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Middle East policy under Donald Trump
Return of the dictators
Just how the Trump administration will handle the thorny issue of the Middle East remains to be seen. Trump's policy of non-intervention and "pragmatic" alliances with authoritarian rulers is, however, likely to encourage the return of repressive dictatorships, lending them apparent respectability in exchange for guarantees of stability. By Rene Wildangel
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Arab reactions to Donald Trump′s election victory
The jihadists' dream
Radical Islamists and Arab autocrats alike were pinning their hopes on Donald Trump. Now they are out to seize their chance. At the moment, however, no one in the Arab world can predict what line Trump is likely to pursue. By Karim El-Gawhary
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Arab reactions to the coup aftermath in Turkey
The problem with role models
Opinion in the Arab world is divided when it comes to the policies adopted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the coup attempt in Turkey. Islamists feel their position has been strengthened, while liberal and conservative Arabs look upon recent developments with concern. Analysis by Joseph Croitoru
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Saudi influence in Pakistan
A perilous road
Saudi-supported ultra-conservative worldviews, abetted by successive Pakistani governments, are changing the very nature of Pakistani society. By James M. Dorsey
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Secularism in the Islamic world
Part II – Clouding the issue
In the second part of his essay on secularism in the Islamic world, Saudi analyst Khalid al-Dakhil addresses the ready confusion, found particularly in Islamic writings, of secularism as a concept and separating religion and the state as a legal-political reality. What is the difference?
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Ali Abdullah Saleh and the conflict in Yemen
The lure of power
During the Arab Spring President Saleh faced widespread armed protests and was forced to leave office. Thanks to some unscrupulous wheeling and dealing, however, Saleh may yet pull off his bid to return to power. By Neville Teller
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US presidential elections
Huma Abedin – the woman in the shadows
Huma Abedin, long-time aide to Hillary Clinton, is someone who prefers to remain in the background. The current election campaign has seen her dragged reluctantly into the limelight however – and confronted her with sex scandals and terror threats. By Mey Dudin
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Video: Women "permanent legal minors" in Saudi Arabia
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Secularism in the Islamic world
Part I – It′s a knotty problem
The well-known Saudi analyst Khaled al-Dakhil posits that if it was secularism that led the West out of the Dark Ages and into the Enlightenment and if, at the same time, secularism means atheism and a lack of religious faith, then it was the latter, rather than faith, which paved the way to science, insight and freedom
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Oil and development in the Middle East
A two-edged sword
When poor countries started producing oil, they thought that was the key to economic growth and prosperity. Since then, the impact of resource wealth on producing countries has been the subject of endless debate. By Nassir Djafari
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Solving the conflicts in the Middle East
Tracing the fault lines
Simmering for decades beneath the surface of autocratic repression, conflicts such as the Sunni uprisings in Syria and Iraq, Shia unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, not to mention the rancour of the Kurds and Palestinians, are ongoing. The West is partly to blame. By Ishac Diwan
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The hajj 2019: Pilgrims in their millions
Back before the pandemic, millions of devout Muslims conducted the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia in 2019. The organisers are expecting similar numbers this year. By Janina Semenova