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 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 "You Can Watch the Circus from Your Couch" Wael Eskandar [https://twitter.com/weskandar] is an independent journalist and blogger [http://blog.notesfromtheunderground.net/] based in Cairo. He writes for al-Ahram Online, al-Monitor [http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/egypt-sisi-sabbahi-president-messiah.html], Jadaliyya [http:/ Sheila Carapico • 7 min read
MER Article Muslim Activist Encounters in Meiji Japan As one of the political, commercial and intellectual centers of Asia, Japan at the turn of the twentieth century was an important arena for the intersection of ideas about modernism, nationalism and anti-colonial politics. Though Cairo, Istanbul and Mecca had long been the capitals of scholarship an Shuang Wen • 4 min read
MER Article Media Wars and the Gulen Factor in the New Turkey Turkey’s experience in the twenty-first century is characterized, at least in part, by the efforts of a “conservative democratic” coalition against an eroding state class elite. Although led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), this coalition is reliant upon the increased legitimacy of a new block of supportive Joshua D. Hendrick • 20 min read
MER Article What's the Line? Much of what was written from Egypt on and after January 25, 2011 was captivating and intense -- as one might expect from reporters witnessing a democratic movement overthrowing a dictator. But the Beltway reporting that tried to explain US policy was another matter. Peter Hart • 5 min read
Current Analysis Revolution and Counter-Revolution in the Egyptian Media It took 18 days of mass mobilization, the deaths of hundreds and the wounding of thousands, the crippling of Egypt’s tourism industry and the crash of its stock market, to bring an end to the 30-year presidency of Husni Mubarak. And almost every minute of the revolution was televised. Ursula Lindsey • 15 min read
Current Analysis Tunisia's Post-Ben Ali Challenge The January 14 departure of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali amidst popular protests was a long overdue demonstration of the possibility for genuine democratization in the Arab world. Mohamed Bouazizi, the street vendor whose self-immolation set off the protests, tapped a deep vein of ange Amy Aisen Kallander • 15 min read
Current Analysis Never Too Soon to Say Goodbye to Hi Despite its deepening troubles in Iraq, the Bush administration maintains an audaciously upbeat outward mien. From George W. Bush’s macho landing on an aircraft carrier in May to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s victory lap around the Mesopotamian battlefields in September, the song Washington si Elliott Colla, Chris Toensing • 18 min read
MER Article Iranian Press Update The press has played a crucial role in advancing Iran’s emerging reformist agenda. Following the initial wave of attacks on the reformist press, which culminated in the closure of Jame’eh and Tous in the summer of 1998, a second crop of independent dailies appeared in late 1998. These papers exposed Sha'banali Bahrampour, Ramin Karimian • 3 min read
MER Article "The Conservatives Have Misjudged" During his brief tenure as vice minister of Islamic guidance and culture, Ahmad Bourghani oversaw the issuance of hundreds of press permits and the flowering of an independent Iranian press for the first time since 1979. Kaveh Ehsani • 8 min read
MER Article Pushing Back the Limits of the Possible The “Iranian Spring” caught the world by surprise one fine day in May 1997. Long viewed as the epitome of a rogue state and boycotted and shunned by the international community, Iran successfully held fair elections. Of the four candidates who passed the Guardian Council’s grueling test, Mohammad Khatami Zarir Merat • 10 min read
