Middle East

Weighing Russia’s Syria Success

By Rajan Menon

Those who have bemoaned the acrimonious exchanges between the United States and Russia, watched with dismay as President Obama’s “reset” with Moscow (more of a marketing moniker than substantive policy) unraveled, and tried valiantly to insist that Russia remains a great power and ought to be respected and embraced by Washington as a partner have had their […]

An Eye on Egypt’s Amended Constitution: Military Articles

Continuing EgyptSource’s constitutional coverage, in this installment we look at the articles relating to the military, namely the debate over military trials in the constitution, the appointment of the minister of defense, and the armed forces’ budget. Keep up with all of EgyptSource’s constitution roundups  here.

Tamarod: A Mild Rebellion

By Rana Muhammad Taha

In late April, a group of unknown young Egyptian men announced the formation of a campaign against former Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi and his regime. Today, that same group, Tamarod, or ‘Rebel,’ is one of the military-backed interim regime’s most ardent supporters.

Not My Brotherhood’s Keeper: The Fallacy of Crushing Egypt’s Chief Islamist Group

By Amro Ali

By the time philosopher Hannah Arendt penned the words in her 1970 work On Violence: “The means used to achieve political goals are more often than not of greater relevance to the future world than the intended goals,” a generation of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood transitioning into the Anwar Sadat era were reeling from the “means” […]

Iran: Speak Softly BUT…Mr President

By Julian Lindley-French

On 26 January, 1900 US President Theodore Roosevelt sent a letter to Henry L. Sprague of the Union Club of New York in which he wrote, “Speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far.” The US press seized on the phrase and a new foreign policy doctrine was born – ‘Big […]

Decentralization in Libya

By Duncan Pickard

Questions of decentralization pervade policy debates in Libya. After decades of harsh and highly centralized rule under Muammar Qaddafi, policymakers, scholars, and civil-society activists are contemplating how to unpack state authority to empower cities and regional development.

Syria: Getting Past the Chemicals

By Frederic C. Hof

The Obama administration and its Secretary of State take pride in achieving, with the cooperation of Russia, a chemical weapons framework agreement and a supporting United Nations Security Council resolution.

Islamic Law in the Libyan Constitution: Beyond “A” and “The”

By Duncan Pickard

The debate about the role of Islam in new constitutions in Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt has begun with the formulation of the role of Islamic sharia in lawmaking: should Islamic sharia be the source, the principal source, or a source among sources of legislation?

The Rational Syrian Rebel

By Faysal Itani

An Islamist rebel coalition is emerging in Syria, deepening the irrelevance of the US-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and further eroding US influence in the conflict.