Summary: a prison riot, largely unremarked upon outside Kuwait, has shed light on the continuing woes of the ruling family as it struggles to secure stability in an unruly political landscape.
Summary: for more than a decade the government of Bahrain has used the harsh repression of individual rights and the banning of protests to silence critics but this week saw the detention of a prominent cleric bring people defiantly into the streets.
Summary: with the world otherwise occupied, the desperate situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Türkiye and Jordan has been shuffled to one side. Fresh thinking is urgently required.
Summary: as Washington pushes forward on a UN plan for an election this year in Libya, the Biden administration once again dictates that personalities rather than the interests of the Libyan people will prevail.
Summary: the Libyan people have been abandoned to political and military elites that control the country with Mafia-style fiefdoms; their success in entrenching themselves in the state apparatus and in UN-sponsored peace talks means that unless bold initiatives are undertaken, the country’s future remains bleak.
Summary: the Libyan people have been abandoned to political and military elites that control the country with Mafia-style fiefdoms; their success in entrenching themselves in the state apparatus and in UN-sponsored peace talks means that unless bold initiatives are undertaken, the country’s future remains bleak.
Summary: the 2003 war lasted less than a month but the fall-out has reverberated violently for two decades leaving Iraq divided and Iraqis impoverished, fearful and uncertain about what the future will bring.
Summary: even if Türkiye’s president loses the upcoming elections, his legacy could long outlast him.
Summary: two earthquakes, one measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale and the other 7.5 have destroyed buildings and roads, killed thousands and massively damaged the lives of millions more.
Summary: precipitated by the most extreme government in the country’s history, predictions of civil war and the end of Zionism are being raised by both Israel’s supporters and its critics. Besides being a calamity for Jews, Israel’s collapse would reshape the global order and have far-reaching consequences in the Arab world.
