Current Analysis The Sisi Shuffle This morning Egypt’s military-installed cabinet resigned en masse [http://madamasr.com/content/beblawi’s-government-resigns ]. Initial comment implies that the resignations were a surprise but nonetheless fit into a pattern of events paving the way for a presidential run by Field Marshal ‘Abd al-Fat Joshua Stacher • 2 min read
colla_022414 Current Analysis Looking for the Three of Diamonds A few years ago, I began work on a crime novel set in Iraq [http://www.bitterlemonpress.com/new-books/american-crime-fiction/baghdad-central.asp]. I borrowed the name of a real-life person, Muhsin Khadr al-Khafaji, as a writing prompt. Taking this man’s name seemed like nothing since my character wa Elliott Colla • 5 min read
Current Analysis The Battle Over Higher Education in Iran The educated middle class that played an influential role in electing Hassan Rouhani to the Iranian presidency in June 2013 is anxious to see his promises of “prudence and hope” fulfilled. One area that Rouhani’s administration is expected to reform is higher education, which was targeted for politi Mohammad Ali Kadivar • 10 min read
Current Analysis (No) Dialogue in Bahrain In the run-up to the third anniversary of the Bahraini uprising on February 14, 2011, mass protests with tens of thousands of participants again engulfed the small kingdom. At the same time, a number of contacts between the opposition and the royal family sparked hopes of renewed high-level negotiat Toby Matthiesen • 11 min read
Current Analysis Seeing Through the Fog Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was full of tough talk when he visited the island kingdom of Bahrain in early December. The United States, he vowed, will continue to guard “the free flow of energy and commerce” from the Persian Gulf and keep Iran nuclear-free, through the presence of 35,000 US mil Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
Current Analysis Collective Frustration, But No Collective Action, in Qatar In late June 2013, as neighboring Arab states continued their struggles against popular pressure for political reform or regime change, the Gulf emirate of Qatar undertook its own, voluntary transfer of power. Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, patriarch of modern Qatar, appeared on state television t Justin Gengler • 8 min read
Current Analysis Handshakes in Geneva Everyone is happy with the interim agreement reached with Iran in Geneva on November 23 -- that is, everyone who really wants to defuse the tensions over Iran’s nuclear research program. The Editors • 10 min read
Current Analysis Breaking “America's Last Taboo” American Zionism has made any serious public discussion of the past or future of Israel -- by far the largest recipient ever of US foreign aid -- a taboo. To call this quite literally the last taboo in American public life would not be an exaggeration. Abortion, homosexuality, the death penalty, eve Alex Lubin • 9 min read
Current Analysis Manhunting in Africa The penultimate scene in the recently released film Captain Phillips, about the 2009 seizure of the US-flagged cargo ship Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates, depicts the methodical precision with which a Navy SEAL Team 6 unit identified and then captured or killed the pirates during their doomed attem Steve Niva • 5 min read
Current Analysis Round Two to Arafat The release of the Swiss Institut de Radiophysique’s Experts Forensic Report [http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/06/yasser-arafat-report-swiss-institut-radiophysique-full-text] Concerning the Late President Yasser Arafat has lent further credence to the proposition that the iconic Mouin Rabbani • 3 min read
Current Analysis New Alliances and Schisms in Sudan The ten days of protests in Sudan beginning September 23, 2013 were the largest in the country since the installation of the military government of Omar al-Bashir in 1989. As Middle East Report editor Khalid Mustafa Medani explains in an interview with KPFA, unlike the youth-led protests of 2011 and Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 1 min read
Current Analysis What Comes Next Whatever comes next [http://mondoweiss.net/2013/10/israelpalestine-recognized-comprehensive.html] in the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, the State of Israel is here to stay. To acknowledge this fact is not to nod to Israel’s “right to exist” -- people have rights, states are supposed Chris Toensing • 4 min read
