editors_092514 Current Analysis Sisi at the UN This week ‘Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi paid his inaugural visit to the United States as president of Egypt. The occasion was the annual meetings of the UN General Assembly. We asked some veteran Egypt watchers and MERIP authors for their reactions. Mona El-Ghobashy [http://www.merip.org/author/mona-el-gh The Editors • 6 min read
Current Analysis The Next Round of an Unwinnable War Beckons Once again, a U.S. president vows to eliminate an extremist militia in the Middle East to make the region, and Americans, safe. And that means it’s time again for a reality check. Having failed in its bid to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the United States is still trying to disma Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
Current Analysis "Libya Is Not Safe for You If You Want to Speak Your Mind" Hassan al-Amin [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/23/libya-original-freedom-fighter] is a long-time activist for human rights in Libya. He left Libya in 1983 under duress from the regime of Col. Muammar Qaddafi. In his London exile, al-Amin founded the dissident website Libya al-Mustaqbal [h Anjali Kamat • 10 min read
Current Analysis Educational Aftershocks for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon More than 50 percent of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon [https://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=122] are 17 or younger. Back home the great majority of them were in school. But youth who try to continue their education in Lebanon face social, economic and bureaucratic obstacles. The Sarah Parkinson • 5 min read
Current Analysis Strangers in the Crowd “The system of fear is back,” whispers an Egyptian political activist. “It is showing its teeth, saying ‘I’m baaack.’” The protest veteran speaks sotto voce even though he is sitting in his living room. And that, he points out, is the biggest change since the heady days of 2011, after the fall of Hu Vivienne Matthies-Boon • 6 min read
Current Analysis The Massacre One Year Later In Cairo this summer, there is scant appetite for anniversaries. The passage of one year since the critical events of the 2013 coup d’état [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero071013] scarcely attracts the public’s attention. There are few official ceremonies or rallies to mark the huge demonstrations on Ahmad Shokr • 5 min read
Current Analysis State Department Taking Passports Away from Yemeni-Americans Over the past year, dozens of Yemeni-Americans visiting their ancestral homeland have had their US passports summarily revoked or confiscated by the embassy in Sanaa without any clear legal basis, effectively stranding them outside the United States. Last month, a coalition of US civil rights groups The Editors • 6 min read
Current Analysis Another Benghazi “We didn’t want another Benghazi.” Oh no, is that really why the Obama administration decided to bomb Iraq [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/middleeast/fear-of-another-benghazi-drove-white-house-to-airstrikes-in-iraq.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=a-lede-package-r Chris Toensing • 5 min read
Current Analysis Jerusalem Mixed and Unmixed The popular Israeli television series, Arab Labor, follows the lives of the fictional journalist Amjad and his family, all of whom are Palestinian citizens of Israel. Season one of the series, which first aired on Israeli public television in 2007, introduces Amjad and his endearingly unquenchable f Michelle Campos • 10 min read
Current Analysis Solidaridad con Gaza, La Segunda Parte Latin American solidarity movements with Palestine are starting to win important political battles. Cecilia Baeza • 3 min read
Current Analysis Covering the Coverage Three weeks into Israel’s military campaign against Gaza, media and observers are turning the lens inward on the coverage itself. NBC was the focus of the conversation after the network recalled its correspondent in Gaza, Ayman Mohyeldin, shortly after he filed a powerful report on the killing of fo Bayann Hamid • 4 min read
Current Analysis Beneath the Gray Lady’s Flak Jacket The New York Times is the most prestigious of the prestige press in the United States. The famed “gray lady” is the newspaper of record, a citadel of objectivity, it is said, where the first draft of history is crafted. It sets the agenda for other newspapers, for the broadcast news programs and eve William Lafi Youmans • 7 min read
