Steven Cook reads Foreign Affairs in his office at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC (Alexander Brock)
Mohamed Abdel Raouf encourages renewable energy and green jobs in the Arab world.
The Arabist sheds light on the potential war between the Sudans. Read more »
A general view of the opening session of Tunisia's constitutional assembly in Tunis (Zoubeir Souissi/Courtesy Reuters)
My dear friend, Nervana Mahmoud, an Egyptian-born doctor in the UK, is a keen observer of events in Egypt and the Middle East. Her post on Islamic law and constitutions in the region is extraordinarily interesting. Enjoy….
I once asked a Salafi acquaintance what he thought of Bouazizi. He paused for a moment then said: “He committed a major sin; he deserves the punishment of hell.” Then he added, “God has made from his bad action, something good.” I later asked a Muslim Brotherhood supporter the same question and his reply was roughly the same, except that he added “probably” to his verdict, showing slightly more sympathy and understanding. Read more »
A Muslim man reads the Koran on the second day of Ramadan in Khartoum (Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Courtesy Reuters)
Turan Kayaoglu argues that, despite opinions to the contrary, there is a way in which secularism is actually thriving in the AKP’s Turkey. Read more »
A supporter of Egypt's former vice president Omar Suleiman uses a mobile phone near images of him during a gathering in Cairo (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Courtesy Reuters)
It is fair to say that Omar Suleiman’s bid to be Egypt’s next president is one of the most unexpected developments in post-Mubarak Egypt. The last time anyone had seen or heard from Suleiman, he appeared on Egyptian television and declared:
Citizens, in these difficult circumstances the country is going through, the President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the Republic, and has entrusted the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to administer the nation’s affairs. Read more »
Turkey's former President Kenan Evren casts his vote during a referendum in Ankara (Umit Bektas/Courtesy Reuters)
Last Wednesday was a big day in Turkey. General Kenan Evren, the leader of the September 12, 1980 coup d’etat, was charged in an Ankara courtroom with “acts against the forces of the state” during the military’s three year intervention that ended in 1983. This development may not be as earth-shattering as the fall of Middle Eastern dictators or Syria’s collapse into civil war, but most Turks and observers of Turkey never thought they would see the likes of Evren in the dock. True, the Turkish government has spent the better part of the last two years prosecuting a bevy of army officers for crimes—both real and imagined—against the state, but Evren seemed untouchable. Read more »
A boy reads the Koran at Al Fatima Al Quran, a religious seminary, in Lahore (Mohsin Raza/Courtesy Reuters)
The Mosireen Collective, an Egyptian video project, recently nominated for “Best Video Channel” category of the distinguished Deutsche Welle International Blog awards (The BOBs)
Zeinab El Gundy for Ahram Online interviews some of the most influential Twitter users during Egypt’s revolution, getting their opinions on the role of the social media network going forward. Read more »
Iran's President Ahmadinejad speaks during a ceremony at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility (Caren Firouz/Courtesy Reuters)
This article was originally published here on ForeignPolicy.com on Monday, April 3, 2012.
On March 21, Haaretz correspondent Ari Shavit wrote a powerful op-ed in the New York Times that began with this stark and stunning claim: “An Iranian atom bomb will force Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt to acquire their own atom bombs.” Indeed, it has become axiomatic among Middle East watchers, nonproliferation experts, Israel’s national security establishment, and a wide array of U.S. government officials that Iranian proliferation will lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. President Barack Obama himself, in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) last month, said that if Iran went nuclear, it was “almost certain that others in the region would feel compelled to get their own nuclear weapon.” Read more »
Former deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood el Shater attends a pro-democracy rally in Cairo (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Courtesy Reuters)
My research associate, Alexander Brock, and research intern, Jessica Cusano, have written the below profile of newly nominated Egyptian presidential candidate Khairat al-Shater, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party. I hope you find it useful. Read more »
Emarati boy recites verses from the Quran in Dubai. (Anwar Mirza/Courtesy Reuters)
The Sandmonkey takes a step back from the Egyptian political scene and looks at the country’s real problems and some possible ways to start fixing them.
Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou says Libya should learn lessons by looking at Iraq, or else it risks going down the same path. Read more »
Egyptian protesters shout slogans against the formation of a constituent assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution during a rally outside the Cairo convention centre (Amr Dalsh/Courtesy Reuters)
My friend, Bassem Sabry, weighs in on Egypt’s recently selected constituent assembly, the body charged with drafting the country’s next constitution. Bassem blogs at An Arab Citizen.
As I regard the final list of the 100 members of Egypt’s constituent assembly for the constitution and the dominance of two hegemonic political powers over it, I cannot help but experience a bitter feeling. All I see is another potentially glorious moment squandered by a nation that’s in desperate need of one. Read more »
On From the Potomac to the Euphrates, Cook provides a lens for viewing how debates about Mideast policy in Washington connect to the region, with a special focus on Egypt and Turkey.
Below is my take on Egypt’s presidential elections, scheduled for May 23, originally published here on CFR.org. I hope you…
The Arabist discusses the Algerian exception. Jeremy Keenan says that Algeria’s election was a fraud, ending hopes for democracy in…
My colleague Laurie Garrett and I wrote this piece on the threat of foot and mouth disease in Egypt, which…
CFR’s recently released Independent Task Force on Turkey, co-chaired by Madeleine K. Albright and Stephen J. Hadley, and directed by Steven…
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