editors_061016 Current Analysis Release Homa Hoodfar We are deeply concerned by the arrest and ongoing detention of Homa Hoodfar, an eminent anthropologist and contributor to Middle East Report, by the Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Hoodfar traveled to Iran in early 2016 to visit family and conduct scholarly research. She was scheduled The Editors • 1 min read
Current Analysis Arabia Incognita A new anthology from MERIP and Just World Books explores the Arabian Peninsula as "a distinct political unit" whose upheavals reverberate regionally and globally. The Editors • 2 min read
Current Analysis Jordan Drops the Pretense of Democratic Reform Despite promises otherwise, in the past four years, King ‘Abdallah has peeled the veneer of parliamentary governance off an increasingly autocratic system. Jillian Schwedler • 4 min read
MER Article Shenker, The Egyptians Jack Shenker, The Egyptians: A Radical Story (London: Penguin, 2016). Jack Shenker’s book is the definitive account of the 2011 Egyptian uprising to date. Many scholars and journalists have taken as their point of departure the notion that the uprising was a one-off democratizing experiment that failed. With his Joshua Stacher • 2 min read
Current Analysis Suspend US Military Aid to Egypt Scholars of the Egypt and the Middle East call on President Obama to stop the longstanding US support for Egypt's undemocratic military regime. (Author not identified) • 3 min read
Current Analysis Open Letter from Scholars of Yemen Scholars write for the third time to condemn the actions of the US-Saudi-French alliance violating international humanitarian law in the southern Arabian Peninsula. (Author not identified) • 2 min read
Current Analysis Éloge de la Naïveté The attacks in Brussels have inspired grief, fear and questions about transformative politics. Paul Silverstein • 6 min read
Current Analysis The Day Tehran Shook Speaking to a journalist days after the February 26 elections in Iran, leading reformist Mohammad Reza Aref stated, “When I saw the results for Tehran coming in, I was shocked.” Aref had expected the top of the list he headed to do well in the contest for Tehran’s 30 seats in the Tenth Majles, or Pa Farideh Farhi • 11 min read
Current Analysis Did Russian Intervention Break the Syrian Stalemate? It is now a cliché to say that the Syrian conflict is complicated, and has multiple regional and international drivers. For some time, all of these complications were adduced to answer the question: “Why is there a military and political stalemate in Syria?” Beginning in September 2015, however, Russian intervention Samer Abboud • 4 min read
MER Article Bennis, Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror Phyllis Bennis, Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A Primer (Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2015). The amalgamation of Iraqi ex-Baathists, Iraqi and Syrian jihadis, disgruntled locals and outside recruits known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, continues to ca Chris Toensing • 2 min read
MER Article Karimi, Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran Pamela Karimi, Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran: Interior Revolutions of the Modern Era (New York: Routledge, 2013). Norma Claire Moruzzi • 4 min read
Current Analysis Your Tax Dollars Enable Police Brutality Abroad Ever since the Black Lives Matter movement exploded into the headlines, violence by American police officers has come under fire from activists and ordinary citizens alike. Less discussed, however, is how the US government winks at the police brutality of its client states abroad. The military gove Chris Toensing • 2 min read
