Tag Archives: Islamism

Podcast: The Hamas Mindset. Lessons from the medieval battle of Yarmouk

Hamas military cadres did not graduate from military academies, but they are avid learners of Islamic history.

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Ilhan Omar’s ill-advised dismissal of Masih Alinejad

“So this lady doesn’t want to combat Islamophobia,” “she just doesn’t like Muslims.” When Muslim-born Iranian journalist and women’s rights campaigner Masih Alinejad wrote why she opposed a bill against Islamophobia introduced by US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Mr Tim Mynett, Omar’s husband, a political consultant, immediately tweeted … Continue reading

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Egypt and Greece: It’s time to cement our bonds

Listening to music by Vasilis Papakonstantinou while eating a halva panini were the kind of simple pleasures I enjoyed while walking around Athens. The Greek capital is the only European city where I can hang out alone, but never feels … Continue reading

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Podcast: Political Islam lost opportunity for Turkey to coexist with West

In my latest podcast for Ahval’s Turkish Trends series, I spoke to Turkish political scientist Cengiz Aktar about his latest essay ” The Turkish Malaise – A Critical Essay,” in which he explains how Turkey was in a counter-process in … Continue reading

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The Time Magazine and the Western Attitude towards Islamism

It was a baking hot July day in Cairo and my first day in medical school. Like many well-sheltered Egyptian girls, I was shy and introspective; I decided to spend my lecture break in the female section of the university’s … Continue reading

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Podcast/Webinar: Radical Islamism, France, and the Atlantic Divide

I strongly recommend these podcast and webinar on what’s wrong with Anglo-American coverage of radical Islamism in France 1- What US Media Gets Wrong About France, with writers Anne-Élisabeth Moutet & Agnès Poirier https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/11-what-us-media-gets-wrong-about-france-anne-élisabeth/id1534151181?i=1000502056981 2- Webinar on Islamism: Bridging the … Continue reading

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Shadi Hamid, Mustafa Akyol, and French Secularism

Shadi Hamid and Mustafa Akyol are two smart pundits with slightly different agendas. Shadi Hamid is an avid defender of political Islam, which he considers a legitimate conservative expression of the Islamic faith. Mustafa Akyol, on the other hand, believes in what he … Continue reading Continue reading

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Podcast: Arabs are wondering, is Erdogan all talk? – Nervana Mahmoud- Ahval

I recorded this podcast with Ahval’s editor David Lepeska that war is a real possibility in the eastern Mediterranean, that Turkey has taken all decision-making power away from Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and that Turkish President Erdogan has … Continue reading

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Rebranding the caliphate –a never-ending dystopian myth

  If not now, when?   if not you, who? With the image of pious Erdogan reciting the Quran in Hagia Sophia, and his head Mufti holding the sword of conquest it is no wonder that slogan appeared on social media. … Continue reading

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Reblog: Erdoğan setting the stage for invalidating the Lausanne Treaty

This is a brilliant piece by Turkish writer Yavuz Baydar, published in, in Ahval, on Erdogan’s intention after converting Hagia Sophia to a mosque. Republished here with permission.    (Photo via Ahval) A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of Turkish … Continue reading

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