Speculation increased about the summit that took place between the Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi about what the two leaders had agreed upon, especially since the summit took place behind closed doors and did not include the presence of any additional officials from the two parties, although Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan was among Read more
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Since breaking free from the French colonial rule, Algeria has had very uneasy relationship with Morocco, reaching the point of direct armed conflict at one point (Sep 25, 1963-4). Then, Morocco, eager to capitalize on a moment of weakness in Algeria whose army consisted of Mujahideen fighters trained to fight asymmetrical war against the French Read more
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On September 23, 2021, the branch of the Islamic State (al-Khilafa) in Afghanistan released a statement claiming responsibility for an attack, using small arms, on members of the Taliban, whom they described as “Taliban militia.” Local news reports confirmed the attack. This is a small-scale attack that represented no serious danger to Taliban’s grip on Read more
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In 2016, the Justice and Development Party (French acronym PJD) in Morocco won 125 seats of the 395-seat house of representatives in the parliament of Morocco, earning it the top spot and forcing the King to appoint the party’s leader to form a government. Fast forward to September 8, 2021, and the same party, under Read more
Continue ReadingThe Muslim World in Modern South Asia: Power, Authority, and Knowledge, by Francis Robinson, draws together a decade’s worth of the author’s articles, lectures, and reviews. The book covers temporally and geographically broad trends within Muslim responses to the rise of European colonial power and Western capitalist influence, particularly but not only within South Asia. Read more
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On July 25, the president of Tunisia, Kais Saied, cited article 80 of the ratified 2014 constitution to declare a national emergency. The presidential order suspended the parliament for 30 days, dismissed the prime minister, and lifted immunity on parliamentarians. Here is a translation of the article that the president is relying on to justify Read more
Continue Readingby Marie Kortam* In May, following violence in Jerusalem, hundreds of third and fourth generation Palestinian refugees tried to cross the Lebanon-Palestine border that separates them from their homeland to join the popular civil resistance and support their families against Israeli occupation. In the camps, refugees organised sit-ins, marches and various demonstrations of support for Read more
Continue ReadingMarina Rustow’s deeply absorbing book, The Lost Archive: Traces of a Caliphate in a Cairo Synagogue states its main objective from the outset; namely, to lay to rest the persistent and erroneous notion that the medieval Islamic states of the Middle East were deficient in the art of statecraft. This false notion has been underpinned by an all-pervasive Read more
Continue Readingby Dr. Necmettin Acar * Middle Eastern states have started to give signals of radical change in the direction of their foreign policies, which have become a tradition after being followed for many years. The Gulf-Israeli rapprochement, the tendencies of Turkey and Egypt to thaw ties, the mutual desire between Turkey and Israel to strengthen Read more
Continue ReadingLebanese dates in Moscow tell the world that the latter is a great power that communicates with all parties in Lebanon, but insiders confirm that Russia’s interests go beyond this image.
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