Juan Cole

5. Tunisia’s Muslim religious party, Ennahda, has pledged to retain the secular character of the Tunisian constitution. Leader Rashid Ghanoushi says that the party won’t try to make sharia or Islamic canon law the basis for the new constitution. Ghanoushi has praised the “Turkish model,” which his followers maintain developed under Ghanoushi’s own influence over […]

The meeting of the so-called ‘Friends of Syria’ group of nations in Istanbul on Sunday produced some heated exchanges over a key issue: whether to arm the Syrian rebel forces. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal gave an impassioned speech in which he said it was “a duty” to provide the Syrian opposition with weapons, and […]

This cartoon courtesy of Jamiol’s World. Congratulations to Paul Jamiol on the publication of his book of trenchant editorial cartoons from the past couple of years.