MER Article Egypt Dispatch Last April, an Egyptian court acquitted Aya Hijazi and seven others of charges related to their work with a charitable foundation for Cairo’s street children. After nearly three years in prison, Hijazi, a dual US-Egyptian citizen, was released and allowed to return to the United States where Preside Abdullah Al-Arian • 5 min read
MER Article Lebanon Dispatch Trumpism as experienced from Lebanon is inextricably linked to the effects of the Trump administration’s positions and policies in the broader Middle East. The complexities of Lebanese politics and intrigue, and the social and economic challenges faced by the Lebanese as well as the country’s huge r Karim Makdisi • 7 min read
MER Article Dispatches on Trumpland Knowledge production about the Middle East, Edward Said argued, has been a geopolitical project of empire. This is why the following dispatches to Trumpland provide a crucial intervention. Collectively, the dispatches ask the following: What does Trumpism mean from the peripheries of US empire? How is it felt and experienced? Alex Lubin • 1 min read
MER Article Being Muslim in the Trump Era Moustafa Bayoumi is author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America (2009) and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches From the War on Terror (2015). He is professor of English at Brooklyn College. In this interview with MERIP editorial committee me Moustafa Bayoumi • 6 min read
MER Article The Afterlives of Torture Donald J. Trump ran for president on a platform that included a pledge to bring back the torture technique of waterboarding and “a hell of a lot more.” On the campaign trail, Trump told his supporters: “We have to fight so viciously and violently because we’re dealing with violent people…We have to Lisa Hajjar • 20 min read
MER Article The Old "New Anti-Semitism" and Resurgent White Supremacy Torch-bearing white supremacists and neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, VA in August 2017 shocked many with their chants of “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us.” Days later, white nationalist Richard Spencer was interviewed on Israeli TV about the role of the so-called “alt-right” in Amy Kaplan • 15 min read
MER Article Trump's Drone Surge Less than a year into Trump’s presidency, the world’s policeman is back, now armed with a Twitter account. Flying largely under the media radar, the US military is flexing its muscles around the world—and in some areas it is going on the offensive. Since Trump took office, the United States has quie Steve Niva • 20 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Summer 2017) [su_heading align="left"]The arrival of the Donald J. Trump presidency shook the foundations of US domestic politics but also rattled the Middle East. This chaotic administration regularly sends mixed messages and sows confusion as the president’s erratic tweets and off-the-cuff comments contradict statements by administration The Editors • 4 min read
