Category Archives: Middle East

Essentializing Islam will not stop Islamophobia

Posted on September 4, 2016 by nervana111

( A woman wearing Niqab in France- Via AFP) The cynical glee with which the Western media publicly flaunts — and generalizes — the practice of Islamic customs has become a disturbing pattern. The Hijab, Nigab, and Burkini have now … Continue reading →

Posted in Islam, Middle East, Politics, women rights | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Nibras Kazimi On How Jihadists Weoponize History

Posted on June 5, 2016 by nervana111

Earlier today, I wrote on Twitter how political Islam’s cherry picking of history is wrong and help feeding radicalism. I later received a link to this interesting video of Nibras Kazimi a Visiting Fellow at Hudson Institute, in which he … Continue reading →

Posted in Islam, Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Three Questions for Tunisia’s Ennahda Party

Posted on June 3, 2016 by nervana111

Rachid Ghannouchi – Via AFP Last month, after a three-day party conference, Tunisia’s Ennahda party has re-elected its leader Rachid Al-Ghannouchi. The 74-year-old thinker and politician had tears in his eyes as he embraced his rival in the party vote, … Continue reading →

Posted in Islam, Middle East, Politics, Tunisia | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can Tunisia’s Ghannouchi divorce political Islam?

Posted on May 31, 2016 by nervana111

  Leader of Tunisian political party Ennahda, Rachid al-Ghannouchi. (Photo: AFP) The rebranding of political Islam has just started. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, Ennahda leader and founder, Rached Ghannouchi, announced that Ennahda would no longer … Continue reading →

Posted in Islam, Middle East, Politics, Tunisia | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tunisia: On the Road to Nowhere

Posted on May 18, 2016 by nervana111

This post originally appeared at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR): Steven Cook’s From the Potomac to the Euphrates blog. Steven Cook is a Middle East’s expert and a senior fellow at CFR. He just visited and wrote this insightful. … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, Politics, Tunisia | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Reblog: The Decline and Fall of Ahmet Davutoğlu — Ottomans and Zionists

Posted on May 6, 2016 by nervana111

Great read by Michael Koplow on the latest drama in Turkey. Enjoy…   And just like that, he’s gone. After leading the AKP to victory in November and regaining the parliamentary majority that the party had failed to win a … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, Turkey | Leave a comment

Egypt: A coup against the coup?

Posted on April 19, 2016 by nervana111

Gamal El-Gaml wrote an interesting article in Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm.  He claimed that weeks ago he received detailed information on what he described as arrangements for a “manufactured popular revolt” against the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. He claimed, according to … Continue reading →

Posted in Diary of Aak, Egypt, Middle East, Short Comments | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Turkey’s road to tyranny__ a la Egypt

Posted on March 6, 2016 by nervana111

  Mount Nemrut in Turkey – via Discover Turkey The Turkish authorities have seized Zaman, the country’s most widely circulated newspaper after a Turkish court ordered its confiscation. Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic pellets to disperse protesters gathered … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Middle East, Politics, Turkey | 2 Comments

Egypt in the Crosshairs

Posted on February 19, 2016 by nervana111

I wrote this long essay for the Winter 2016 edition of The Journal of the International Security Affairs ( subscription only), but for convenience I republish it here.   Egypt is now facing a complex asymmetrical war on various fronts. On November 10, 2014, … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Islam, Libya, Middle East, Politics, Terrorism | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Italy’s shambolic appeasement of Islamism

Posted on January 27, 2016 by nervana111

Plywood boxes concealed the nude statues at the museum in Rome Photo via BBC   Iranian President Rouhani is in Europe seeking to boost economic ties after the implementation of the Iran deal and the lifting of sanctions on his … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Iran, Islam, Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments