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by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Family members mourn during a funeral for slain anti-government protester Ali Ahmed al Muameen on February 18, 2011 in Sitra, Bahrain. Credit: Photo by John Moore/Getty Images by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* When the first demonstration took place in Sidi Bouzid after Tarek (Mohamed) Elbouazizi ignited the Arab revolutions by setting himself Read more
Continue ReadingBY JEFF CHARIS-CARLSON • IOWA CITYSCAPES • FEBRUARY 14, 2011 To help make sense of last week’s announced resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, I turned to Ahmed Souaiaia, a University of Iowa professor who teaches classes in Religious Studies, International Programs and Law. • Q: What do you think was the final straw to Read more
Continue ReadingSource: • GUEST OPINION • Press-Citizen • FEBRUARY 12, 2011 Three Thursdays ago, I made a bet with one of my students in front of all his classmates: Hosni Mubarak will be out of power in less than 30 days. Today, I know that I will be eating my pizza soon. On the third Friday Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E, Souaiaia* Regardless of what would happen in the next months, the year 2011 will enter the history books as the breakthrough year for Arab societies. On January 14, 2011, the Tunisian people ended the reign of a ruthless dictator and with it ended fear. The Tunisian revolution soon inspired peoples of other Read more
Continue Readingby A. E. SOUAIAIA* It is true that Obama, as president, is the person responsible for foreign policy initiatives. However, it is the secretary of state who implements the vision of the administration and communicates it to foreign leaders in nuanced language that, at times, would seem as if it were a code. Hillary Clinton, Read more
Continue ReadingBY A. E. SOUAIAIA | GUEST OPINION | The Daily Iowan | JANUARY 24, 2011 7:10 AM During the first day of class, I asked students enrolled in my survey course on the Islamic civilization to think of an important event from around the world. The first student to speak pointed out the return of Read more
Continue Readingby AHMED E. SOUAIAIA By now, anyone who has followed the news coming out of Tunisia knows the timeline of events that culminated in Ben Ali fleeing the country and leaving his party struggling to regain control. But the end of Ben Ali’s era did not create a definite alternative. There is no consensus among Read more
Continue ReadingAs the number of people killed by Ben Ali’s security forces rises, victims’ family have reported that some of the fallen are citizens of European nations. The French Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that one of the victims killed in the central Tunisian town of Douz during Wednesday clashes was a dual French-Tunisian citizen. “We Read more
Continue Readingby A. E. SOUAIAIA Two matters are intimately connected: security and economic power. How countries leverage economic power to maintain security and how security is used as pretext for monopolizing power show the interconnectedness of economic development and global security. For the three cases that I will examine (North-South Korea, India-Pakistan, and Iran-West standoffs), I Read more
Continue ReadingDuring the 2008 presidential campaign, then candidate Obama challenged Hillary Clinton’s assertion that some things must be kept secret in order to be an effective leader. He argued that in a democracy, the voting public must be informed. We all know that now President Obama sits on secrets that neither he nor career policy makers Read more
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