Middle East

Egypt’s Universities and the Struggle for Public Space

By MENASource

In the aftermath of Mohammed Morsi’s removal from the office of the president and the subsequent crackdown on his supporters and those of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian authorities have spared no effort to reclaim and expand the power they once held during the pre-2011 days. Egyptian campuses remain one of the last areas to voice […]

The Death Sentence: Consequences of Taking the Wrong Path [Part II]

By Yussef Auf

The repercussions of sentencing hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death have mostly been negative. The positions of international officials towards what happened may give a sense of the scale of the extremely negative reaction to these events.

The Battle Behind Campus Walls

By Eric Knecht

Egyptian universities have become too dangerous for the state to handle. Or at least it would seem that way. Students this week at Cairo University, the country’s largest national university, sat for final examinations on campuses more closely resembling high security prisons.

MENASource Discussions: Libya Under the Microscope

By MENASource

A new Atlantic Council report examines the threats to Libya’s stability, provides a detailed mapping of the militia landscape, and details policy options for the Libyan government and its international partners. In Libya’s Faustian Bargains: Breaking the Appeasement Cycle, the authors attribute the cycle of violence, intractable political stalemate, and weakened economy to the Libyan authorities’ […]

President Jarba Visits the Council

By The Atlantic Council

On May 8, 2014, the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted President Ahmad Jarba of the Syrian National Coalition and his delegation for a private, off-the-record discussion.

Jarba, Syrian Opposition Council Pushes for US Support

By Barbara Slavin

On his first visit to Washington this week, Ahmad Jarba, president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), has faced a daunting challenge: convincing the Obama administration that his organization deserves more support, including lethal weaponry, to counteract the brutal tactics of a regime that appears to be winning Syria’s three-year-old civil war.

Iraq’s Post-Election Environment: A Preliminary Assessment

Following Iraq’s April 30 parliamentary elections, the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a discussion on implications of the latest round of voting on Iraq’s future. Atlantic Council Executive Vice President Damon Wilson moderated a discussion with Ambassador James Jeffrey, the former US envoy to Iraq, and Ambassador Feisal Istrabadi, who was previously […]