Current Analysis Iran's Unfair Nationality Laws At an October meeting of young Iranian-American leaders at the residence of the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, I asked Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about the country’s unfair nationality laws. By these statutes, no Iranian woman married to a non-Iranian man can pass on her citizen Narges Bajoghli • 3 min read
Current Analysis Seeking Shelter in Jordan’s Cities Umm Anas’ four-room apartment rings with the muffled laughter of children told to hush. Her six sons and daughters and four neighborhood children huddle around a tiny, rickety television in the otherwise unfurnished living room. Arabic-dubbed episodes of the “How to Train Your Dragon” television ser Vicky Kelberer • 8 min read
Current Analysis Operation Protective Edge For 51 days in July and August 2014, Israel conducted a military operation in Gaza known as Protective Edge. It was the third major Gaza operation by the Israeli armed forces in seven years, and by far the most lethal and destructive. Some 2,205 Palestinians, including 722 militants and over 500 chi Michael Thomas • 13 min read
Current Analysis LGBT Rights in Iran Over the last two decades, issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity have gained significant visibility and attention across the globe. The case of Iran is particularly fraught, and has received plenty of coverage due to the work of international non-profits. Shima Houshyar • 6 min read
Current Analysis “Think Again, Turn Away”…from Lousy Public Diplomacy CIA black sites. “Extraordinary rendition.” The PATRIOT Act. Massive NSA surveillance. The 2003 invasion of Iraq. Abu Ghraib. Torture. Religious and racial profiling. FBI entrapment. Drones, “kill lists” and civilian casualties. “Terror Tuesdays.” Whatever the successes of US public diplomacy since Amanda Rogers • 3 min read
Current Analysis Nobel Nota Bene From Little League banquets to honorary doctorates, it may well be in the nature of award committees to tilt toward hyperbole. Elevating the legacy of the recipient is, among other things, an affirmation of the importance of those who can recognize importance when they see it. The committee that sel Stacey Philbrick Yadav • 3 min read
Current Analysis Ahmed Mohamed, Liberal Rhetoric and Obama Administration Propaganda Most readers will know by now that a 14-year-old kid named Ahmed Mohamed was recently arrested in Irving, Texas [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-is-under-police-investigation-for-building-a-clock.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=2] for, well, for making a clock while Muslim. Ahme Leili Kashani • 6 min read
Current Analysis Where Is Israel in the Refugee Crisis? Last week, SodaStream [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero041814] CEO Daniel Birnbaum and Mayor Talal Al-Krenawi of the Negev Bedouin city Rahat issued a joint statement [http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/SodaStream-offers-to-take-in-Syrian-refugees-417830] offering the absorption of 1,000 refugees from S Michael Fin, Callie Maidhof • 4 min read
Current Analysis We Can—and Should—Do More to Help Syrian Refugees Imagine that 58 million Americans were streaming into Canada and Mexico, many with only a small satchel and the clothes on their backs. Picture another 102 million residents of the Eastern seaboard seeking refuge with relatives in the Midwest and West. That terrifying mental exercise gives a sense Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis The GCC Needs a Successful Strategy for Yemen, Not Failed Tactics For the last 45 years, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has tried to mitigate its Yemen problem through short-term tactics, rather than construct and give resources to a strategy for solving it. That policy has failed repeatedly. A bold and lasting transformation is needed, not the same ineffectua James Spencer • 4 min read
Current Analysis Hope Canal A truck cruising down Qasr al-‘Ayni Street dressed as a blue papier-mâché boat. A belly dancer clad in a silver lycra dress and a blonde wig, upper body undulating out of the window of a white sedan. Tahrir Square, lit up like a local wedding, crowded with thousands, their faces painted red, white a Heba Gowayed, Mona Oraby • 5 min read
Current Analysis Sisi and Suez On July 26, 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. With this action, the young Egyptian president was catapulted to world prominence as a recognized leader of the Arab nationalist and Non-Aligned movements of the time. The nationalization secured for Nasser a reputation for resolute a Timothy Kaldas • 3 min read
