Arab Spring

By Juan Cole Fears that the historic vote on Sunday in Tunisia might be marred by violence committed by the country’s tiny lunatic fringe were not borne out. The interim government of Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa deployed 80,000 police and troops to protect polling stations. Contrary to the breathless reporting one hears in the mass […]

Arab Spring

The Tunisian Exception

contributors

By L. Carl Brown What has made Tunisia’s transition from authoritarian government, for all its ups and downs, more successful than those of its Arab neighbors? It will soon be four years since December 17, 2010 when Muhammad Bu Azizi from Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia immolated himself in protest against local government officials who barred […]

Arab Spring

Will Egypt Intervene in Libya as part of Generals’ War on Political Islam?

contributors

CCTV Africa: “Pressure is growing on Egypt’s government to intervene in Libya. That’s after the emergence this week of an Islamic State-style caliphate – close to the Egyptian border. Many in Cairo say, the government needs to deploy military force in Libya, to crush the threat.” CCTV Africa: “Pressure mounting on Egyptian government to intervene […]

Arab Spring

Syria: If Violent Extremists are the Problem, why is al-Assad Jailing Peaceful Democracy Advocates?

contributors

By Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch In a speech before the European Parliament in 2009, Syrian activist Mazen Darwish warned that unless civil society was strengthened “[the whole] region, not only Syria … could explode at any moment and leave behind thousands of refugees.” A dire warning at the time, Darwish’s prophetic words fail to […]

Arab Spring

The Arab Political Crisis: It isn’t a Matter of Civilization and it isn’t Unique

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Hisham Melhem has a piece on what he calls the collapse of Arab civilization. The piece is riddled with contradictions and fuzzy thinking and with all due respect to Milhem, who is a knowledgeable and experienced correspondent, I am going to disagree with it vehemently. I think he is arguing that Arabs […]

Arab Spring

Why has Egyptian Youth Activist, Punished by last 4 Presidents, gone on Hunger Strike?

contributors

AJ+ Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was in prison when his son was born, and is now in prison as his father lies in the ICU. He’s fed up and is taking action. Who is this activist and why does the world care so much about him? AJ+ Meet The Activist Punished By Egypt’s Last […]

Arab Spring

Q & A w/ Juan Cole on “The New Arabs”: If Elders in Mideast Can’t Get it Done, will the Youth?

Juan Cole

by *JOSEPH RICHARD PREVILLE and JULIE POUCHER HARBIN for ISLAMiCommentary Column » By the Book “Many Palestinians see the Israelis as aggressive colonizers of Palestinian land and resources or as jailers; many Israelis see the Palestinians as irrational, violent and a ticking demographic time bomb that endangers a Jewish-majority state between the Jordan and the […]

Arab Spring

Middle East Crisis: Juan’s “Ask Me Anything” at Reddit Discussion

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Mirrored from LevantineWar at Reddit.com I am Juan Cole, author of the new book The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East I teach Middle East at U of Michigan, and blog at juancole.com. AMA. (self.LevantineWar) submitted 12 hours ago by jricole Juan Cole – stickied post It […]

Arab Spring

Juan’s Interviews re: “The New Arabs,” Majority Report, The World, Daily Beast

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Today is the anniversary of the overthrow of Muhammad Morsi in Egypt, one year ago. I have a detailed account of this event and of the movement that led up to it in my new book, The New Arabs, which came out Tuesday. Here are some interviews I’ve done around it recently. […]