Program Related Publication Feeds

Middle East Notes and Comment: Monsters, Inc.

Thu, 25 Jun 2015 00:00:00 -0400

It’s not hard to find Americans who want a victory over the Islamic state. The hard part is finding any with a good sense of what victory would look like. The late Justice Potter Stewart’s famous description of hard-core pornography, “I know it when I see it,” isn’t very helpful.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Popular Authoritarians

Tue, 26 May 2015 00:00:00 -0400

Dictators often go to extraordinary means to project an image of popularity. Bussed-in mobs wave flags and sing songs praising the leadership, and when sham elections are held, something like 98.7 percent of voters dutifully vote for the president. No one doubts the consequences of genuine opposition—imprisonment, assault, or worse.

Middle East Notes and Comment: To Fight Jihadi Violence, End the Wars

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 00:00:00 -0500

The spread of jihadi violence in the Arab world is as obvious as it is painful. Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya all have groups that use the slogans and symbols of Islam to recruit, to radicalize, and to justify violent campaigns against the status quo.

Middle East Notes and Comment: The Other Side of Low Oil Prices

rshirazi — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 00:00:00 -0500

American consumers have celebrated the sharp drop in oil prices. In recent weeks, gasoline prices in many American communities have brushed against $2 per gallon, promising to put more than $500 annually into the pockets of the average American family.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Radicalism Four Years into the "Arab Spring"

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:00:00 -0500

While many observers of the Arab world had believed for years that change was inevitable, the “Arab Spring” itself came as a complete surprise four years ago. The idea that a self-immolating fruit seller in Tunisia could shake the political foundations of the Arab world to their core would have been thought ludicrous even in early January 2011.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Traditional Remedies

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:00:00 -0400

In the decade after the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government promoted democracy as an antidote to al Qaeda’s violent ideology. Whether or not U.S. democracy promotion had much to do with it, the revolts and revolutions of 2011 recast Arab politics. To many U.S.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Al Qaeda's Offspring

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Even after the death of Osama bin Laden, jihadists in North Africa have stayed in the news. In May 2012, jihadists declared an Islamic state in northern Mali, ultimately prompting a French military intervention in January 2013. In the same month, a high-profile attack at an Algerian gas plant killed nearly 40 foreign workers.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Cautious Optimism on Egypt

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Everyone expected Egypt to be working out better by now, especially Egyptians. Spending a week in Cairo earlier this month, there was barely a whiff of the euphoria of early 2011, when the country united to bring down the government. Even so, there is an energy in Egypt that wasn’t there before.

Middle East Notes and Comment: The Arab Decade?

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

One year ago, the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square proved that Tunisia was not a fluke. Until January 2011, Tunisia didn’t resonate much in the Arab world. It was too small, too Francophile, and too socially liberal.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Politics of Piety

ian — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Many in the United States—and in the Middle East—worry that religious extremists in the Arab world are on the cusp of something big. Across the region, groups that blend religion and politics are injecting more religion into more open politics.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Forgotten Lessons

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

If there were a single lesson to be learned from the bloody and chaotic period that followed the toppling of Saddam Hussein, it was the importance of planning carefully for the post-conflict environment. As coalition forces bear down on Muammar Gadhafi’s Libya, that lesson is being forgotten.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Red Dawn

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Russian support for a December 23, 2006 UN Security Council resolution threatening Iran with sanctions hardly means Russia has become a force for stability in the Middle East.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Pardon Me

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0500

There is plenty to atone for in Arab politics. Heavy handed tactics of oppression and civil strife have embittered people across the region for decades. In other societies wrecked by similar conflicts, pardons and amnesties have been used to help heal these wounds.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Libya's Generation Gap

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Libya is in a race. After a quarter century as a bête noire of international politics, fount of unpredictable proclamations, and supporter of innumerable liberation movements, Libyan policy has taken a decided turn toward engagement with the rest of the world.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Necessary but Not Sufficient

Sun, 15 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Late last year, Secretary of State Colin Powell called women’s empowerment “a true barometer of positive change in the Muslim world.” But a rising barometer does not always indicate clear skies, not least in the country Secretary Powell singled out for approval: Morocco.

Middle East Notes and Comment: Are We There Yet?

Thu, 15 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0500

In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush pointed to Libya’s decision to disclose and dismantle its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction as a diplomatic victory for the administration. Libya’s actions do give cause for satisfaction, but it is too early to put Libya in the “win” column.