Current Analysis Fighting Mush Among the Washington outfits that arose in the Bush years to rearm liberals in foreign policy debates is the Truman National Security Project, founded in 2005. Like its cohorts the Center for a New American Security and the National Security Network, the Truman initiative seeks to redefine the “progressive” foreign Amanda • 4 min read
Current Analysis Six Questions for Aslı Bâli and Aziz Rana The world is closely -- and, for the most part, skeptically -- watching the progress of a ceasefire brokered by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Syria. More than 9,000 Syrians are dead since the start of the uprising against the regime headed by Bashar al-Asad. Amidst a general Amanda • 10 min read
Current Analysis To Stop the Killing, Deal with Asad In the wake of the recent Friends of Syria conference, the United States and Middle Eastern powers that include Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are stepping up aid to armed resistance groups in Syria. Under American leadership, the conference pledged $100 million to provide salary payments to rebel f Amanda • 3 min read
Current Analysis In the Kingdom of Tear Gas The talk of Bahrain at present is talk -- the possible renewal of dialogue between the government and the opposition -- but the reality is that street protests, after simmering in outlying villages for months, have begun to heat up in the capital of Manama. Amanda • 14 min read
Current Analysis Lamped USA Amanda Ufheil-Somers has ably described [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer261/lampedusa] how refugee flows from the uprisings in North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa have pushed the strained infrastructure and the residents’ hospitality to the breaking point. The islanders aren’t the only ones Amanda • 5 min read
Current Analysis No Clean Break Renewed conflict along the border between Sudan and South Sudan follows a predictable pattern, says MERIP editorial committee member Khalid Medani in an interview with KPFA radio. Amanda • 1 min read
Current Analysis America's Pakistan American policymakers and their advisers are struggling with the question of Pakistan. The last ten years have produced a host of policy reviews, study group reports, congressional hearings and a few academic and more popular books, with more expected as the 2014 deadline for the end of US major com Amanda • 21 min read
Current Analysis Despair and Continuity Actions always speak louder than words, even if words also act. Amanda • 2 min read
Current Analysis The Problem of Privilege “To believe in a democratic Jewish state today is to be caught between the jaws of a pincer,” writes Peter Beinart in his widely circulated and hotly debated op-ed [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/opinion/to-save-israel-boycott-the-settlements.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all]. Indeed -- but it was ever t Amanda • 4 min read
Current Analysis Clooney's Arrest Dwarfs Sudan Agreement The casual Sudan observer might conclude from recent news stories that George Clooney's arrest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington on March 16 has been the most significant event of the past week. It takes some digging to find any coverage of the preliminary agreement [http://www.sudantribune.com/ Amanda • 1 min read
Current Analysis Syrian Kurdish Cards Upheaval in Syria has given Kurdish groups new opportunities to advance their nationalist agendas while serving as proxies for neighboring states. In Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK has taken advantage of the rift between the regime of Bashar al-Asad and the Turkish government by turning Amanda • 12 min read
Current Analysis Patti Smith Remembers Operation Iraqi Freedom On September 8, 2011, just a few days before the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the intrepid rocker Patti Smith performed at Webster Hall in New York City. Amanda • 1 min read
