Foreign Policy Blogs

Middle East & North Africa

Egyptian Jewish Leader: Sisi Will Bring Egypt in a Cosmopolitan Direction

Egyptian Jewish Leader: Sisi Will Bring Egypt in a Cosmopolitan Direction

Levana Zamir, the head of the International Association of Jews from Egypt, stressed that Sisi is bringing Egypt in a more cosmopolitan and less hateful direction. She believes that it is good for everyone that he is Egypt’s President. Levana Zamir, the head of the International Association of Jews from Egypt, told the Foreign Policy […]

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Libya: Trying to establish order amid chaos

Libya: Trying to establish order amid chaos

While no road to democracy is smooth, Libya has seen its fair share of upheaval since the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011 helped bust open the Arab Spring. Discord has escalated in the last month, threatening rule of law and the transitional government’s legitimacy. Let’s go back to May 4, 2014, when Libya’s General […]

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Chaos deepens in Libya

Chaos deepens in Libya

One might think that Libya could have a greater chance of succeeding at the Arab Spring, given its tiny population and vast oil resources. The OPEC nation is spared the economic woes of cash-strapped Tunisia, the heterogeneity of war-torn Syria or the demographic challenges of Egypt. But the country has been mired in unrelenting violence […]

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Jordanian Palestinian Leader Condemns Fatah-Hamas Unity Deal

Jordanian Palestinian Leader Condemns Fatah-Hamas Unity Deal

Mudar Zahran, a Jordanian Palestinian political dissident journalist who aspires to overthrow the Hashemite Monarchy and personally establish a Palestinian majority democracy in Jordan, has condemned the Fatah-Hamas unity deal. He called for a Palestinian majority democratic state in Jordan to serve as an alternative to Hamas-Fatah totalitarian rule. Zahran, while condemning the Hamas-Fatah unity […]

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East African alliances necessary for U.S. to combat radicalism

East African alliances necessary for U.S. to combat radicalism

Ever since the events unfolded on Sep. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., the U.S. has focused an exorbitant amount of resources to ensure that similar attacks, targeting Americans, are prevented. This means identifying areas that could become breeding grounds for future radicals that are […]

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Exploiting Christian Imagery to Denounce Israel during Pope’s Visit

Exploiting Christian Imagery to Denounce Israel during Pope’s Visit

  During Pope Francis’ visit to the Holy Land, the Palestinians utilized Christian symbols in order to demonize Israel. No official Palestinian source took advantage of the opportunity to make a peace gesture towards Israel. Pope Francis recently visited the Holy Land in an effort to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He made a […]

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A Clash of Civilizations in the Central African Republic? (Part 2 of 2)

A Clash of Civilizations in the Central African Republic? (Part 2 of 2)

Is the crisis in the Central African Republic a “clash of civilizations”? A recent report entitled “Behind the Headlines: Drivers of Violence in the Central African Republic” from Enough, a Washington-based project of the Center for American Progress whose goal is to end genocide and crimes against humanity, is particularly revealing. Comments by the author […]

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A Candid Discussion with Ayatollah Abdolhamid Masoumi-Tehrani

A Candid Discussion with Ayatollah Abdolhamid Masoumi-Tehrani

  Abdolhamid Masoumi-Tehrani is an Iranian Ayatollah based in Tehran, Iran. He is also a calligrapher and painter, who uses his art works to challenge openly Iran’s ruling clergy and power elite to adopt a more tolerant social and political order. A recent calligraphic art work by Ayatollah Masoumi-Tehrani sent shock waves through Iran’s ruling […]

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Beijing Desperate to Rein in Terrorism

Beijing Desperate to Rein in Terrorism

Beijing is going all out in its efforts to rein in terrorism, following the latest attack at a morning street market in Urumqi, which killed at least 43 people and wounded dozens. The bombing in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, has been blamed on five suspects, all Uighurs, the region’s most populous Muslim minority. Police said that […]

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Turkish Dissident Journalist: “Erdogan Behaves Like a Sultan”

Turkish Dissident Journalist: “Erdogan Behaves Like a Sultan”

Recently, over 300 Turkish citizens were killed after a mine exploded and caught on fire. In the wake of this disaster, there have been massive protests in Turkey calling upon Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign. They view him to be personally responsible for the disaster. As a result, Erdogan’s government has begun […]

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A Clash of Civilizations in the Central African Republic? (Part 1 of 2)

A Clash of Civilizations in the Central African Republic? (Part 1 of 2)

As the fighting continues in the Central African Republic, many of those following the crisis are portraying it as primarily a clash between the country’s Muslim minority and Christian militiamen, which to date has resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people since December and the displacement of nearly a quarter of the country’s population […]

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Bruce Stokes: “Americans Simply Don’t Care About Peace in the Middle East”

Bruce Stokes: “Americans Simply Don’t Care About Peace in the Middle East”

Bruce Stokes, Director of Global Public Attitudes at the Pew Research Center in Washington D.C., published an article titled, “Americans Simply Don’t Care About Peace in the Middle East” in Foreign Policy on May 9, which shows how Americans are skeptical about and uninterested in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The following are some important excerpts from his article: […]

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What Now? American-Israeli Relations until 2016

What Now? American-Israeli Relations until 2016

A persistent question has emerged among pundits of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the past few weeks: Now that the Kerry-driven peace process has come to an end with no tangible results, what will the United States do? What does the Obama Administration intend to do in the next two and a half years vis-a-vis the […]

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Inter-factional Rivalry and Iran’s Strategic Interests

Inter-factional Rivalry and Iran’s Strategic Interests

As Iran and the United States, a key member of the P5+1 world powers, inch toward deicing their 35-year-old frosty and at times traumatic relations, jockeying from all sides of political spectrum target the direction of this process and whether the icy relations should ever start to melt. Regional opponents of improved ties between Iran […]

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Documenting the Lives of Jewish People from Arab Lands

Documenting the Lives of Jewish People from Arab Lands

  Years ago I was able to tour through Seville and found an interesting museum dedicated to the three cultures of medieval Andalucía. These three communities have had major conflicts before and after the late 1400s, but The Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities of Seville lived in relative acceptance of one another until the Reconquista […]

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