Syria
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Arab reactions to the Paris attacks
Uneasy bedfellows in the fight against IS
Across the Arab world, there has been round condemnation of the attacks in Paris, which are generally viewed as retribution for the West′s engagement with IS in Syria. In this conflict, however, the Arab states don′t make for easy bedfellows. By Christoph Ehrhardt
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Chronicle of a war foretold
Redefining the "Syrian" conflict
The war waging in Syria, hijacked by opposing ideologies just months after it began, has had an irrevocable impact on the Syrian people. Although not much is heard of Syrians outside the refugee camps, Americans, Europeans, Russians, Turks, Iranians, and Arabs hold meeting after meeting to agree and disagree, coalesce and collide, in an attempt to halt the ″Syrian conflict″. By Hakim Khatib
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The Arab world
(Not) an unlimited book market?
With the increasing efforts to revive the book market in the Arab world by publishers and cultural institutions, intermittently hindered by economic, political and social factors, the limitations of this market are yet to be explored and redefined. By Amira Elmasry
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Cuspert the IS terrorist
Mortal dreams of paradise
In 2004, Denis Cuspert was still the Berlin rapper "Deso Dogg". Radicalised by the Salafist scene in Germany, he then joined IS, fighting for three years under the name Abu Talha al-Almani. Now reports are circulating claiming Cuspert has been killed. By Katja Riedel
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Turkish general election
Erdogan′s second chance
Can Recep Tayyip Erdogan distance himself from the paternalistic style of government he has favoured in the past? Having been granted a considerable mandate by the Turkish population at the beginning of November, those in the AKP administration can surely afford to take a more benign approach to minority groups and those advocating peaceful dissent. By Sinan Ulgen
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Syria and the "Lost Origin Sound" project
The timely involvement of a punk rocker
In the years before the Syrian civil war started, an American punk rocker set out to record the country′s cultural heritage. Now Jason Hamacher is receiving requests from various cultural organisations planning the reconstruction of Syria. By Marian Brehmer
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The West and the Islamic world
The despotic temptation
Unable to contain the violence, suffering, and chaos engulfing the Middle East and North Africa, Western leaders are falling back into the Cold War trap. All they want is for someone – and now virtually anyone – to enforce order. By Ana Palacio
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Migration and human rights
Refugee versus migrant: what's in a name?
″All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights″: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights couldn′t be much clearer. Still the political response to the current flood of refugees is inevitably proving insufficient. Pia Oberoi, advisor on migration and human rights with the UNHCR, examines the issue
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Post-Arabellion reform deadlock
The logic of power
The Arab world is locked into a huge cycle of violence. At the same time, reformers are isolated - both within the regimes and outside them. Those who advocate violence, on the other hand, sense momentum and are growing in number. And they are convinced that the future will be a violent one. An essay by the Kuwaiti political scientist Shafeeq Ghabra
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Navid Kermani′s Peace Prize acceptance speech
Freeing Islam from the clutches of the fanatics
For the first time, Germany′s most important cultural prize has gone to a child of Muslim immigrants, the German-Iranian writer and Islamic studies expert Navid Kermani, born in 1967. According to Stefan Weidner, his combative speech may well go down in history
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Solutions to the Syrian conflict
Diplomacy rather than deadlock
Only diplomatic negotiations can bring about an end to the bloodshed in Syria. These talks must take place now without preconditions and involve both the Assad regime and the authoritarian Russian leadership. A contribution to the debate from Niklas Kossow and Ilyas Saliba
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Russia′s air strikes in Syria
Courting the aggressor
Putin′s involvement in Syria means an extension of the conflict. Prompting tens of thousands to flee, his air strikes are clearing a path for Assad′s death squads. Any hope of creating effective safe zones is now gone. By Bernard-Henri Levy