Arab Spring

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. […]

Arab Spring

Photo of the Day: Egyptian Youth Demanded end to Military Trials for Civilians

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Now On the June 30 anniversary of the determined masses gathered in their millions at Tahrir Square and in city centers throughout Egypt, demanding a recall election for then Muslim Brotherhood president Muhammad Morsi, Tahrir Square in Cairo was blocked off and deserted. Early on Monday, two bombs were detonated outside the […]

Arab Spring

July 1: Juan’s new Book, “The New Arabs” hits the Shelves

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole For those of you who like “long reads,” my new book will be out next Tuesday. For those of you intending to buy it, let me suggest that you all purchase it on its publication date, July 1. The way the publishing metrics work, if you can get the book to a […]