Current Analysis Weighed Down In Egypt these days [http://www.merip.org/mer/latest], there seems to be a lot less of what Egyptians call “lightness of blood,” the easygoing bonhomie for which, in one of those stereotypes with a large grain of truth, the country is renowned. The quick-witted jocularity is diminished, the laughter Jessica Winegar • 4 min read
Current Analysis Booyah! Growing Up Amidst Revolution As any parent can tell you, kids are profoundly shaped by what goes on around them that is outside the parents’ control. Witness the socialization of my daughter, 8, half-Egyptian, half-American and living in Cairo, over the last two years. If nothing else, it’s a window upon how Egypt’s political t (Author not identified) • 2 min read
Current Analysis Syrian Kurds on the Verge of Crisis With the civil war in Syria past the point of no return, the country’s economy is undergoing unprecedented shrinkage. Inflation is running rampant. Purchasing power is plummeting as the value of the Syrian pound falls against the US dollar. Damascus and Aleppo, the main economic hubs, are badly aff Sirwan Kajjo • 2 min read
Current Analysis The Walls of Tahrir In recent years, walls have proliferated in Egypt. Some, as Samuli Schielke and I write [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer265/writing-walls-egypt] in the new issue [http://www.merip.org/mer/latest] of Middle East Report, are liberally decorated [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer265/writing-walls-egypt] with p Jessica Winegar • 4 min read
Current Analysis Argo and the Roots of US-Iranian Tensions The box-office hit Argo brings back long-faded memories of the Iran hostage crisis for many Americans. News in November 1979 that US diplomats had been taken hostage in Tehran shocked the United States. Students stormed the US embassy, blindfolding 52 Americans and threatening them at gunpoint. The Narges Bajoghli • 3 min read
carapico_010113 Current Analysis A New Green Zone in Sanaa Welcome to the Sanaa Sheraton! It’s now officially part of an expanded US Embassy estate that some are calling Yemen’s “Green Zone,” the plush, heavily guarded civilian headquarters for revised twenty-first-century “rules of engagement” in the Yemeni “theater.” It’s a risky place to stay. • 8 min read
Current Analysis Sudanese Echoes In Egypt’s constitutional crisis today, there are echoes of the rise of the National Islamic Front (NIF) in Sudan. Khalid Mustafa Medani • 4 min read
Current Analysis International Law and the Iran Impasse On any given day, provided her paper of choice still features international coverage, the average American newspaper reader can expect to be treated to one or two articles on attempts to halt advances in Iran’s nuclear program. These articles might cover efforts to levy fresh sanctions against the I Aslı Bâli • 10 min read
li_121312 Current Analysis Khaled el-Masri and Empire's Oblivion Two of today’s headlines together provide a good example of the work of imperial forgetting. On the front page of the New York Times, a story [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/us/zero-dark-thirty-torture-scenes-reopen-debate.html?hpw&pagewanted=all&_r=1&] about the depiction of torture in the forth Darryl Li • 6 min read
Current Analysis Why the Anti-Mursi Protesters Are Right Perusing US media coverage and analysis of the crisis in Egypt over the last two weeks has been quite disappointing. As the protests against the elected president Muhammad Mursi escalate, the main players in the struggle and the stakes involved are often mischaracterized. Some might ask: Why does th Ahmad Shokr • 5 min read
Current Analysis Israel's "Operation Mow the Lawn" One can only imagine the nods of self-satisfaction when an Israel Defense Forces planner came up with “Pillar of Cloud” to name Israel’s subsequent eight-day aerial assault on Gaza. By lifting this metaphor from several well-known passages [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_of_a_cloud] in the Tora Steve Niva • 6 min read
Current Analysis Liberalism vs. Democracy in Egypt President Muhammad Mursi’s Thursday night address did not mollify protesters, but it clarified the stakes in any dialogue between his supporters and the National Salvation Front led by Mohamed ElBaradei, Hamdin Sabbahi and Amr Moussa. Jason Brownlee • 4 min read