First Independent Mena Newspaper
The upshots of the global financial crisis are long to list. In a catchy word, they are condensed in the phrase “shift to the East”. Driven by the increasing power and strength of emerging market economies, the timing and extent of the shift raise questions over what real objectives the new players are set to […]
The one persistent feature of Iranian foreign policy since the toppling of the Shah in 1979 was its rather grandiose optimism about its own ascendance to a hegemonic role in the Middle East. The ayatollah’s Islamic Republic never considered the revolution it had kidnapped to turn inward. Instead, the leaders of the Islamic Republic of […]
Failed states are considered as one of the most potent threats to international peace and security – soft security threats and risks in terms of organized crime, terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, illegal migration to money laundering, originating from failed and fragile states are the major security challenge in the post Cold War era. Failed and […]
The Middle East issue with its wars, crises, attempts, and death toll has been making the headlines for over 60 years, and last week in Marrakesh, the tragic stories of the Middle East were brought back to minds, if ever they can be forgotten, by the screening of the Attack by Lebanese Ziad Doueiri, during […]
In a brief conversation with a taxi driver who was taking me from Cartage international airport to down town Medina, I noticed glimpses of optimism in his speech. He said he was glad about the changes that took place in what he sometimes called “Modern Tunisia,” and some other times “post-revolutionary Tunisia.” “We have lived […]
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 […]
Recently, a truce was mediated – by Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi – between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. But … how long can such a truce last before the new round of warfare is unleashed? Notwithstanding many obvious analogies with the previous tensions between the two sides (such as Operation Cast Lead at the […]
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 […]
It has been almost two years since the Arab Spring hit the countries of Middle East and North Africa. While some nations have taken a fresh breath of freedom, others have plunged into misery. Day-to-day riots and protests have paralyzed the socio-political functioning of the region, and stifled the tourist industry – the crux of […]
French President François Hollande will pay early 2013 a visit to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohammed VI. The announcement was made Wednesday in the two countries’ capitals following a telephone call between the two heads of state who both said they were looking forward to meeting each other. President Hollande thanked the king […]