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Won’t Syria Be Obama’s Main Middle East Crisis in 2013?

The Syrian civil war will go on until one side wins and the other loses. And a lot more people are going to die… Continue reading

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The End of Taraf: The Liberals Have Outlived their Usefulness for the AKP

The mood among the few remaining, scattered liberal voices in the Turkish media landscape is gloomy as critical expression in Turkey is being systematically narrowed… Continue reading

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Egypt “Democratically” Adopts an Anti-Western Dictatorship

What are the next steps for Mursi?… Continue reading

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Why Islamists Always Win “Fair” Elections

How politics work in the Arabic-speaking world today… Continue reading

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Analyzing Egypt

Whatever the outcome from the upcoming referendum to begin on Saturday in Egypt for the draft constitution, the superior position of the Islamist factions is unlikely to be overthrown in the near future… Continue reading

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Who Will Rule Syria? A Detailed Assessment

The civil war in Syria is moving into the end-game… Continue reading

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A Turning Point in Egypt: Not on Direction But on the Speed of Islamist Transformation

A critical moment has arrived for Egypt. But what does it mean?… Continue reading

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Revolutionary Islamism Overshadows the “New Egypt”

What are the early warning signs of an Islamist totalitarian state… Continue reading

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Contemporary Kemalist Intellectuals: Europeanizers Against Europe?

During the last decades, Kemalism, the modernization ideology of the Republic of Turkey, has been vehemently criticized… Continue reading

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The Islamist Regime’s Game Plan for Egypt

What’s been happening in Egypt this week is as important as the revolution that overthrew the old regime almost two years ago… Continue reading

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Egypt’s Islamist President Assumes Dictatorial Powers

Egypt’s President Morsi assumes sweeping powers, branded new pharaoh… Continue reading

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The Middle East Crises of 2013 Are Already In Dress Rehearsal

If 2011 was the year of the Arab Spring, 2013 looks to be the year of the Arab Fall… Continue reading

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Why Economic Development As a Panacea for Middle East Problems is a Myth

While “economic development” sounds like a great idea, in practice it isn’t so effective… Continue reading

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Which Way for Syria? Listen to the Sermons

The closer one gets to ground level in the Middle East, the crazier things become… Continue reading

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What Happened in Egypt

A short history of democracy in Egypt… Continue reading

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Egypt: There Goes the Army; There Goes the Free Media; There Goes Egypt

So can you write “Arab Spring,” free elections, democracy in Egypt, and such things 100 times?… Continue reading

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Are Iraq and Turkey Models for Democratization?

In the wake of the upheavals that have shaken the Arab world since December 2010, activists, politicians, and analysts have all been searching for new, democratic models of governance that could come into force in these lands… Continue reading

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Muslim Brotherhood ‘Democracy’

Prior to Egypt’s presidential elections, Islamists made clear that the electoral process was an obligatory form of “holy war”… Continue reading

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Islamists Are Generally Winning But Not Everywhere and Not Inevitably

Hussein Ibish is one of the more interesting Arab writers on regional affairs. Ibish critiques the idea that assumes the inexorable rise of Islamist parties… Continue reading

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Yankee Go Home! Saith the Good Guys

The interesting news was not that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was pelted with stuff while visiting Cairo, the important issue was who was doing the pelting… Continue reading

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Tunisia: Goodbye Democracy? Islamists Start to Take Over Media

The much-touted, Islamist-led coalition government in Tunisia is showing how little has changed… Continue reading

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“And What Do You Want to Say to the Iraqi People?”

I’ve been interviewed a number of times, for example, by Iraqi journalists. But this time there was a different kind of question at the end of the interview… Continue reading

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If You Don’t Stand Up for Western Civilization It Will Fall

A small incident in an obscure court case in Minnesota shows why we need to understand properly the debate over Islam, Islamism, and Islamophobia… Continue reading

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Egypt: A Muslim Brotherhood President Does Not Prove That We Are All ‘Chimps’

Muhammad al-Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, has become president of Egypt. But what does it mean to be president of Egypt?… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: El Baradei Returns to Cairo

More than 1,000 supporters converged on Cairo International airport to greet Mohamed ElBaradei… Continue reading