MENASource

Make It Clear That Repression Isn’t Acceptable

By Michele Dunne

Did Erdogan learn from Putin? Is Morsi learning from Erdogan? Bloomberg View’s Marc Champion argues that the behavior of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid spreading protests draws more on a Russian than a Middle Eastern model of leadership. His point is well taken, but as a Middle East specialist it is hard to […]

Taking a Stand for Culture

By Elisabeth Jaquette

As the curtain rose for the Cairo Opera House’s annual performance of Verdi’s Aida last Tuesday, performers joined their voices not in song, but in chants of protest against the newly appointed Minister of Culture, Alaa Abdel-Aziz. To the audience’s cheers and support, Opera House staff and performers announced they would remain on strike until […]

Top News: Activists Protest Police Brutality on Khaled Said’s Death Anniversary

Dozens of April 6 Youth Movement activists protested outside the Giza Security Directorate at dawn on Thursday to mark the third anniversary of Khaled Said’s killing by police. The protesters chanted, "The police are thugs" and "My name is Khaled Said," and held banners condemning police repression of political activists. GOVERNMENT & OPPOSITION Islamists call […]

Top News: US to Deploy Patriot Missile Batteries, F-16s to Jordan

The United States will send anti-missile batteries and fighter jets to Jordan at the kingdom’s request to boost defense capabilities in the face of an attack from neighboring Syria, Jordanian officials said Wednesday. EGYPT Egypt demands Ethiopia halt Nile dam, upping stakes Fearing the project will affect its main source of water, Egypt will demand […]

What the United States Should Have Said to Egypt about the NGO Trial

By Amy Hawthorne

The immediate US statements about an Egyptian court’s June 4 decision to hand down prison terms to employees of prominent American and German pro-democracy nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Egypt constitute a strikingly subdued response to an extraordinary episode.

Obama’s Drone Speech Misses the Mark

By Danya Greenfield

President Barack Obama’s speech on May 23 should be commended for acknowledging that the United States must shift away from a perpetual state of war against terror, renewing his commitment to close Guantanamo, and promising to provide greater clarity regarding when and how drones can be used overseas. However, Obama did not go far enough […]

Top News: Syria Rebels Say They Have Lost Battle for Qusayr

Syrian forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies seized control of the border town of Qusayr on Wednesday after a rapid overnight offensive, dealing a strategic defeat to rebel fighters.

An Argument for Military Voting

By H.A. Hellyer

The Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) of Egypt certainly does not leave any legal specialist in a state of boredom for very long. In most countries, the highest court in the land is hardly the topic of conversation in public discourse, except on rare occasions. Egypt’s SCC, however, breaks that mould quite regularly, issuing statements and […]

Syria: Hezbollah’s Military Intervention

By Frederic C. Hof

The loss of the strategic town of Qusayr by Syrian rebels clearly demonstrates that the presence of Hezbollah fighters inside Syria is a life preserver of sorts for a regime badly in need of one. That Bashar al-Assad can use the help is beyond question. Yet the wisdom of this intervention is very much in […]