Blog archive all
19th July 2014
With a new constitution in place, Tunisia is preparing for parliamentary and presidential elections later this year. In the article below, Karina Piser looks at the state of the country's political parties – and finds them lacking in credible political platforms.
The article was… Read more
18th July 2014
Local tribes on the way to pledge allegiance to Sunni Muslim extremist group, the Islamic State
After the reclusive leader of the Sunni Muslim extremist group that took over Mosul made an appearance at the city’s famous mosque, many of the extremists are boasting that Mosul is to be the… Read more
17th July 2014
A gay rights demonstration in Beirut, 2010
There are calls for disciplinary action against a doctor in Lebanon who carried out bogus "homosexuality tests" on five men who had been arrested on suspicion of having "unnatural" intercourse.
The doctor, identified only by the initials "A.M… Read more
15th July 2014
In an alarming new development Egypt's Sisi regime has announced plans to drastically restrict the activities of civil society organisations, effectively bringing them all under government control.
A draft law proposed by the Ministry of Social Solidarity would allow the government and security… Read more
11th July 2014
James Duke Mason: obnoxious article
Shortly after bombing of Gaza got under way earlier this week, America's oldest and largest LGBT magazine published an article on its website urging gay people everywhere to "stand in solidarity" with Israel.
Obnoxious as the article is, it adopts a familiar… Read more
11th July 2014
In the article below, a local journalist explains why streets in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are so quiet, what’s worrying his family and friends there the most, and how he himself managed to get out of Mosul and into Iraqi Kurdistan. The article is re-posted here from the Niqash … Read more
4th July 2014
With the ailing and largely invisible President Bouteflika newly re-elected for a fourth five-year term, there are signs that the Algerian opposition is finally getting its act together.
In the article below, Anna Jacobs, a researcher specialising in the politics of the… Read more
3rd July 2014
Tony Blair's unofficial activities in the Middle East are looking increasingly dodgy – and increasingly incompatible with his official role as the Quartet's peace envoy.
Yesterday, the Guardian caused a stir with a story that Blair is to advise Egypt's Sisi regime on economic reform "in… Read more
1st July 2014
The British withdrawal from Aden in 1967 left Yemen divided into two states – north and south – both of them aspiring to national unity. After a lengthy period of on/off negotiation and occasional conflicts they eventually unified in 1990.
Unification soon turned sour,… Read more
30th June 2014
In a blog post on Saturday I wrote about efforts by some of the Arab states to criminalise anyone – non-Muslims included – who is seen eating, drinking or smoking during the daylight hours of Ramadan.
Compulsory fasting, as I suggested on Saturday, mis-uses the power of the state in order to… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
