MENASource

As the MENA region continues to be the epicenter of news headlines, the Atlantic Council’s MENASource is a hub for thought-provoking and hard-hitting analyses about the latest trends, ideas, and debates. This online publication provides fast reactions and in-depth commentary on breaking news and key regional topics by a diverse team of experts and contributors.

MENASource brings you up-close to a region at the epicenter of geo-political headlines. It is the Atlantic Council’s hub for in-depth commentary about breaking news, key topics, and trends from our team of experts on the Middle East and North Africa.

The views expressed in MENASource are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

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Whatever Happened to the Forum for the Future?

MENASource
Mar 26, 2026

As Iran attacks, the US should provide air defense for Iraqi Kurdistan

Washington faces a choice: Continue to defer to Baghdad’s procedural objections while Iran conducts unimpeded strikes on Kurdish territory or acknowledge the strategic reality and take decisive action.

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Whatever Happened to the Forum for the Future?

MENASource
Mar 17, 2026

A crisis in Egypt could be a warning sign for the global economy 

By
Khalid Azim

Market watchers should keep an eye on Egypt as an oil shock could cause financial turmoil.

Economy & Business
International Financial Institutions

Whatever Happened to the Forum for the Future?

MENASource
Mar 11, 2026

Three lessons from Libya for the war in Iran

By
Frank Talbot

Any outside power using force to attain a political outcome must define the end state it seeks, align coalition partners around a shared strategy, and establish credible escalation controls.

Conflict
Iran

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Content

MENASource

Dec 23, 2013

Whatever Happened to the Forum for the Future?

By Michele Dunne and Amy Hawthorne

“Governments and Civil Society Hand in Hand for a Better Future” was the title of this year’s G8 Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) Initiative “Forum for the Future,” held in Cairo December 16 to 17. The next day, while senior international diplomats attending the forum were still in town, Egyptian police raided the Egyptian Center […]

North Africa

MENASource

Dec 23, 2013

EconSource Headlines-December 23, 2013

By EconSource

Follow the latest news and economic developments about the Arab transition countries. 

MENASource

Dec 23, 2013

Top News: Egypt Activists Maher, Adel and Douma Sentenced to Three Years in Jail

By EgyptSource

Three leading figures of Egypt’s 2011 uprising were jailed for three years each on Sunday for their role in recent protests, as the army-backed authorities intensified a crackdown on dissent. 

MENASource

Dec 23, 2013

Top News: Prominent Egyptian Activists Sentenced to Three Years in Jail

By MENASource

Three leading figures of Egypt’s 2011 uprising were jailed for three years each on Sunday for their role in recent protests, as the army-backed authorities intensified a crackdown on dissent. Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel are symbols of the protest movement that ignited the revolt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. They […]

MENASource

Dec 20, 2013

Top News: Russia blocks UN condemnation of regime assault on Aleppo

By MENASource

Russia on Friday blocked a US-drafted United Nations Security Council statement condemning the Syrian government’s increasing military offensive on Aleppo that has killed approximately 200 and wounded nearly 900 since Sunday. France asserted Friday that the regime’s indiscriminate killing of civilians amounts to war crimes. The US move, followed by Russia’s counter-move, heightened diplomatic tensions ahead […]

MENASource

Dec 20, 2013

Student Protests: A Microcosm of Egypt’s Street Dynamics

By Rana Muhammad Taha

With several months passing since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s universities have become a frontline in the fight between two polarized segments of Egyptian society. While the capital city’s universities – Cairo, Ain Shams and Al-Azhar – universities have witnessed constant protests and clashes for weeks, the struggle has extended into the […]

North Africa

MENASource

Dec 20, 2013

Top News: Egypt a World Leader in Detaining Journalists, Says Report

By EgyptSource

Egypt was the ninth worst offender this year for jailing journalists in a list topped by Turkey, Iran and China, according to a study released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Wednesday.

MENASource

Dec 20, 2013

Youthful Saudi Reformers Only Safe in the Twittersphere

By Kristin Smith Diwan

The emergence of social networking has opened novel means of communication and connection worldwide. But perhaps nowhere were these new vistas more welcomed than in Saudi Arabia. The virtual communities of Facebook and Twitter offer a means to circumvent the gender confines and sociopolitical restrictions of the Kingdom’s highly segmented and controlled public life. And […]

Saudi Arabia

MENASource

Dec 20, 2013

Syria: Will Russia Deliver at Geneva?

By Frederic C. Hof

Moscow’s decision to block a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning human rights abuses in Syria—catastrophic abuses authored in the main by a family regime posing as a government—should cast serious doubt on any expectation of Russia facilitating a Syrian political transition at the conference scheduled for Montreux and Geneva on January 22. Moscow seems perfectly […]

Syria

MENASource

Dec 20, 2013

EconSource Headlines-December 20, 2013

By EconSource

Follow the latest in economic news and developments about the transition countries. 

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