Current Analysis My 50 Minutes with Manaf During one of my regular visits to Syria, I was with a group of friends at one of the bustling new restaurant-bars that dotted Damascus’ old city, around Bab Touma. Some places were more popular than others, frequented by internationals and a particular stratum of Damascene society that included som Bassam Haddad • 8 min read
Current Analysis How the Army Won Egypt's Election Jubilant chants echoed far beyond Tahrir Square when the Muslim Brothers' candidate, Muhammad Mursi, was confirmed as Egypt’s first civilian president last week. Mursi’s election was lauded across the globe, and many are hailing today’s “transfer” of power as a triumph for democracy. But there is l Joshua Stacher • 3 min read
Current Analysis Ordering Egypt's Chaos To the left of a makeshift stage in a Cairo five-star hotel, the waiting continued. Ahmad Shafiq, the last prime minister of the deposed Husni Mubarak and one of two remaining candidates in Egypt’s first post-Mubarak presidential race, was three hours late. Fewer than 60 hours were left until voting Joshua Stacher • 12 min read
Current Analysis Understanding the Prospects and Challenges for Another Popular Intifada in Sudan While the attention of the Western and Arab media has focused on the historic victory of the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate in Egypt, street protests of a scale not witnessed for two decades continued into their second week in Khartoum and other major Sudanese cities. Anti-government pr Merip Intern • 2 min read
Current Analysis An All-Consuming Occupation On June 6, 2012, the Jerusalem Development Authority launched its fourth annual Jerusalem Festival of Light in the Old City. The previous year’s show had been a resounding success, according to sponsors quoted in the Jerusalem Post, with over 250,000 visitors enjoying “art installations bursting wit Rebecca L. Stein • 8 min read
Current Analysis A Revolution Is Not a Marketing Campaign A revolution is not a marketing campaign or a digital social network. Joel Beinin • 2 min read
Current Analysis Libya's Restive Revolutionaries Beneath a golden canopy lined with frilly red tassels and vaulted with chandeliers, hundreds of militiamen from across Libya gathered at a security base in Benghazi, the launch pad of their anti-Qaddafi revolution, at the end of April and called for another uprising. After a lunch of mutton and maca Nicolas Pelham • 16 min read
Current Analysis Washington's Bahrain in the Levant Despite sharing some of the socio-economic and political problems that propelled uprisings in other Arab countries, Jordan remains an exception to the trend. And if it can be kept that way, much of the world inside the Beltway will celebrate. Pete Moore • 2 min read
Current Analysis "Iran Will Require Assurances" Hossein Mousavian has served as visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security from 2009 to the present. Prior to this position, he held numerous positions in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including director-general of its West Europe department Aslı Bâli • 30 min read
Current Analysis Operation Lip Service The popular uprising in Bahrain shows no signs of going away. The royal family tried crushing the revolt, importing shock troops from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. It tried jailing important figures in the opposition, such as human rights activist ‘Abd al-Hadi al-Khawaja, who as of early May had been Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis War Returns to the Two Sudans After weeks of escalating border violence and heated rhetoric, war has returned to the Sudans. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) formally ended 40 years of civil war between north and south Sudan, and paved the way for the creation of the Republic of South Sudan, Africa’s newest independe Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 11 min read
Current Analysis Iranian Cyber-Struggles From the Green Movement in Iran in 2009 through the Arab revolts that began in 2011, social media have held center stage in coverage of popular protest in the Middle East. Though the first flush of overwrought enthusiasm is long past, there is consensus that Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 appli Narges Bajoghli • 9 min read
