Outside Tunis one afternoon last week I visited the Tunisian American Association for Management Studies, which offers vocational training and literacy courses to working-class women. A sewing class had just ended, and the participants—a dozen girls and women between the ages of fifteen and fifty, most of them wearing headscarves—agreed to talk about the country’s Read more
Continue Readingby Henry Siegman Over the past few days, much has been written about the Palestinian bid for UN recognition of its statehood and Washington’s opposition to it. But the real importance of last week’s events at the UN does not lie with the US response itself, but with the effect that response has had on Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. SOUAIAIA* It is not quite clear if the Egyptian military rulers are miser politicians or experts in brinkmanship. Whatever the case may be, the slow transition to civilian rule is frustrating many Egyptians. After months of delays, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the de facto rulers since the ouster Read more
Continue Readingby A.E. SOUAIAIA* A year ago, President Obama addressed the UNGA where he told world leaders that “when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations – an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.” He Read more
Continue Readingby A. E. SOUAIAIA* Starting in 2002, Turkey adopted a dual-purpose foreign policy aimed at increasing its chances of joining the EU and at strengthening its economy. Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has the final say in all matters of national and international matters, it is easy to notice the fingerprints of Ahmet Davutoğlu Read more
Continue ReadingOn: Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? By JOHN TIERNEY Three men doing time in Israeli prisons recently appeared before a parole board consisting of a judge, a criminologist and a social worker. The three prisoners had completed at least two-thirds of their sentences, but the parole board granted freedom to only one of them. Read more
Continue ReadingOn: Remembering Why Americans Loathe Dick Cheney By Conor Friedersdorf As the former vice president releases his memoir, it’s useful to recall the many reasons why the vast majority of Americans disapproved of his tenure. When Vice President Dick Cheney left office, his approval rating stood at a staggeringly low 13 percent. Few political figures Read more
Continue ReadingTripoli military council’s leader asks for an apology from the US, UK by A. E. SOUAIAIA* For many Americans, the US-Islamic interaction is borne out of the 9-11-2001 attacks. For them, the Islamic world is a distant place full of extremists who dislike freedom. For that reason, the attacks seemed to be an act of Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* To preserve their rule, Arab leaders have relied on two arguments: they are needed to keep Islamism under control and their rule must be perpetually extended to preserve stability and prevent anarchy. The first was intended to secure the support of world leaders, especially the West. The second was meant to Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Inspired by the success of Libya’s NTC, some Syrian opposition groups chose Burhan Ghalyoun, a political sociologist at Sorbonne University, as chairman of the National Transition Council. The meeting in Ankara, Turkey, concluded Monday August 29, 2011. It must be noted that a similar meeting attended by representatives of a number Read more
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