First Independent Mena Newspaper
When Susan Rice withdrew her name from the consideration for nomination for Secretary of State, she did so largely to save the White House from a costly political fight. Over the previous weeks, Senators John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, and Lindsay Graham had attacked her vigorously for not calling the attack on the US consulate in […]
After decades of elusive quest for a common Arab economic space and EU-promoted trials with the fluky Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Agreement (EU-MFTA), the economies of the MENA region are facing the challenge of deciding whether to bury or revive the ‘frozen’ regional integration processes. Prior to the events of the Arab Spring, the MENA member […]
The Arab revolutions of 2011 have brought into immediate focus the following question related to Turkey’s foreign policy: ‘Can Turkey’s economic and political model become a reference-point for the region’s post-autocratic societies, similar to the EU for east-central Europe after 1989?’. Indeed, many political observers see the revolutions in the Arab countries as a chance […]
How important has been the role that social media have played in the Arab Spring uprisings and the subsequent democratic transformation affecting the North African region? This is a question that has been hotly contested in both policy-making and academic circles essentially ever since a Tunisian fruit vendor’s act of self-immolation swiftly wreaked havoc with […]
In May 2012, leaders of the G8 countries met in France in order to discuss an eventual support of the ongoing revolutionary processes of the Arab Spring. Although a number of countries have already helped financially or otherwise, the current amounts of aid implicitly suggest that another Marshall Plan in not going to take place. […]
Despite the fact that the Maghreb countries constitute one region that is culturally, geographically and historically integrated, they have largely failed to achieve ‘functional integration’ particularly at the political and economic cooperation level. The “non-Maghreb” is a term coined by some experts referring to the enduring phenomenon of the Maghreb countries’ failure to boost their […]
What muzzle did US Vice President Joe Biden agree to wear in the veep debate against Rep. Paul Ryan, the runningmate of Republican Mitt Romney? Pres. Barack Obama appeared to be muzzled also during his appearance with Mr. Romney in Denver 8 days earlier. Why the word “muzzle?” The incumbents and the hopefuls for the […]
The last few days have set off the alarms of a radical Islamist winter hijacking some promising landscapes of the “Arab Spring”. The murder of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi (Libya), as well as the attacks on western diplomatic missions across the Middle East and North Africa, have brought the threat of radicalisation to […]
Before the Soviet Union controlled the former republics of Central Asia, Sufi brotherhoods dominated the religious scene in Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. However, the Soviet policy toward Islam drove these Sufi groups underground for fear of persecution. In the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet bloc, legions of radical Islamists filled the gap left […]
The Party of justice and development (PJD) is the first Islamic party to lead the government in Morocco’s modern history. This was the results of the early elections held in Morocco on November 25, 2011. The Islamist party won 107 out of 395 seats. Between pros and cons, the Moroccan society has different views about […]