Current Analysis Wadi Barada: Snapshot of a Civil War Sa‘id has always loved swimming. When he was little, he spent summer afternoons with his friends on the banks of Syria’s Barada River. When the river level started to drop, in the mid-1990s, he went to a swimming pool newly opened in the nearby village of Basima. The pool belongs to the Abu al-Nour Mohammad Raba'a • 13 min read
Current Analysis The Moral Economy of Distance in the Yemeni Crisis In discussions of the ongoing war in Yemen, Yemeni activists [http://supportyemen.org/video/color-injustice/], aid organizations [http://www.msf.org/article/yemen-crisis-update-%E2%80%93-27-april-0] and human rights groups [http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/yemen] are struggling to push the dir Jillian Schwedler, Stacey Philbrick Yadav • 5 min read
Current Analysis Repression and Remembering in Kent and Cairo Yesterday was the forty-fifth anniversary of the day [http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/05/45th_anniversary_of_kent_state.html] when Ohio National Guardsmen fired 67 rounds of live ammunition into a crowd of peaceful protesters at Kent State University. The crime took 13 seconds. The tra Joshua Stacher • 3 min read
Current Analysis Fear Makes Everything Possible It is a time in Egypt when it is not welcome to write something serious that addresses serious issues. Everything borders on the ridiculous. Rhetoric has shifted to a medieval or primal state where basic values are being revisited. Is it OK to discard human rights [http://timep.org/commentary/pope-t Wael Eskandar • 2 min read
Current Analysis Crushing Repression of Eritrea's Citizens Is Driving Them Into Migrant Boats Abinet spent six years completing her national service in one of Eritrea’s ministries, but when she joined a banned Pentecostal church, she was arrested, interrogated, threatened, released and then shadowed in a clumsy attempt to identify other congregants. She arranged to be smuggled out of the cou Dan Connell • 4 min read
Current Analysis Urgent Need for Humanitarian Corridor in Yemen The humanitarian emergency in Yemen continues to worsen. In Aden, the southern port city where local fighters are trying to fend off a Houthi takeover, several neighborhoods have no water or power. Hospitals are begging for basics like antibiotics and bandages. There is no sign of a pause in the co The Editors • 1 min read
Current Analysis Two Resolutions, a Draft Constitution and Late Developments On April 14, three weeks into the Saudi-led air campaign called Operation Decisive Storm, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 2216 [http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/world/middleeast/document-draft-resolution-on-yemen.html]. This legally binding resolution, put forward by Jordan, Sheila Carapico • 8 min read
Current Analysis Open Letter from Yemen Scholars Protesting War We write as scholars concerned with Yemen and as residents/nationals of the United Kingdom and the United States. The military attack by Saudi Arabia, backed by the Gulf Cooperation Council states (but not Oman), Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, the UK and above all the US, is into its third week of bombing an (Author not identified) • 1 min read
Current Analysis Not Running on Empty A grassroots movement has been growing in Jordan, aimed at putting a stop to a major gas deal between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom. In the wake of the Israeli elections, which returned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power, this movement can be expected to get larger still. Curtis Ryan • 4 min read
Current Analysis A Grim New Phase in Yemen’s Migration History “Yemen’s conflict is getting so bad that some Yemenis are fleeing to Somalia,” read a recent headline at the Vice News website. The article mentions [https://news.vice.com/article/yemens-conflict-is-getting-so-bad-that-some-yemenis-are-fleeing-to-somalia?utm_source=vicenewstwitter] that 32 Yemenis, Marina de Regt • 3 min read
Current Analysis Footing the Bill While Israel Thumbs Its Nose It’s tax season again. How about a little accounting? Every year, Washington sends $3.1 billion of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to Israel. It’s only fair to ask what Americans are getting in return. That seems especially appropriate now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is busy badmouthi Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis Operation Decisive Storm and the Expanding Counter-Revolution On the night of March 25 one hundred Saudi warplanes bombed strategic targets inside Yemen under the control of the Houthi rebels. A number of countries—the other Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) members minus Oman, as well as Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Morocco and Pakistan—joined the effort either directl John M. Willis • 4 min read
