The GCC Sanctions against Qatar broke the GCC, Will the UAE Deal with Israel disintegrate the UAE?

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* August 16, 2020 Abstract: With the war on Yemen going against Saudi stated goals, three years ago, (5 June 2017), Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and imposed isolating sanctions. Three years later, none of their conditions, which included, primarily, shutting down Aljazeera, Read more

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Work: Democratise, Decommodify, Remediate

More than 5,000 researchers from universities around the globe issued an urgent call to heed the lessons of the COVID-19 crisis and rewrite the rules of our economic systems in order to create a more democratic and sustainable society. Their call, made in the midst of an unprecedented health, climate, and political crisis, paves a Read more

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Is the Moroccan Left Experiencing an Organizational and Ideological Crisis?

by Mohammad Sammouni* How did the coordination between currents of the radical left and the Islamist opposition movement (The Justice and Charity Party) transcend the social level that concerns public services issues, to reach political demands that concern the nature of the power system and the overthrowing tyranny? What was the role of the “20 Read more

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Killing of Soleimani evokes dark history of political assassinations in the formative days of Shiite Islam

by Deina Abdelkader * Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who promoted the religious and political influence of the Iranian regime across the Middle East with covert military operations, was an important figure in the Iranian government. But that’s not the only reason his targeted killing by the United States has elicited explosive grief and outrage in Iran. Read more

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Broken trust: How Iraqis lost their faith in Washington, long before the Kurds did

by Mieczysław P. Boduszyński, Assistant Professor of Politics, Pomona College In all the hand-wringing that critics and commentators have done since President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, one of the common refrains emphasizes the breach of trust between Washington and its Kurdish militia partners. Some scholars of international relations Read more

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Turkey’s Safe Zone in Northern Syria and International Law

By Ahmed E Souaiaia* Abstract: Mere hours before Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, visits with his Russian counterpart in Sochi, his government clarified the purpose of its invasion of Northern Syrian. The Turkish government frames its intervention as partly humanitarian, partly security missions. Considering that Erdoğan has called for such a “safe zone” as early Read more

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Tunisia’s new president Kais Saied has a big job to wrestle the country back from its political elites

by Omar Safi* The election of Kais Saied, a 61-year-old former law professor and political outsider, to the Tunisian presidency was not surprising: he represents the Tunisian ideal of how the ruling class should be. The size of the vote in his favour was impressive. He won 73% of the vote in the second round Read more

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