In The News

Why Arabs Should Embrace China’s Silk Road

Naser al-Tamimi December 17, 2014
Rallying support for a modern-day Silk Road is a goal for China’s President Xi Jinping. In summer, only a few days after he spoke at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, Islamic State extremists seized Mosul. Regional risk may run high, yet China has surpassed the United States as the leading importer of oil, notes analyst and author Naser al-Tamimi for Al Arabiya News. “China is now the Arab...

China Offers to Help Iraq Defeat Sunni Extremists

Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Lucy Hornby December 15, 2014
China has the world’s third most powerful military force – and has offered to help Iraq combat Islamic State extremists. China’s foreign minister extended the offer to Iraq’s foreign minister during a September UN antiterrorism meeting, reports Financial Times. “China is the largest foreign investor in Iraq’s oil sector and stands to lose the billions its state-owned groups have ploughed into the...

Danish Canal Customers

Niveen Wahish December 3, 2014
The Suez and Panama canals are in competition as shipping traffic grows and container ships get bigger. With a new growing middle class throughout Asia, shipping containers are increasingly headed west to east rather than the other way around. Writing for Al-Ahram Weekly, Niveen Wahish reviews shippers’ concerns as expressed to Egyptian journalists attending a tour arranged by the Danish-Egyptian...

Back After a Lifetime in IS

Samyabrata Ray Goswami December 2, 2014
Hundreds of young radicals have fled comfortable homes in Muslim and non-Muslim nations alike to join the Islamic State’s fight for control in Syria and Iraq. If not killed during battle or by superiors for insubordination, many soon want to return home. Such is the case of Arif Majeed from India who traveled to Iraq in May. He fled to Turkey and returned home with bullet wounds on November 28....

Nuclear Talks, Glutted Markets Offer Iranian Economy Little Relief

Keith Johnson November 25, 2014
The deadline for an agreement for Iran to wind down its alleged nuclear weapons programs has been extended for seven months. Continued sanctions for Iran combined with low oil prices mean economic pain for Iranians and could threaten moderates who support an agreement and better ties with the West: “Unwinding limitations on Iranian oil exports will take time; it will take even longer to juice oil...

The Lost Children: France Takes Stock of Growing Jihadist Problem

Julia Amalia Heyer November 19, 2014
In regulating immigration, policy planners anticipate newcomers to assimilate, especially over generations. Most do, but children of immigrant families long settled in France are often intrigued by jihad. Julia Amalia Heyer profiles a French family – the mother atheist and the father Muslim – whose 17-year-old daughter traveled to Antakya on the Turkish-Syrian border and then called home to...

Iran’s Nuclear Smuggling Legacy: Finders Keepers?

Leonard S. Spector November 18, 2014
November 24 is the deadline for Iran concluding a deal to limit its suspect nuclear program. “A final agreement is expected, among its key provisions, to authorize Iran to operate a small enrichment facility and to provide the IAEA-enhanced inspection rights in that country,” notes Leonard S. Spector, based at the James Martin Center of Nonproliferation Studies. “Since illicitly acquired goods...