Current Analysis Dramas of the Authoritarian State During August of 2011, which corresponded with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, viewers of the state-run satellite channel Syrian TV might have stumbled upon quite a strange scene: A man watches as a crowd chants “Hurriyya, hurriyya!” This slogan -- “Freedom, freedom!” -- is a familiar rallying cry Donatella Della Ratta • 14 min read
Current Analysis Strategic Commodity 201 Goodness! Look at this marxisant rubbish: Chris Toensing • 3 min read
Current Analysis Some Bad Ideas Can't Be Shot Down Some ideas are so absurd that they reveal interesting things about the times in which we live. Take, for example, an opinion piece [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/opinion/drones-for-human-rights.html?_r=1] by Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Mark Hanis in today’s New York Times suggesting that human ri Darryl Li • 3 min read
Current Analysis Slouching Toward a Hot War The odd, improbable Manssor Arbabsiar story [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero110311] is back, in prepared Congressional testimony [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-is-prepared-to-launch-terrorist-attacks-in-us-intelligence-report-finds/2012/01/30/gIQACwGweQ_story.html] by Dir Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis A Year After Tahrir In the mid-1990s, the Iraqi intellectual Isam al-Khafaji published a brace of articles lamenting the decay of “Arab thought in a dismal age.” Al-Khafaji glumly surveyed the Arab cultural scene, which, though bubbling with vitality at the edges, was dominated by the stolid priesthood of the “ultra-nationalist state.” In country Chris Toensing • 7 min read
Current Analysis Up with Friction On the first anniversary of the January 25 revolution in Egypt, it is right and meet to shine light upon a figure who is shadowy and obscure in mainstream retrospectives: the striking worker. Chris Toensing • 4 min read
Current Analysis Ask Katy Perry Will he stay or will he go? Yemenis and Yemen watchers have been wondering for nearly a year, since the mass uprising against President ‘Ali ‘Abdallah Salih began, whether he would entrench or decamp. Sheila Carapico • 2 min read
Current Analysis Chosen People Ideology Mitchell Plitnick got [http://www.lobelog.com/gop-officially-endorses-one-state-solution/#more-11164] a Republican National Committee spokeswoman to confirm that the body passed a resolution “recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis Price Tag Journalism The Washington Post today features a hit piece [http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/center-for-america-progress-group-tied-to-obama-accused-of-anti-semitic-language/2012/01/17/gIQAcrHXAQ_story.html?hpid=z3] on the Center for American Progress, the largely Clintonite think tank whose Middle East d Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis A Not So Distant Mirror At the risk of stating the obvious, there are eerie and multiplying parallels between the long lead-up to the 2003 Iraq war and what passes for debate on what to do about the Iranian nuclear research program. Chris Toensing • 3 min read
Current Analysis Bahrain's Sunni Awakening Bahrain’s bout with political unrest is nearing its one-year anniversary. Though there are multiple parties to the protracted conflict, analysts continue to focus almost exclusively on a single dyad, Sunni vs. Shi‘i. To some, the ongoing mobilization of Bahraini Shi‘a since February 14, 2011 is a co Justin Gengler • 12 min read
Current Analysis Fading False Flags First the latest assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist happened on a slow news day (Romney wins New Hampshire -- zzzz), prompting many major American outlets to give it prominent coverage. The LA Times editorial board was not pleased [http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-carbo Chris Toensing • 2 min read
