What authority does the president have under article 80 of the 2014 constitution of Tunisia?

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

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Why Would Turkey Want to Secure Afghanistan’s International Airport?

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* About six months after the inauguration of the Biden administration, nearly 90% of the US fighting troops are pulled out of Afghanistan. The vacuum was filled immediately by Taliban forces who claimed that they now control 85% of the country. After having spent nearly three trillion dollars on the invasion of Read more

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The Lost Archive: Traces of a Caliphate in a Cairo Synagogue

Marina 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

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Iran-Saudi Arabia Rapprochement: Riyadh desperately needs regional peace to fulfill its economic priorities

by 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

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Is Facebook the Face of Cyber Colonialism?

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Abstract: In nearly three decades, the Internet has evolved from being an innovation in communication technologies into an economic addon then into a tool of radical social and economic transformation. By the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the Internet, now dominated by social media platforms, wielded material Read more

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On Instrumentalizing Freedom of Speech and Macron’s Problem with Islam

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* October 28, 2020 Amid this worsening crisis between France and leaders of some Muslim-majority countries, media outlets are manufacturing narratives favorable to the side they support. Facts and truth matter. They matter because a sound solution to a problem must be built on the truth for a solution to endure. Truth Read more

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Yemen Economic Bulletin: Lebanon’s Financial Collapse Traps Yemeni Banks’ Money

By Ryan Bailey and Anthony Biswell* In January 2020, demonstrators heckled a delegation of bankers leaving Lebanon’s central bank. This was not an uncommon occurrence – protests targeting the country’s political and financial elite had been ongoing for months. What was unique in this situation, however, was the identity of the banking delegation. These bankers Read more

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