Features
Comprehensive investigation into the biggest issues facing the Middle East.
on :
Tuesday, 21 May, 2013
Sibling Rivalry
In an interview last month, Egyptian politician Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh displayed the poise and good humor of a man who had the foresight to step off a bus before it rolled into a ditch. The former Muslim Brotherhood member spoke confidently about newly democratic Egypt, which he said would succeed so long as it remained true to its ecumenical, secular traditions. "Religion should change society indirectly through inspiration, not directly through politics," he said from his office in subu...
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Tuesday, 30 Apr, 2013
Tempered Islamism
Turkey became a true multi-party democracy in 1950, and it has been holding free and fair elections ever since. Not counting the four years spent under military leadership following coups d’état, this means the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has effectively run Turkey for nearly a quarter of the country’s democratic history, thus becoming the longest-governing party in the history of the Turkish Republic. Since coming to power in 2002, the AKP has not only managed the longest stint ...
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Friday, 19 Apr, 2013
A Turban, a Hat, or a Cap?
The turban, the hat or the cap? That is the million-dollar question for Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, as he prepares for the presidential election in June. The turban r...
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Tuesday, 26 Mar, 2013
The Stateless Statesmen
The vast majority of global debate over the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq has focused on the rights and wrongs of the decision to go to war and questions over whether t...
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Friday, 15 Mar, 2013
Democracy and the Caliphate
An article entitled “Doctrines of People in Elections,” published on March 20, 2005, on the website Islam Today , described elections as a “mishap” and presented the ...
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Friday, 1 Mar, 2013
Déjà Vu in Cairo
I arrived at the hotel at 4:30 p.m. I left my baggage in the room, picked up the map and went out. I had read on the plane that there was a demonstration in Tahrir Square organiz...
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Tuesday, 5 Feb, 2013
Jihadi Opportunism
It all seemed to happen so quickly. On January 10, an alliance of Islamist militants captured the Malian town of Konna, 600km northeast of the capital, Bamako. The takeover by ...
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Friday, 4 Jan, 2013
Guardians of the Revolution
A number of shibboleths have dominated the study of Iran since the revolution. One such shibboleth is the assertion that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the ultimat...
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Tuesday, 18 Dec, 2012
The Future of Print
Love of newspapers has a long history in the Middle East, where news publications first began appearing in the early nineteenth century, sometimes as government gazettes for pu...
on :
Monday, 3 Dec, 2012









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