Essays
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Syria's constitutional committee
Geneva is key to Assad's rehabilitation
Finding a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict is the challenge facing the constitutional committee that has been meeting in Geneva since the end of October, under UN mediation. But achieving this goal is an illusion, since the Syrian regime has for years shown no willingness to surrender any of its power. By Kristin Helberg
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Modiʹs identity politics
Islamophobia threatens to engulf India
Indiaʹs constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, but the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not care. Run by Hindu-supremacists, it is enforcing aggressive anti-Muslim policies. By Arfa Khanum Sherwani
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An enduring stereotype
The West's gleeful obsession with the 'oppressed Arab woman'
The stereotype of the oppressed Arab woman continues to dominate public discourse throughout Europe. Not only is this skewed image altering the perception of changing notions of family and roles within the Arab world, it is also an expression of our own cultural insecurity, writes Claudia Mende
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Revenge is not the answer!
Prosecuting tyranny in the Arab world
In the wake of the Arab Spring, not one Arab dictator has faced charges for creating a police state and inducing terror among citizens. Similarly, none has been prosecuted for destroying state institutions, the essentials of citizenship, or the means of social advancement. Analysis by Shafiq Nazim Ghabra
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Farewell to multilateralism in the Middle East
The death of Arab unity
The collapse of traditional multilateralism in the Arab world has been accompanied by a significant shift in American Middle East policy under President Donald Trump, writes Jasmine M. El-Gamal in her essay
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Identity politics in the West
Islam – no longer the bogeyman
The champions of white identity are re-grouping. In the West hostility towards Islam has had its day. It is now being absorbed into common or garden racism, says Stefan Buchen in his essay
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German-Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar
What it means to be Iranian these days
Whether in the news or on social media, what is currently penetrating the outside world from Iran depicts an all-encompassing crisis. For Iranians observing from the diaspora, this constitutes a scarcely tolerable new banishment into impotent speechlessness and helplessness. By Parastou Forouhar
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Europe's policies in the Middle East
Late-colonial convulsions
The UK has stopped an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar. Italy and France are supporting opposing parties at war in Libya. Germany has other priorities. Europe is doing almost exactly what it did 100 years ago. An essay by Stefan Buchen
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Syrian conflict
The war in Syria is not over
Policymakers and media have recently taken to announcing the end of the war in Syria, concluding that the refugees could now begin to return home. Syrian author Tarek Azizeh, however, is convinced that as long as Assad controls the country, there will be no peace
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Military dictatorships in the Middle East
The real enemies of the Arab Spring
For people in the Arab world to be able to throw off the yoke of military rule, a new balance must be struck between political and social forces and the military. Though it is now years since the Arab Spring, this goal still seems a long way off. By Ali Anouzla