When al-Jazeera Arabic switches its live coverage from the White House to the parliament in Tunisia, you can be sure that Arab masses are not interested in the meeting between President Obama and Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.

As I watched the press conference being broadcast in Arabic yesterday, I was surprised that despite all the noise made by al-Jazeera about the Iraq war, it had little interest in allowing its viewers to understand the current state of play between the United States and Iraq. Read more »

Today is an important day in the minds of many Arabs. Landmarks across the Arab world are named after the Sixth of October. It marks a questionable sense of pride for launching a war on Israel on Yom Kippur in 1973. The Egyptian army made significant inroads against Israel on this day—but what is often forgotten is that Israel very quickly reversed those Arab gains. To my mind, this day is also important because in 1981 Islamist extremists gunned down the Egyptian president, Anwar al-Sadat. Arab leaders have lived in fear of assassinations ever since.

“I am Khaled Islambouli. I have killed Pharoah, and I do not fear death” were the words of the lieutenant who masterminded and killed Sadat. Thirty years later, the mindset behind the killing and the killer’s declaration are still alive in parts of the Middle East. The modern suicide bomber reminds us almost daily that jihadi murderers do not fear death. The idea of declaring the president of Egypt a modern-day pharaoh came from the Muslim Brotherhood’s bestselling author and female prisoner, Zainab al-Ghazali. Her torturous prison experiences in Nasser’s Egypt were described in her memoirs The Return of the Pharaoh. Read more »

Please click the image to preview "Crisis Guide: Iran." Use the password "cfr" for access.

On this day last week, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at the United Nations. He questioned the 9/11 attacks as “mysterious,” which led to al-Qaeda yesterday labeling Ahmadinejad’s claims “ridiculous.” While there is no love lost between the Shia Ahmadinejad and Sunni al-Qaeda, they are both competing for attention in Arab political space.

Today, Iran’s influence in Arab countries is stronger than it has been for decades. Egypt has closer business and political ties with Iran than it did under Mubarak, despite alleged Iranian spies being caught and dispatched back to Iran after the Egyptian revolution. Iraq’s government, ignoring American advice, is closer to Tehran and depends on Iranian influence over Iraq’s clerics. The murderous Syrian dictatorship is being held up, and democracy quelled, with Iranian support. The Saudi king has pleaded with Americans to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program. Jordan and Bahrain made similar requests to the United States.
Read more »