MER Article From the Editors (Spring 2014) “Will China dominate the twenty-first century?” So asks the title of a short book by Jonathan Fenby, a British journalist who was editor of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post during the period when that bustling entrepôt was being transferred from British control to the sovereignty of the People’s The Editors • 9 min read
Current Analysis Six Questions for Mouin Rabbani Yesterday in Gaza representatives of Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization announced a blueprint for talks about forming a government of national consensus (Arabic text here [http://www.maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=692256]). Hamas and the PLO’s dominant Fatah faction have been at l The Editors • 8 min read
Current Analysis Nowruz Mobarak It’s been a long, cold, snowy winter across much of the globe, so we thought we’d do something to celebrate spring. Nowruz is the traditional Persian new year’s holiday, observed in Iran, Afghanistan, Kurdish lands and beyond where Persian culture has had an influence. A pre-Islamic holiday, Nowruz The Editors • 3 min read
Current Analysis Spring Break Reading Guide [/sites/default/files/200px-Adujivitam.jpg]For those fortunate enough to find a bit of time to read books not directly related to work over spring break or the summer, MERIP solicited recommendations from editors and contributors. Reading is often part of daily professional work, even a form of drud The Editors • 4 min read
Current Analysis Introducing the MERIP Blog's Guest Editors MERIP’s blog aims to complement our time-honored long-form analysis in Middle East Report and Middle East Report Online with a more spontaneous, ongoing conversation. MERIP’s blog is produced by our staff (Chris Toensing [http://www.merip.org/author/chris-toensing] and Amanda Ufheil-Somers [http://w The Editors • 1 min read
Current Analysis Our Primer on Israel-Palestine Some 43 years ago, a group of activists in the movement to end the war in Vietnam founded the Middle East Research and Information Project. The impetus was that the American public, including the anti-war left, was poorly informed about the Middle East and the US role [https://www.jacobinmag.com/20 The Editors • 2 min read
Current Analysis Handshakes in Geneva Everyone is happy with the interim agreement reached with Iran in Geneva on November 23 -- that is, everyone who really wants to defuse the tensions over Iran’s nuclear research program. The Editors • 10 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Fall 2013) Albrecht, Holger. Raging Against the Machine: Political Opposition Under Authoritarianism in Egypt (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2013). Al-Rasheed, Madawi. A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religions in Saudi Arabia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013). Antoon, Sina The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Fall 2013) A major victory for the hawks in the post-Vietnam era was to define “intervention” as military action and its opposite as inaction. Thus, in the recurrent debate over what to do about the civil war in Syria, the options are reduced to some sort of US strike, on the one hand, and nothing, on the oth The Editors • 2 min read
Current Analysis On the Signs of Intervention in Syria Today Secretary of State John Kerry presented documents in support of his case [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23906913] that the Syrian regime ordered a chemical weapons attack that killed 1,429 Syrians, including 426 children. Days earlier Kerry had promised “consequences” if the US j The Editors • 8 min read
Current Analysis On Egypt's Day of Infamy August 14, 2013 was a day whose events and meaning Egyptians will be debating fiercely for decades to come. Following that day’s bloodshed, Egypt is in the middle of its most severe crisis since the fall of ex-president Husni Mubarak in February 2011. The fate of the country -- popular sovereignty o The Editors • 7 min read
Current Analysis Egypt in Year Three Was the gathering of millions in Egypt on June 30 the continuation of a revolution or the occasion for a coup d’état? The answer is “both,” but the question is not the right one to ask. The Editors • 8 min read
