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
Current Analysis Not Much Better Than Bush President Barack Obama got it right [http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/19/politics/obama-iraq-transcript/index.html] when he declared: "There's no military solution inside of Iraq, certainly not one that is led by the United States." But his Iraq track record doesn’t mark much of an improvement over the m Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
baeza_072214 Current Analysis Solidaridad con Gaza The brutal Israeli assault on Gaza, the fourth in less than ten years (2006, 2008-2009, 2012 and now again), has triggered a burst of solidarity in Latin America. Cecilia Baeza • 3 min read
Current Analysis Meanwhile, in Hebron... As Israel pounds Gaza by land, air and sea, we turn for a moment to the West Bank city of Hebron. In 1997, Israel withdrew its military from the majority of the city’s area, called “H-1,” which became part of “Area A,” the parts of the West Bank policed by the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israeli sol Yassmine Saleh • 7 min read
Current Analysis Gaza Notes I’ve been through wars before, two of them, in 2008-2009 and 2012. The difference this time around is that I am responsible for a six-month old daughter. I have to be strong for her. I have to be around her all the time. I have to be ready to make funny noises as soon as the Israeli F-16s resume th W S • 3 min read