Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
From May 21 to May 27, Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to the Middle East. His visit will begin in Oman, and then he will move to Jordan, Israel, the West Bank. In Continue →
Arab Revolution
My column this week focuses once again on human rights issues in Saudi Arabia. I actually had a different column on an entirely different topic written and ready to run -- look for it next week. But then I ran Continue →
On Friday, May 17, Freedom House hosted a panel discussion titled “Building a Brighter Future in Syria.” Panelists included Kinda Kanbar, a Syrian journalist; Mohammed Aly Sergie, Senior Editor at Syria Deeply; Omar Hossino, a Syria analyst; and Oubab Khalil, Continue →
Photo Credit: Hamad I Mohammed/Courtesy Reuters
Bahraini authorities raided the home of a prominent Shia cleric, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim on Friday. Opposition group al-Wefaq said Qassim was not home at the time of the raid but there were women and children present. Continue →
Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo
In a White House press briefing Thursday with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Barack Obama reiterated his calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down but offered no new details on the administration’s Continue →
Photo Credit: Reuters/Mladen Antonov/Pool
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed optimism Wednesday that the peace talks on the Syrian conflict they’re organizing will be successful. After a meeting with Lavrov in Sweden, Kerry said, Continue →
Join POMED for our upcoming event, “Iran’s Presidential Election and U.S. Policy,” on Friday, May 24 from 10-11:30am at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Choate Room.
The panel will include Nazila Fathi, former NYT Tehran correspondent; Ambassador John Limbert, former Continue →
Photo Credit: AFP
The Kuwaiti government should scrap a controversial media reform law, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. Following news that the Ministry of Information suspended a popular television program, “Talk Shawk”, presented by opposition journalist Mohammad al-Washeehi late Wednesday, HRW is renewing its Continue →
On Wednesday, May 15, the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom held a panel titled, “The Rise of Islamism: Its Impact on Religious Minorities” to discuss Islamist radicalization in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Panelists included former Pakistani Continue →
On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing titled “U.S. Policy Toward Iran.” Wendy Sherman, State Department Under Secretary for Political Affairs, and David Cohen, Treasury Department Under Secretary for Terrorism and Continue →
Photo Credit: Reuters
Egypt’s top jurists suspended participation today in a government-backed conference to move forward on judicial reform, reigniting a political showdown with the country’s judges. Lawmakers in the Muslim Brotherhood dominated Shura Council announced it would reexamine a contentious proposal Continue →
Photo Credit AFP
During a visit to Russia last week Secretary of State John Kerry announced that Russia would participate in a conference dedicated to the issue of Syria. Russia is among Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s staunchest international allies and has Continue →
Photo Credit: AP
Bahraini blogger and free-speech advocate Ali Abdulemam recently escaped from the Kingdom of Bahrain after more than two years in hiding. A team of people and outside supporters, including artist Tyler Ramsey and human rights groups Amnesty International and Continue →
The Brookings Institution held a discussion titled “American Foreign Policy in Retreat? A Discussion with Vali Nasr” to explore the future of American power and foreign policy engagement. Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow Vali Nasr contributed thoughts from his new book. Continue →
The U.S. State Department has called last week’s arrest of April 6 co-founder Ahmed Maher a “step backward” for Egypt’s democratic transition. The U.S. has expressed concern about what it sees as a growing trend of arrests against political dissent. Maher Continue →
The Atlantic Council hosted an event for the release of their new issue brief titled “Egypt’s Litigious Transition.” The event featured Mahmoud Hamad, author of the issue brief and Assistant Professor at Drake University, and Yussef Auf, a nonresident fellow Continue →
Photo Credit: AFP
Tunisian authorities over the weekend dispersed the public gathering of Salafists in a number of cities in an apparent push to tamp down on extremist groups in the country. Clashes erupted Saturday in southern Tunis after security forces, Continue →
photo credit: Reuters
This weekend saw the end of the nearly two week siege of the foreign and justice ministries by armed militias in Tripoli. The armed groups had besieged the ministries beginning in late April demanding the passage of Continue →
Photo Credit: Lakome
Morocco’s second largest political party, Istiqlal, is withdrawing from the coalition government. Istiqlal spokesman Adil Benhamza said, “The party can never remain in a government that continues to pursue policies targeting the buying power of the citizens by raising Continue →
Do the Massacres in Bayda and Banyas Portend Ethnic Cleansing to Create an Alawite State? by Joshua Landis, Syria Comment, May 13, 2013
Map showing the cities of Latakia – Baniyas – Tartus on the Syrian coast
This question is taken up Continue →
Photo Credit: BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images
Candidate registration for Iran’s upcoming presidential election closed Saturday as two controversial figures, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, registered to appear on the ballot in June. Mashaei, a close ally of President Continue →
Liz Sly in WaPo:
BEIRUT — Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are beginning to turn the tide of the country’s war, bolstered by a new strategy, the support of Iran and Russia and the assistance of fighters with Lebanon’s Continue →FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 10, 2013
Project on Middle East Democracy Condemns Arrest of April 6 Leader Ahmed Maher
The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) condemns the arrest of April 6 leader Ahmed Maher in Egypt today, Friday, May 10. According to Continue →