MER Article From the Editors (Summer 2015) No publication based in Washington should write about prisons without first noting that America leads the world in incarceration. Amanda Ufheil-Somers, Chris Toensing • 9 min read
MER Article Iraqi Christians: A Primer Media coverage in the West can overstate the degree to which Christians are “disappearing” from the Middle East. But one place where such characterizations have merit is Iraq. In the years since the 2003 invasion led by the United States, at least half of Iraq’s Christians have fled the country to e Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 5 min read
MER Article Lampedusa More than 52,000 would-be migrants have landed on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in 2011. Roughly half of the arrivals are young Tunisian men looking for job opportunities in Europe. Most of the others are Sahelians, sub-Saharan Africans or South Asians fleeing the violence in Libya. In many c Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 5 min read
MER Article Scenarios of Southern Sudanese Secession In January 2011, if they are allowed to, the people of the southern provinces of Sudan will almost certainly vote to declare the independence of South Sudan from the north. The referendum is to be the culmination of an armistice in the longest-running civil conflict in Africa, between the Sudanese g Amanda Ufheil-Somers, Chris Toensing • 12 min read