In The News

How African Is the Arab Revolution?

Khaled Diab April 7, 2011
Kenyans closely follow news of the revolts in North Africa, reports journalist Khaled Diab in an essay for the Mail & Guardian, and some question if the unrest could spread to sub-Saharan Africa. Countries across Africa share demographic trends, including masses of young people, high unemployment rates and authoritarian leaders. However, tribal divisions and limits on internet communications...

Ex-Mujahedeen Help Lead Libyan Rebels

Charles Levinson April 5, 2011
Libya’s rebels receive assistance in the form of a no-fly zone from NATO and training from former Afghan Mujahedeen, reports Charles Levinson for the Wall Street Journal. One is a Libyan militant who was detained by Pakistani forces after the US invasion of Afghanistan and spent six years in the US Guantanamo military prison. Analysts question if such participants on the Libyan battlefronts...

Let Them Eat Bread

Annia Ciezadlo April 4, 2011
Many factors are at play in the ongoing Middle East protests, and while bread often goes unmentioned, Annia Ciezadlo places food prices in the spotlight. Governments in the Middle East import grain and then subsidize bread for their populations. The inexpensive bread has artificially sustained the rule by non-democratic governments, staving off unrest. In 50 years, nations went from self-...

Internet Alone Cannot Free the Middle East

Evgeny Morozov March 30, 2011
Like pen and paper, the internet is another tool that’s used for good or evil. Scholar Evgeny Morozov argues that the internet may have been less influential over recent uprisings in the Middle East. Savvy, repressive governments use the internet too, lifting bans on social media sites while jailing the most outspoken critics or baiting protesters with fake events followed by prosecution. “The...

Libya Exposes Fault Lines in the Mediterranean – Part II

Shashank Joshi March 28, 2011
At the behest of a divided Arab League, NATO forces began enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya. Such unified intervention is rare, not seen since the 1991 coalition that pushed Iraq back after its invasion of Kuwait, explains researcher Shashank Joshi, in the second article of a YaleGlobal series. Support for Libya’s desperate rebels could give the region’s other dictators pause before attacking...

Jasmine, Mideast and Beyond

Nayan Chanda March 22, 2011
Brutal crackdowns on demonstrators in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain may temporarily quiet the protests, but the anger and yearning for rights have not vanished, contends Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online in an essay for the Times of India. He warns, “the mix of combustibles that fuelled the Middle East fire are still smoldering.” Decades of repressive rule, widening income inequality and high...

Different Stories

Dina Ezzat March 22, 2011
The League of Arab States has broad goals – strengthening ties among member states, coordinating policies and promoting common interests. Rarely does the Arab League embrace military action to restrain a member state or intervene directly in uprisings, notes Dina Ezzat for Al-Ahram in an essay that reviews some league responses to historical conflicts or invasions in the region. Libya is an...