Summary: roughly a quarter of countries in the Arab League, including currently suspended member Syria, are suffering from currency depreciation, a US dollar shortage and rising debt levels. Issues are being compounded by surging inflation, while in some countries (in)formal capital controls and sanctions are impacting trade and debt repayments.
Summary: with the final volume of the report on the Manchester Arena bomber now released, many questions were raised and some answers delivered but the big question wasn’t asked.
Summary: in Türkiye, Syrian refugees fear for their future after the deadly earthquakes as they face racist threats and arbitrary deportation.
Summary: even if Türkiye’s president loses the upcoming elections, his legacy could long outlast him.
Arab Digest Editor Willliam Law is joined by Dr Lina Khatib. Her research focuses on the international relations of the Middle East, Islamist groups and security, political transitions and foreign policy, with special attention to the Syrian conflict. Their conversation examines how last week’s devastating earthquakes are playing into the hands of the Syrian dictator.
Summary: a young Palestinian-Lebanese-Australian journalist talks about the impact of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey and about the strength of the written word and the power of music and food to challenge repression and intolerance in the struggle for Arab liberation.
Summary: as the death toll from the 6 February earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria rises past 35,000 the situation of getting humanitarian aid to Syrian survivors is deeply compromised by internal and external rivalries created by Syria’s 12 year civil war.
Arab Digest editor William Law’s guest this week is the journalist and author Elias Jahshan. Elias, who edited This Arab is Queer, an anthology of LGBTQ+ Arab writers, talks about the power of language and of music and food to hold truth to power, to challenge intolerance and repression and to push forward the struggle for liberation in the Arab world.
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: with candid and often brutal honesty the Lebanese writer Amal Ghandour digs deep into her own past, all the while excavating the landscape of a failed state, seeking answers for why Lebanon has abandoned its people to the invidious greed of an entrenched elite.
