In The News

UK’s Secret Mideast Internet Surveillance Base Revealed

Duncan Campbell , Oliver Wright, James Cusick, Kim Sengupta September 2, 2013
Documents suggest that Great Britain operates a secret station in the Middle East to intercept emails, phone calls and web traffic, shared with the US National Security Agency. “All of the messages and data passed back and forth on the cables is copied into giant computer storage ‘buffers’ and then sifted for data of special interest,” reports the Independent. Telecom and tech firms have...

Iran’s Unwavering Support to Assad’s Syria

Karim Sadjadpour August 30, 2013
Syria depends on steady military and economic support from Iran. “The surprising endurance of the Iran-Syria alliance is made more striking by the fact that it is based on neither shared national interests nor religious values,” but shared contempt for Iraq under Saddam Hussein, as well as the United States and Israel, writes Karim Sadjadpour in an opinion essay for the Combating Terrorism Center...

Syria Is Dying

Azeem Ibrahim August 29, 2013
A brutal civil war reigns in Syria, as demonstrated by scenes of a neighborhood waking to a chemical attack that killed hundreds. International critics allege that the regime, clinging to power, is responsible for the attack, even as the United Nations investigates. The country has become the center for a regional proxy war and a battleground for the two leading branches of Islam, explains Azeem...

The Case Against War in Syria

Oona Hathaway, Scott Shapiro August 29, 2013
Scenes of lifeless bodies and Syrian children suffering from a chemical attack trigger an urge for immediate action. The most likely suspect behind the attacks is Syrian forces protecting dictator Bashar al-Assad. At the very least, the regime failed to protect its stockpiles of chemical weapons. But an outraged world should be patient: “unleashing even limited military force without U.N....

Mosque or Modernity?

Michel Rocard August 28, 2013
The Arab Spring toppled some dictators, but countries have yet to organize strong institutions for democratic governance. Inequality and poverty destabilize the region, along with violence in Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Syria. “There are no easy ways out of underdevelopment without challenging traditional lifestyles, customs, and social relations,” writes former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard....

Winners and Losers After Arab Spring

Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen M. Lust, Dhafer Malouche, Gamal Soltan, Jakob Wichmann August 27, 2013
Each political transition underway since the Arab Spring has its own characteristics, reports a group of researchers who conducted post-election surveys in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The international community should resist applying stereotypical responses. “A one-size-fits-all approach to the transition processes – and particularly to development assistance aimed at fostering democratization –...

Syria Opposition Demands Urgent UN Probe into Alleged Chemical Attacks

Dominic Evans, Khaled Yacoub Oweis August 22, 2013
Video footage from Syria shows scores of children and adults left writhing, convulsing and dead after an alleged chemical-weapons attack. The death toll is estimated at 500 to 1300, reports Reuters. Syria has stockpiles of chemical weapons; Western nations have threatened intervention if such weapons were used. Opposition forces in Syria urge an immediate investigation by the United Nations....