Arab World

By Amin Saikal, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University (The Conversation) – Two prominent young Muslim figures have had an exceptional rise to power this year: Ahmed al-Sharaa in Syria and Zohran Mamdani in New York City. While sharing a common religion, their political stories couldn’t be more different. As has […]

Featured

Syrian President Meets Trump, Pledges to fight ISIL and seek Security Pact with Israel

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Trump met behind closed doors on Monday with President Ahmad al-Sharaa of Syria for about an hour. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also met with his opposite number, Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani. One of the topics of discussion, according to the Syrian press, was ways […]

Archaeology

No, ancient Hebrew Slaves didn’t Build the Giza Pyramids

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The persistent myth-making of Israelis about history has become a geopolitical danger, no less than the myth-making of Christian Zionists like current US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleges that the Muslim jurist or mufti, Amin al-Husseini, put Hitler up to the Holocaust, probably the […]

Featured

On the Occasion of Dick Cheney’s Passing: “All the Vice President’s Men”

Juan Cole

Richard Bruce Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States, is dead at 84. He broke with the Republican Party at the end of his life and voted for Kamala Harris, perhaps aware of the way in which his own politics had turned the country to the far right. Long before Trump, Cheney purveyed […]

Donald Trump

Conflicting Visions of an International Force for Gaza in Istanbul and Washington

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Two visions of the future of Gaza are congealing, in two different power centers. One is the Arab and Muslim foreign ministers who met Monday in Istanbul, including Türkiye, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Tuesday morning that the […]

Archaeology

Egypt’s Magnificent new Museum: Nationalism, Tourism, and the Economy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Egypt’s new billion-dollar museum near the Giza pyramids opened on Saturday. It has 100,000 artifacts, including a massive statue of Ramses II (1279 BCE – 1213 BCE). It may be the biggest museum in the world. Given that Egypt is now a rigid dictatorship with few rights for citizens, the […]

Featured

With China’s Help, Saudi Arabia is Deploying Solar Power Faster than any Country in History

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jeffrey Beyer and Stephen Gitonga of the UN Development Program present an overview of Saudi Arabia’s full court press to get 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. The kingdom is aware that fossil fuels, the source of its fabulous wealth, are on their way out. Its leaders want […]

Agrovoltaics

Iraqi Kurdistan aims at 3 Gigawatts of Solar, as Households and Villages Rush to Rooftop Panels

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iraqi Kurdistan is developing an interest in sustainable energy, despite being an oil exporter via Kirkuk. Solar provides little of Iraq’s electricity at the moment, but the situation is set to change rapidly over the next decade. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has set a goal of putting in 3 […]

Democracy

Syria’s new Leader promised Democracy, but excluded Women from Parliamentary Elections

The Conversation

By Kinda Alsamara, The University of Queensland; Eleanor Gordon, Monash University, and Elliot Dolan-Evans, Monash University (The Conversation) – Women’s political participation is often treated as a measure of a country’s commitment to equality and democracy. Earlier this year, Syria’s new leader, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, described his country as moving in a “democratic direction” after […]