Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Explosions and Ill Omens — 273_hennessey_1

MER Article

Explosions and Ill Omens

On October 9, 2014, a suicide bomber detonated himself in central Sanaa, killing dozens of innocent people. Upon reading the news coverage of this terrible event my thoughts leapt back to a series of plays that I had seen performed in Sanaa in the spring. Most of these performances took place under

Katherine Hennessey • 13 min read

Chanting for Southern Independence — 273_augustin

MER Article

Chanting for Southern Independence

“Our revolution is the South Arabian revolution,” shouted five or six men at a march in Crater, a district of Aden, on March 20, 2014. The mass of demonstrators answered in unison: “Get out, get out, o colonial power!” The call-and-response pattern continued: “Our revolution is the South Arabian rev

Anne-Linda Amira Augustin • 6 min read

A Poor People's Revolution — 273_dahlgren.jpg

MER Article

A Poor People's Revolution

“This is no longer a movement,” said the young man whose Facebook name is Khaled Aden. “This is a revolution.”

Susanne Dahlgren • 9 min read

MER Article

The Breakdown of the GCC Initiative

On September 21, 2014, fighters of Ansar Allah, loyal to the Houthi movement based in the northern highlands of Sa‘ada, conquered Yemen’s capital. Militants occupied the home of 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman, a leader of the 2011 uprising against the regime of President ‘Ali ‘Abdalla

Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Sheila Carapico • 12 min read

MER Article

From the Editor (Winter 2014)

Midway through Barack Obama’s second term as president, there are two Establishment-approved metanarratives about his foreign policy. One, emanating mainly from the right, but resonating with several liberal internationalists, holds that Obama is unequal to the task of running an empire. The preside

Chris Toensing • 4 min read