Content

SouthAsiaSource

Jan 10, 2014

This Week in South Asia: January 4 -10

Commentary from the South Asia Center on the most relevant news from the region, and suggested “must-read” analyses from the week.

Afghanistan India
2013122Constitution

MENASource

Jan 10, 2014

The New Draft Constitution Part III: A Reactive Constitution

By Yussef Auf

Despite an increasingly volatile security situation and political climate, Egyptians are heading to the polls for the third time in less than three years to cast their votes on a new constitution. Given the state of the country however, the referendum will hardly be an accurate reflection of the text of the constitution itself. However, […]

North Africa Political Reform

MENASource

Jan 10, 2014

Syria Ban Ki-moon’s Geneva Conference Invitation

By Frederic C. Hof

On January 6 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dispatched written invitations to a “Geneva Conference on Syria” in Switzerland to be convened under his chairmanship. The conference would open with a plenary “high-level format” in Montreux on January 22, where “international participants will be present to demonstrate their meaningful support for constructive negotiations between the […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jan 10, 2014

Middle East in Search of a New Equilibrium

By Barbara Slavin

Many U.S. veterans of the Iraq war are feeling understandable anguish about recent al-Qaida gains in Ramadi and Fallujah. More American servicemen and women died in Anbar province, where Ramadi and Fallujah are located, than in any other region of Iraq during the U.S. military intervention. Now the sheikhs of Anbar are fighting al-Qaida in an uneasy […]

Middle East

MENASource

Jan 10, 2014

Anbar Awakening 2.0?

By Ramzy Mardini

The insurgency in Iraq had never truly ended. While its intensity was low for years, the progression of a neighboring insurgency in Syria was bound to spillover into Iraq, most especially Anbar province—the epicenter of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq, which borders Syria.

Iraq

In the News

Jan 9, 2014

Hof Quoted on Nonlethal Aid to Syrian Rebels

By Frederic C. Hof

The New York Times quotes Frederic C. Hof, senior fellow for the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, on the decision to resume nonlethal aid to Syrian rebel groups:

Syria

MENASource

Jan 9, 2014

New Government in Kuwait, but No New Politics

By Kristin Smith Diwan

On Monday Kuwait announced its sixth government since Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Hamad Al Sabah assumed the premiership in 2011. The latest cabinet reshuffle appeared aimed at improving relations with the current parliament (the National Assembly) which is seen as more favorable to the government. Yet almost immediately, members of parliament, once solidly in the pro-government […]

The Gulf

SouthAsiaSource

Jan 9, 2014

Looking Ahead to South Asia in 2014

By South Asia Center

In the coming year, the greater South Asia region will be under enormous pressure. The 2013 elections in Iran and Pakistan ushered in new administrations that are now expected to deliver, particularly on the economic front.  Meanwhile, Afghanistan, India, and Bangladesh face their own elections in 2014.  In the midst of the ongoing transitions, the […]

Afghanistan India

MENASource

Jan 9, 2014

Normalizing Conspiracies with an Egyptian Puppet

By Sarah El Sirgany

Officials from the mobile phone operator Vodafone were questioned last week by Egypt’s public prosecutor about coded messages allegedly hidden in one of their online ads. The video, said to contain a secret message for terrorists, features internet sensation Abla Fahita, a puppet who rose to fame mocking Egyptian housewives who use the internet as […]

North Africa

In the News

Jan 9, 2014

Slavin: Obama Admin. Uses Anbar Crisis to Push Maliki

By Barbara Slavin

Barbara Slavin reports for Al Monitor on the violent flare-up in Iraq’s Anbar province and how the Obama administration is pressuring Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to defuse the crisis:

Iraq

Experts

Events