Syria’s unrest has allowed Lebanon to finally play a role in the Arab uprisings, with potentially dangerous effects, argues Fatima Issawi
The reaction to the attacks of 11 September 2001 included an instinctive veneration of their chief architect. Its deeper foundation is a regressive and widespread ethno-religious view of the world, says Sami Zubaida.
The atrocity of 11 September 2001 entrenched an imaginary polarisation between “the west and the rest” - and buried a deeper reality that is only now emerging to light, says Madawi al-Rasheed.
The success of Libya’s uprising is welcome - even if both the rebel movement and foreign support for it reflect the inevitable contradictions of politics. The challenge now includes holding account all perpetrators of atrocity, says Martin Shaw.
The task of building a democratic and inclusive Libya with working institutions must overcome the international community’s key flaw as well as the Gaddafi regime’s legacy, says Vidar Helgesen.
An EU-Libya framework agreement signed in 2010 is only the tip of the iceberg of shameful EU extraterritorialised migration-management, argues Polly Pallister-Wilkins
The political tumult in Egypt continues as the six-month anniversary of the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak nears. The rising Islamist influence puts the possibility of a religious turn in the revolution on the agenda. But how real is this prospect? Tarek Osman assesses it by looking at the deeper forc
As Ramadan begins, we look at how the Arab Spring turns into an Arab Summer with increasingly messy situations in Syria, Bahrain, Libya, and beyond. This and more in today's security briefing...
After years of state building activities and a long period of full cooperation of the Palestinian authorities with Israel and the West, the country now seems ready to become a full member of the UN. It is time for the US and Europe to welcome this timely and legitimate bid, argues Rene Wildangel
A huge gathering in central Cairo on 29 July 2011 is a measure of the fluid state of Egypt’s political transformation, says Vidar Helgesen.
Israel seeks to ensure its invulnerability via a strong focus on missile defence. But the search for an “iron dome” to protect the country is an evasion of its true interest.
The ruling family’s brutal and misjudged response to Bahrain’s protest movement is undermining its own legitimacy, says Christopher M Davidson.
