In The News

Reuters: Merkel Tries to Build Coalition After Vote That Puts Far Right in Parliament

Caroline Copley and Emma Thomasson September 25, 2017
Angela Merkel won a fourth term as Germany’s chancellor and reports she will keep an open mind in forming a coalition government. “Damaged by her decision two years ago to allow more than one million migrants into Germany, Merkel’s conservative bloc secured 33 percent of the vote, losing 8.5 points,” report Caroline Copley and Emma Thomasson. “Her coalition partners, the center-left Social...

Reuters: Kurds Press Historic Independence Vote Despite Regional Fears

Raya Jalabi September 22, 2017
About 30 million Kurdish people are spread throughout the Middle East in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq, and in recent years many fought fiercely to protect their communities against extremists. Iraqi Kurds are expected to pursue independence starting with a referendum and transform their semi-autonomous region into a new country known as Kurdistan. US and United Nations officials have tried to...

The Economist: Can Political Islam Make It in the Modern World?

September 21, 2017
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Islamist parties across the Middle East and North Africa have achieved mixed results. As the Economist notes, the legacy of the Muslim Brotherhood, which began as an anti-imperialist social and educational movement in Egypt under Hassan al-Banna in 1928, gave way to Islamist offshoots, each iteration borne out of its own historical particularities and social...

The Guardian: Charities to Pick Up Bill for Sweeping Aid Cuts?

Kate Hodal September 14, 2017
Governments that reduce taxes and cut programs cannot expect charitable giving to replace funding for an array of health, education or foreign aid programs. The most vulnerable will suffer, with disease, conflict, pollution, illiteracy and poverty posing cross-border consequences. Charitable giving may have created an incentive for governments to pursue budget cuts in every area, then replacing...

The New York Times: Fake Americans Used to Influence Election

Scott Shane September 12, 2017
Cybersecurity analysts suspect that Russian hackers created a large numbers of fictional social media accounts posing as US voters. This was followed by DCLeaks, a website designed to selectively target US candidate to channel outrage about candidates, particularly presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “The Russian information attack on the election did not stop with the hacking and leaking of...

The Economist: The Saudis May Be Stretching Out Hand of Peace to Old Foes

September 12, 2017
The protracted hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Arab allies may be cooling. The Economist observes that historically “the [Saudi] kingdom has been [on the] front of Sunni Islam’s anti-Shia dogma.” Following his ascension to the throne in 2015, “King Salman bin Abdelaziz and his young son and defence minister, Muhammad, set their sights on rolling back Iran’s influence from the region by...

Foreign Affairs: Is War in Gaza Unavoidable?

Ghaith al-Omari and Grant Rumley September 5, 2017
War in Gaza seemed possible this summer after Israel went along with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s request to cut electricity for 2 million Gazans living under Hamas rule. As Ghaith al-Omari and Grant Rumley observe in a recent article for Foreign Affairs: “Abbas hoped to pressure Hamas into relinquishing control over the strip, which was plunged into darkness as the cornered...