Arab World

By Rob Geist Pinfold, King’s College London (The Conversation) – Several days of bitter sectarian fighting in the south of Syria brought the fledgling government in Damascus dangerously close to direct conflict with Israel, after Israeli warplanes launched strikes against government buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on July 16. The United Nations and a […]

Authoritarianism

Tunisia’s Slow Unraveling: From Arab Spring Beacon to Police State

Middle East Monitor

by Dr Mustafa Fetouri ( Middle East Monitor ) – Just over a decade ago, Tunisia was the brightest light of the Arab Spring—the rare case where mass protest led to a peaceful transition and hopes for real democracy. Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in 2010 triggered a revolution that toppled Ben Ali’s regime and inspired uprisings […]

Featured

The Most American King: Interview on Jordan with Aaron Magid

Marc Martorell Junyent

Interview with Aaron Magid, author of “The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan” – “King Abdullah is likely more beloved in Washington than inside Jordan” Magid, Aaron. “The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan”. Universal Publishers: Irvine and Boca Raton, 2025. Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) — Aaron Magid is a former Amman-based journalist […]

Syria

Women, Key Players in Syria’s Revolution, are being Marginalized

The Conversation

By Kinda Alsamara, The University of Queensland; Eleanor Gordon, Monash University, and Elliot Dolan-Evans, Monash University (The Conversation) – The end of the oppressive Assad regime in Syria in late 2024 has been broadly welcomed on the global stage – underscored by the fact the United States and European Union have now lifted sanctions against […]

Egypt

Egypt brings Africa’s Largest Wind Farm Online on Red Sea Coast, Powers 1.1 mn. Households

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The only place I’ve ever heard of along the Egyptian mainland’s Red Sea coast is the resort city of Hurghada . I never got there, being a workaholic. I was mainly a Cairo guy during my nearly 4 years off and on in that country. So I didn’t know anything […]

Corruption

‘Come meet us in Dubai’: the new Offshoring of grand Corruption

The Conversation

By John Heathershaw, University of Exeter and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Sciences Po (The Conversation) – During an interview one of us (Ricardo Soares de Oliveira) carried out in 2017, an African high net-worth individual said he was told by an executive whose business had long served him out of London: “Come meet us in […]

Donald Trump

Between Two Enemies: Syria’s Silence in the Israel-Iran Conflicts

Daanish Faruqi

( Aljumhuriya ) – Even as a ceasefire has, for now, calmed tensions between Israel and Iran, Trump’s decision to officially join Israel’s war effort has been illuminating on a multitude of fronts. In particular, it revealed how quickly Iran was able to cultivate global support for its sovereignty and multiple calls for restraint, particularly […]

Featured

Iraqi Shiites Demand Expulsion of US Troops after Israel Attacks Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli-Iranian War of 2025 has put Iraq in an extremely difficult situation. The country’s Shiite majority sympathizes with Iran and with the Palestinians, and resents Israel’s use of Iraqi airspace to attack their Shiite neighbor. On Sunday the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Soudani met with Thomas Seiler, the […]

Featured

Women’s Cancer Rates are Rising in the Oil Gulf: is Global Heating causing it?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Human-caused global heating is hitting the Middle East hard, and rates of cancer in Middle Eastern women are increasing. Is there a correlation? This is the question asked by Wafa Abu El Kheir-Mataria and Sungsoo Chun at Frontiers . These scholars are at the American University in Cairo, my alma […]