Middle East Research and Information Project

Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Current Analysis

A New Normal for Iraqi Kurds?

At first glance, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) seems to have come out ahead from the takeover of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the flight of the Iraqi security forces from Mosul and its envir
Denise Natali • 8 min read
Current Analysis

Egypt's Government by Baltaga

Most reactions to the farcical convictions [http://www.madamasr.com/content/3-jazeera-journalists-given-7-10-year-sentences] of Australian journalist Peter Greste [http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2014/s4032290.htm], Egyptian-Canadian Mohamad Fadel Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamad express shock
Andrea Teti • 4 min read
Current Analysis

What About 'Abd al-Rahman al-Awlaqi?

The US government wanted to kill Anwar al-Awlaqi long before [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/world/middleeast/anwar-al-awlaki-a-us-citizen-in-americas-cross-hairs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0] a CIA-JSOC drone strike actually succeeded in doing so on September 30, 2011. Before and after that deadly s
Lisa Hajjar • 3 min read
Current Analysis

Under-the-Radar Palestinian Connections

With intensity unknown since the second intifada [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer217] and at a daily cost of $12 million to the Hebron economy alone, Israel is cracking down on the West Bank in its search for three missing Israeli settler youth. The result is a growing Palestinian chorus: Stop Israeli-
Raja Khalidi • 4 min read
Current Analysis

Refugee Need and Resilience in Zaatari

Not surprisingly, a visit to the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan is mainly a depressing experience. Yet there are elements of inspiration here as well.
Curtis Ryan • 4 min read
Current Analysis

Justice for Rasmea Odeh

This past winter, I was privileged to participate in several events in Chicago organized by Rasmea Yousef Odeh, associate director of the Arab American Action Network [http://www.aaan.org/] and leader of that group’s Arab Women’s Committee [http://www.aaan.org/?cat=27]. The events brought together a
Nadine Naber • 5 min read
Current Analysis

Postcard from Guantánamo

On June 14, 123 people -- including a military judge, teams of civilian and military defense lawyers and prosecutors, eight courtroom observers, and 15 journalists -- flew on a C-17 from Andrews Air Force Base to Guantánamo Bay for military commission proceedings. It is my fifth trip to Guantánamo,
Lisa Hajjar • 4 min read
Current Analysis

Hybrid Loyalties at the World Cup

The World Cup raises nationalist (make that nativist) sentiment to a fever pitch all around the Mediterranean Sea basin. But nowhere does the temperature run higher than in France and Algeria (as Martin Evans discusses at length in this article [http://www.historytoday.com/martin-evans/patriot-games
David McMurray • 6 min read
Current Analysis

Catastrophe and Consequence

What is happening in Iraq is a catastrophe, but not a sudden one. The violence in Iraq has been worsening steadily over the last few years. And more to the point, today’s crisis is the consequence of failed policies and failed politics -- national, regional and international -- years and even decade
• 3 min read
Current Analysis

Petraeus’ Real Failure

On the sidelines of the catastrophic failure of the Iraqi army to hold back the militias of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (or ISIS, as it is usually known), and the fall of Mosul to that group, a debate is taking place in the United States about whether this turn of events is yet another
Laleh Khalili • 5 min read
Current Analysis

Sisiphus

Over three days in late May, ‘Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi, the retired field marshal and former head of military intelligence, was elected president of Egypt with 96 percent of the vote. This tally was far higher than the 51.34 percent recorded in 2012 by the man Sisi helped to depose, Muhammad Mursi, and
Gennaro Gervasio, Vivienne Matthies-Boon, Andrea Teti • 12 min read
Current Analysis

The Latest Iranian Distractions

While senior Iranian and US officials are planning bilateral talks [http://backchannel.al-monitor.com/index.php/2014/06/8432/breaking-us-iran-to-hold-bilateral-nuclear-talks-in-geneva/] over Iran’s nuclear research program [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero041614], the Iranian and world media are distr
Norma Claire Moruzzi • 3 min read

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