in mosques in Makkah and Al-Qassim because they failed to condemn the Muslim Brotherhood as instructed, Al-Watan newspaper reported. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah, and Guidance issued instructions for all imams and preachers to criticise the Muslim Brotherhood and …

From Algeria to Iraq to Lebanon, demonstrators are calling for change. What can the events of the 2011 uprisings teach them? On 17 December 2010, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, humiliated by years of police harassment, set himself on fire in the city of Sidi Bouzid – a solitary act of …

While shifts in US foreign policy will not be radical, the next administration will help to limit the grip of Arab authoritarians The happiness expressed among wide segments of the Arab world in response to Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s win in the US election cannot be denied, even though President …

The assassination of senior Iranian military researcher Mohsen Fakhrizadeh involved sophisticated electronic equipment controlled via satellite link, a senior official said. The scientist was gunned down in an ambush last week. This piece of information comes from General Ramezan Sharif, spokesman for the powerful Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), whose …

How sanctions against the Syrian regime are forcing the country into famine. Thirty-year-old Ayman fled Damascus, Syria, for Beirut at the beginning of the Syrian civil war. Over the last year, while Lebanon’s economy collapsed and it became harder for him to find work, the conflict back home seemed to …

It is not often that one can agree with the pronouncements made by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan, but his tweeted comment on the killing of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh suggesting that the incident “…was a criminal act & highly reckless. It risks lethal retaliation & a new round …