Current Analysis Lamped USA Amanda Ufheil-Somers has ably described [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer261/lampedusa] how refugee flows from the uprisings in North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa have pushed the strained infrastructure and the residents’ hospitality to the breaking point. The islanders aren’t the only ones David McMurray • 5 min read
Current Analysis No Clean Break Renewed conflict along the border between Sudan and South Sudan follows a predictable pattern, says MERIP editorial committee member Khalid Medani in an interview with KPFA radio. Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 1 min read
Current Analysis America's Pakistan American policymakers and their advisers are struggling with the question of Pakistan. The last ten years have produced a host of policy reviews, study group reports, congressional hearings and a few academic and more popular books, with more expected as the 2014 deadline for the end of US major com Sharon K. Weiner, Zia Mian • 21 min read
Current Analysis Despair and Continuity Actions always speak louder than words, even if words also act. Joshua Stacher • 2 min read
Current Analysis The Problem of Privilege “To believe in a democratic Jewish state today is to be caught between the jaws of a pincer,” writes Peter Beinart in his widely circulated and hotly debated op-ed [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/opinion/to-save-israel-boycott-the-settlements.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all]. Indeed -- but it was ever t Shira Robinson • 4 min read
Current Analysis Clooney's Arrest Dwarfs Sudan Agreement The casual Sudan observer might conclude from recent news stories that George Clooney's arrest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington on March 16 has been the most significant event of the past week. It takes some digging to find any coverage of the preliminary agreement [http://www.sudantribune.com/ Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 1 min read
Current Analysis Syrian Kurdish Cards Upheaval in Syria has given Kurdish groups new opportunities to advance their nationalist agendas while serving as proxies for neighboring states. In Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK has taken advantage of the rift between the regime of Bashar al-Asad and the Turkish government by turning Denise Natali • 12 min read
Current Analysis Patti Smith Remembers Operation Iraqi Freedom On September 8, 2011, just a few days before the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the intrepid rocker Patti Smith performed at Webster Hall in New York City. Ted Swedenburg • 1 min read
Current Analysis Beinart's Boycott The New York Times has done it again. For the second time in a month its op-ed page features an article calling for a (qualified) boycott of Israeli products. The latest installment [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/opinion/to-save-israel-boycott-the-settlements.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=all Joel Beinin • 2 min read
Current Analysis Threat Inflation via Memory Lane In 2005, Yale professor Philip Smith published a fascinating book Why War? to examine the “cultural logic” underpinning three major Middle East conflicts involving Western democracies -- the 1956 tripartite aggression in Suez, the 1991 Gulf war and the 2003 Iraq war. Smith’s thesis is that, while “hard” geopolitical Chris Toensing • 4 min read
Current Analysis Meanwhile, in Yemen... War is breaking out between the Yemeni military and a group called “Ansar al-Shari‘a” in the southern province of Abyan -- and it is in danger of spreading. Somewhere between 100 and 200 soldiers are being buried after battles [http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jVSJakuO6RiI-f26iNrwp Sheila Carapico • 2 min read
Current Analysis Libya's Lessons Libya is commonly counted as a success story among the ongoing Arab uprisings. NATO bombing, the story goes, saved thousands of lives and allowed Libyans to overthrow the absurd and murderous Muammar Qaddafi. The intervention proves that the West has aligned its interests in the Arab world with its Chris Toensing • 2 min read
