MER Article Graham Usher MERIP mourns Graham Usher, our long-time correspondent and contributing editor. Below are his obituary and two remembrances from our editors. (Author not identified) • 8 min read
MER Article Letter (Fall 2013) In her article, “A Makeover: Baghdad, the 2013 Arab Capital of Culture [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer266/makeover]” (MER 266), Nada Shabout gives a description of arts and culture initiatives being developed in three Iraqi “zones.” There are a few discrepancies regarding the non-profit Sada (Echo) fo (Author not identified) • 1 min read
Current Analysis Rays of Hope in Egypt Three days before the coup that removed Muhammad Mursi from the presidency, I marched with tens of thousands of Egyptians to the presidential palace. A sea of protesters had filled Cairo’s streets, waving flags and chanting for the downfall of the regime. As we passed a military compound, two soldi (Author not identified) • 2 min read
Current Analysis Whither Egypt's Democracy? On July 3 I walked down the Nasr City autostrade toward the Raba‘a al-‘Adawiyya mosque, where the Muslim Brothers of Egypt were holding a sit-in. Two and a half hours would pass before the defense minister, Gen. ‘Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi, addressed the nation to announce the end of Muhammad Mursi’s one (Author not identified) • 9 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2013) Abrahamian, Ervand. The Coup: 1953, the CIA and the Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations (New York: New Press, 2012). Allen, Lori. The Rise and Fall of Human Rights: Cynicism and Politics in Palestine (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013). Boroujerdi, Mehrzad, ed., Mirror for the Muslim (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Editor's Bookshelf Although the Congressional investigating committee did everything in its power to minimize Israel’s role in the Iran-Contra scandal, the hearings and their fallout did suggest that Israel played a major, and very likely initiating, role in the sordid affair. This and other matters skirted by both th (Author not identified) • 4 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Spring 2013) “The Iraq war is largely about oil,” wrote Alan Greenspan in his memoir The Age of Turbulence (2007). “I’m saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows.” It may indeed be self-evident that the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, as the former Federal Reserve chairm (Author not identified) • 9 min read
MER Article Primer: The War Iraq is a country of 15.5 million people living in an area somewhat larger than the state of California. Most of its land is a plain descending from mountains in the north to desert in the southwest. The area near the Gulf is marshy. This plain includes the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, between which (Author not identified) • 8 min read
Current Analysis CAFMENA Letter re: Syria The Committee on Academic Freedom [http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/committees/academic-freedom/index.html] of the Middle East Studies Association of North America has published an open letter [http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/committees/academic-freedom/intervention/letters-syria.html#021913]regarding armed (Author not identified) • 3 min read
Current Analysis Booyah! Growing Up Amidst Revolution As any parent can tell you, kids are profoundly shaped by what goes on around them that is outside the parents’ control. Witness the socialization of my daughter, 8, half-Egyptian, half-American and living in Cairo, over the last two years. If nothing else, it’s a window upon how Egypt’s political t (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Spring 2012) Abbas, Rauf and El-Dessouky, Assem. The Large Landowning Class and the Peasantry in Egypt, 1837-1952 (ed. Peter Gran) (trans. Amer Mohsen and Mona Zikry) (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2012). Achy, Lahcen. Tunisia’s Economic Challenges (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for Internationa (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Winter 2011) Aloni, Udi. What Does a Jew Want? On Binationalism and Other Specters (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011). Bier, Laura. Revolutionary Womanhood: Feminisms, Modernity and the State in Nasser’s Egypt (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011). Booth, Ken and Tim Dunne. Terror in Our Tim (Author not identified) • 2 min read