A Marriage of Convenience
Political Islam came to life after the Arab defeat of June 1967, with a new alliance between the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat. Read Here – Le Monde
Category: Middle East
Syrian Regime in Demolition Mode
It is not true at all that all Arab armies are merely private militias at the beck and call of the rulers. Some of them are real national armies and quite a few have turned out to be more nationalistic than others during the Arab Spring. Although it has been reported that the deposed Tunisian […]
Saudi Arabia Names New Interior Minister
Saudi Arabia has appointed Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as interior minister, marking a significant move towards a new generation of leaders from the kingdom’s ruling family. Prince Mohammed, a son of the late veteran interior minister Prince Nayef, who died in June, is best known as Saudi Arabia’s long-time security chief, and has garnered the praise […]
Challenges of the Arab World Face U.S. Election Winner
With the latest public opinion polls showing the race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney a dead heat, the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election in the United States is anyone’s guess. What is certain, however, is that main foreign policy challenges facing the next US administration are located within a brief flying time from Abu Dhabi and are of […]
It is Vitally Important to Develop Skills That Will Enable Gulf Children to Ably Take Care of Themselves Independently and Function Efficiently as Adults
The GCC countries have seen an unprecedented explosion in economic growth in the past few decades. That growth has been matched by a similar increase in population in recent years, helped in some GCC countries by state subsidies paid out to parents of each newborn. However, what are state and public institutions doing to prepare […]
UAE Uses Oil To Build Global Influence
The UAE is one of several Gulf nations using its oil wealth to find new ways to build a position of substantial influence in the world. For many years, the ambitions of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations were directed internally as they struggled with the mammoth task of building the infrastructure and social systems […]
Islamist Political Parties Aren’t Succeeding In the Middle East Because They Stand For Islam. It’s Because They Have A Well-Established Political Brand.
In Syria‘s horrific civil war, Islamists, ranging from the Muslim Brotherhood to radical Salafi groups, are leading the fight against Bashar al-Assad. Once the war is over, Sunni Islamic political groups are bound to become the most important political force in the country. But Islamic politics is on the rise throughout the region, not just in Syria. In […]
Egypt Tries Undoing Mubarak Deals
As Egypt struggles to revive an economy battered by last year’s uprising against Hosni Mubarak, private lawsuits are attempting to overturn the sale of state assets during his rule. The court actions present the new government with a dilemma: It’s trying to attract foreign investment while addressing the demands of a population that stages protests […]
Russia, China on “Wrong Side of History” in Arab World
The Middle East is undergoing a historic transformation. Parts of the region are up in flames, and Asia’s primary powers either have no role or a destructive one. Pakistan, Indonesia and other Asian Muslim countries, as well as India, with the world’s second-largest Muslim population, are largely uninvolved, as if events in the region have no […]
Dictators Go, Monarchs Stay
Some months after the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, I sat at lunch with the aging Hosni Mubarak. He was then 76 years old and hard of hearing but soon to “run” for the presidency for a fifth time in 2005. The four times previous, there had been no election at […]
