Category: Blogs

What Yemen Needs From Washington

By Danya Greenfield

Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Hadi Mansour is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama today, culminating three days of intensive meetings in Washington, DC, with cabinet secretaries from the treasury, state, and defense departments.

Is China Doomed?

By Rajan Menon

Between 1978, the year Deng Xiaoping’s sweeping economic reforms were launched, and 2011, China’s GDP increased by an average of 10 percent annually, three times that of the global economy. Now the boom times may be over.

An Updated Roundup of Detained Islamists and Brotherhood Members

In the wake of former President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster, Al-Ahram reported that security services were working to arrest approximately 300 members of the Muslim Brotherhood across the country. While the names of the 300 members have not been released, news has emerged on an almost-daily basis with names of Brotherhood members and prominent Islamists who […]

This Week in Egypt – August 9, 2013

By Amira Mikhail

Catch up on the latest out of Egypt every week, with analysis, news updates, photos, videos, and more.

US and Iran Cautious about Direct Talks

By Barbara Slavin

Iran’s president may have changed, but the leadership’s reticence about talking one-on-one with the United States continues – along with U.S. reluctance to recognize Iran’s quasi-representative government as legitimate.

A Better AGOA for Africa

By Adrienne Chuck

The twelfth African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum opens on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together senior US and African policymakers to discuss the extension of the trade legislation ahead of its September 2015 expiration date.

Top News: Salafi Party to Reconsider Roadmap if Egypt’s Islamic Identity is Compromised

By EgyptSource

Salafist Nour Party spokesperson Nader Bakkar said in a televised interview with CNN on Thursday that his party will reconsider the new political roadmap if the “Islamic identity of the state” in Egypt’s constitution is amended. 

Hassan Rouhani: The Immoderate Moderate

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a new president: Hassan Rouhani. There has been a lot of talk about Rouhani’s supposed political moderation and pragmatism, just as in 1982, there was talk that Yuri Andropov’s supposed fondness for jazz indicated a liking for the West in general, and the possibility that there would be a […]

Syria: What Idris Says is Needed to Turn the Tide

By Fred C. Hof

While Bashar al-Assad, his supporters, and his apologists seem to have good reasons to radiate optimism these days, General Salim Idris, a career military educator who defected from Syria in reaction to the regime’s crime wave, believes that the regime’s newfound confidence is unjustified.