MER Article Issue 302 (Spring 2022) Masthead Masthead for Middle East Report 302 (Spring 2022) (Author not identified) • 1 min read
The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group is deployed to the US 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations in the Persian Gulf. US Navy photo by Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 1st Class Thomas Joyce/Released. MER Article Rethinking US Policy Toward Iran: A Forum While US relations with Iran have been adversarial since the 1979 Islamic revolution, President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) in 2018 and his belligerent implementation of a “maximum pressure” policy has on more than one occasion risked escalation. Even though Trump seems to want to (Author not identified) • 19 min read
MER Article In Appreciation of Chris Toensing, Steve Niva and Jimmy Bishara At this time of uncertainty, disruption and rebuilding, MERIP would like to offer our deep gratitude to several members of our family whose contributions over the past two decades have allowed MERIP to survive and thrive against all odds. For nearly 50 years, MERIP has been committed to providing high (Author not identified) • 5 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks Spring 2018 Baconi, Tareq. Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018). Berda, Yael. Living Emergency: Israel’s Permit Regime in the Occupied West Bank(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2017). Blumi, Isa. Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World (Berkeley: University of (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article New and Recommended Reading Summer 2018 Abboud, Samer. Syria (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018). Adalet, Begum. Hotels and Highways: The Construction of Modernization Theory in Cold War Turkey (Stanford: Stanford University press, 2018). Abul-Magd, Zeinab. Militarizing the Nation: The Army, Business, and Revolution in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018). Ahmad, Attiya. Everyday Conversions: Islam, Domestic (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Spring 2017) Bargu, Banu. Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014). Bashkin, Orit. Impossible Exodus: Iraqi Jews in Israel (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017). Bayat, Asef. Revolution Without Revolutionaries: Making Sense of the Arab Spring (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017). Bridge, Gavin and (Author not identified) • 1 min read
Current Analysis An Open Letter by Senior Middle East Scholars to the New York Times Regarding its Thomas Friedman's column, "Saudi Arabia's Arab Spring, At Last." We write as scholars of the Middle East and the Muslim world with long, collective experience on Gulf and Arabian Peninsula policy issues to express our amazement, concern and anger that the New York Times would publish Thomas Friedman's recent essay "Saudi Arabia's Arab Spring, (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Winter 2016) Abou-Hodeib, Toufoul. A Taste for Home: The Modern Middle Class in Ottoman Beirut (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017). Contosta, David R. America’s Needless Wars: Cautionary Tales of US Involvement in the Philippines, Vietnam and Iraq (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2017). Dahi, Omar and Firat Demir. South-South Trade and (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Oman’s Consultative Council Elections The scant international coverage of Oman’s 2015 Consultative Council elections is not surprising. An absolute monarchy widely perceived as a bastion of political stability, Oman rarely features in world news. The sultanate’s strong ties with both Iran and the Arab Gulf monarchies allow it to play an (Author not identified) • 8 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2016) Achcar, Gilbert. Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016). Abu-‘Uksa, Wael. Freedom in the Arab World: Concepts and Ideologies in Arabic Thought in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016). Al-Nakib, Farah. Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life (Stanford, (Author not identified) • 1 min read
Current Analysis Some Initial Thoughts on the Chilcot Report We asked a few MERIP friends and Iraq scholars for their reflections on what they have read so far of the report now regarded as the official assessment of British involvement in the Iraq war. (Author not identified) • 10 min read
Current Analysis Letter to UN Secretary-General Regarding Saudi Arabia's Removal from List of Armies Charged with War Crimes "The ruling Saudi regime obviously knows how to use its wealth to manipulate dysfunctional international bodies such as the UN. However, in the eyes of the global community it stands charged with overwhelming evidence of war crimes and of fundamental human indecency." (Author not identified) • 4 min read
