Middle East & North Africa Archive

As waves of unrest continue to roil the Middle East, there is a great deal of uncertainty as to what the future might bring. Will a successor to former President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt maintain the peace treaty with Israel, cooperate in isolating Hamas in the Gaza strip and maintain the intelligence relationship with the United States? And should a revolutionary regime overthrow the Khalifas in Bahrain, will it reject the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet from the island? Most prognostications on the region’s future assume that revolutions that depose status quo governments automatically reverse the policies of their predecessors. One […]

Security forces have clashed with anti-government protesters in Yemen on the seventh consecutive day of demonstrations calling for the ouster of the president. Police have shot and killed two protesters in the Yemeni city of Aden as unrest in the capital Sanaa against President Ali Abdullah Saleh flared for a fourth straight day.

Three people were killed Thursday in Bahrain’s capital of Manama, after police used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters camped in Pearl Square. The overnight raid brings the death toll in Bahrain’s recent unrest to five.

On Feb. 2, a car exploded 12 miles outside Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, killing three suspected terrorists and wounding several soldiers. Mauritanian security forces identified the terrorists’ intended target as the French embassy in Nouakchott, a claim repeated by a man arrested in the operation. However, in the aftermath of the attack, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a statement, claiming the real target had been the president of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz. A few days later, AQIM released another statement to a state news agency threatening additional attempts on the president’s life. The […]

What kind of country do Egyptians want to build? That is one of the most important questions arising from the country’s recent revolution, one with enormous geopolitical consequences and whose answer remains clouded in speculation, mystery and contradiction. Egyptians toppled their government in part because it cared little about their views and priorities. Until now, the public had negligible influence in the country’s policymaking process. That has changed suddenly and dramatically. Without a history of open political discourse and competitive elections, however, it is unclear what path Egyptians will choose in the coming months when, presumably, democracy will turn public […]

There have been angry scenes in the Iranian Parliament as members took to the floor to condemn anti-government protests at the weekend. State television showed parliamentarians calling for the opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mossavi and Mahdi Karroubi to face trial. Both have been under house arrest for a week after asking for permission to protest.

In an effort to dial in a bit on the ways in which Twitter and social media in general have altered the tactical and strategic terrain of popular uprisings, I’ll toss out a few ideas that have been taking shape over the course of the past few weeks. Last time I visited this subject, I was skeptical about how determinant an impact social media might have on political revolutions. Clearly, the events in Egypt give reason for a skeptic to reconsider. The speed with which an ostensibly leaderless uprising managed to achieve its topline goal reveals something. The question remains, […]

Saudi Arabia is in the process of developing its domestic nuclear energy capacity, and recently concluded nuclear cooperation agreements with Japan. In an e-mail interview, Giacomo Luciani, Princeton global scholar and scientific director of the international energy program at the Paris School of International Affairs, discussed Saudi Arabia’s nuclear energy policy. WPR: What is the history of Saudi Arabia’s nuclear energy plans? Giacomo Luciani: The history of Saudi Arabia’s nuclear energy plans is actually very recent. Interest in adding a nuclear component to the total power-generation fleet emerged in the country only in 2007. Previously, Saudi authorities had taken the […]

About 500 Chinese people are said to live in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan’s second city. Many work in the new Kawa Mall where Chinese flags, lucky cats and paper lanterns present an incongruous scene on the Kurdish landscape. Such immigration and foreign investment is becoming more prominent in the semi-autonomous area run by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

I had the pleasure of taking part Friday in France 24’s panel discussion program, the World This Week, where the subject was, as you can probably guess, the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The other guests were Vivienne Walt of Time, Matthew Saltmarsh of the IHT and Anne-Elisabeth Moutet of the Sunday Telegraph. Richard Perle, assistant defense secretary under President Ronald Reagan and adviser to the Pentagon under President George W. Bush, also joined us briefly by telephone. Part one can be found here. Part two can be found here.

There’s a lot of trepidation mixed in with the joy of seeing one of the Arab world’s great dictators finally step down. With Americans being so down on themselves these days, many see more to fear than to celebrate. But on the whole, there’s no good reason for the pessimism on display, which is based on a lot of specious assumptions that need to be discarded. Here’s my Top 10 list. 1) Mubarak’s quick-exit scenario means this is Iran, 1979. Nonsense, with the key reasons being the deft play by the Egyptian military and its deep and long relationship with […]

The transformation currently unfolding in the Middle East could be as monumental as the changes in Europe that followed World War II and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In both of those instances, the goals of the United States and its allies were transparent and consequential: to solidify Western power and establish a world order based on democracy and market economics. This successful model should be pursued once more by providing smart, dual-benefit assistance to all Middle Eastern nations seeking to build free and democratic societies. In the coming months, numerous governments in the Middle East will likely need […]

The Iranian parliament recently dismissed the country’s transportation minister, Hamid Benhabani, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In an e-mail interview, Jamsheed Choksy, professor of Iranian, Central Eurasian and international studies at Indiana University, discussed the relationship between Iran’s president and parliament. WPR: How would you characterize Ahmadinejad’s relationship with the Iranian parliament over the course of his presidency? Jamsheed Choksy: Relations between the executive, legislative, judicial and theocratic branches of the Islamic Republic’s government have always been tense, as each bloc attempts to expropriate more authority. Ahmadinejad’s presidency has been no different. In his first term, from 2005-2009, he […]

The demonstrators are still there in force in Tahrir Square on Day 16. Many are setting up tents to house family members joining them, vowing to hold firm until Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns.

Observers of the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries in the Arab world have focused with great excitement on the role played by new media, suggesting the events demonstrate the power of social networks to build a revolution. The rebellion, they say, was a uniquely 21st-century product of Twitter, Facebook and even Wikileaks. The reality, however, is much more complex. Many factors came into play to unleash the chain reaction that came crashing into Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Some of those factors are as new as the iPhone, others as old as the slingshot. But what made the long-simmering popular […]

Russia and Turkey recently held the first meeting of the Russia-Turkey Joint Strategic Planning Group. The high-level coordination follows the signing of border-cooperation agreements in January. In an e-mail interview, Jenia Ustinova, associate for Russia and Eurasia at Eurasia Group, discussed Russia-Turkey relations. WPR: Historically, what has been the nature of Russia-Turkey relations? Jenia Ustinova: Russia and Turkey are not what one would call traditional allies — in centuries past the Russian and Ottoman empires have often been at odds with each other, competing — at time through armed conflict — for territory, power and influence in the region. During […]

A spate of car bombs in northern Iraq have killed at least 7 people and wounded some 80 others. This video shows graphic footage of one of the attacks, which happened in the country’s northern city of Kirkuk. Two car bombs were aimed at police patrols while a third device exploded outside a building that houses the Kurdish security forces. No group has so far claimed responsibility.