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Despite intense diplomatic pressure from the Gulf Cooperation Council, the United States and the EU, and despite verbal undertakings that he would finally sign the Yemen "transition" deal, President Saleh battled through Sunday without letting his pen touch the paper.
Instead, he brought his own… Read more
Today is the 21st birthday of the Republic of Yemen, formed when the separate northern and southern states agreed to merge. May 1990 was a brief moment of hope in Yemen's history. Newspapers and new political parties proliferated, unhampered by government restrictions, and shortly… Read more
Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old Saudi activist campaigning for women's right to drive, was detained by traffic police and the religious police on Saturday after being spotted driving in Khobar. She was released after six hours but there were reports early on Sunday that she had… Read more
Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old Saudi activist campaigning for women's right to drive, was detained by traffic police and the religious police on Saturday after being spotted driving in Khobar. She was released after six hours but there were reports early on Sunday that she had… Read more
On Thursday, President Obama called on the Syrian government to "stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests". President Assad has a choice, he said: to lead the country through transition "or get out of the way".
On Friday, Assad gave his reply. His forces continued to fire… Read more
One regressive trend in Egypt since the overthrow of President Mubarak is that civilians are increasingly being tried by the military. Military courts have "almost entirely supplanted the civilian judiciary for criminal prosecution", according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal… Read more
Michael Hudson, Professor of International Relations at Georgetown University, has written a lengthy essay reflecting on the current wave of Arab protests. It ends with a series of challenges for Middle East analysts: five points of "conventional wisdom" that need to be re-examined. They are:
(1)… Read more
It was in February 1999 that King Abdullah II came to the throne in Jordan. The following July, Mohammed VI became king of Morocco, and a year later Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father as president of Syria.
At the time, all three were hailed as a new generation of… Read more
President Saleh came under renewed pressure on Friday to accept the Yemen "transition" plan proposed by the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The US and several EU countries have now declared their backing for the plan. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Friday:
"We call on the parties… Read more
Following the comparatively swift exits of Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, we now have three Arab leaders who face serious challenges to their power but are proving more much difficult to dislodge: Gaddafi in Libya, Salih in Yemen and Assad in Syria. Which of them, I wonder will be the… 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
