Egypt

The Sphinx and the Sultan: How Biden’s Bear Hug of Netanyahu Caused Washington’s Near East Policy to Crash and Burn

I’m reprinting here my most recent Tomdispatch essay for The Nation Institute, on the possible emergence of a centrist Sunni bloc that aims to offset Israeli power in the region. Check out, as well, Tom Engelhardt’s essential introduction, here. At least one thing is now obvious in the Middle East: the Biden administration has failed […]

Egypt

Egyptian President al-Sisi’s Ankara Visit: A Turning Point in Turkey-Egypt Relations

Volkan Isbasaran

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made a historic visit to Turkey. This is the first time in 12 years that an Egyptian president has traveled to the country. After years of tension, it appears that Cairo and Ankara are beginning to bury the hatchet. During Sisi’s […]

Egypt

Centuries of Co-Existence: Jewish Cultural Heritage in Egypt and Morocco

Yoram Meital

Beersheba (Special to Informed Comment; feature) – Amid the prevailing focus on the war and the geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, it is easy to forget that it has not always been this way. Until the 1950s, Jewish communities had thrived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For centuries, Muslims, Jews, […]

Dissent

Is Israel’s War on Gaza destabilizing Egypt?

Global Voices

By Haneen Shoukry | – ( Globalvoices.org ) – On Tuesday, April 23, protesters in Cairo were detained while participating in a peaceful demonstration in support of women in Sudan and Gaza. Ironically, this event coincided with Sinai Liberation Day, a public holiday celebrating the return of the Sinai Peninsula from Israel to Egypt. The […]

Algeria

The Middle East Ranks at the Bottom of Gallup’s Happiness Index, except for Rich Oil States; is the US to Blame?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The annual Gallup report on happiness by country came out this week. It is based on a three-year average of polling. What struck me in their report is how unhappy the Middle East is. The only Middle Eastern country in the top twenty is Kuwait (for the first time in […]

Egypt

Red Sea attacks in Sympathy with Gaza Escalate as Yemeni Houthis’ Resilience Surprises Biden

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Helpers of God (Ansar Allah) or Houthis in Yemen are proving a bigger challenge for the Biden Administration’s attempt to run interference for the Israeli atrocities in Gaza than Washington had expected. Just Monday morning the Yemeni forces fired a ballistic missile at the US-owned and -operated M/V Torm […]

Egypt

Microplastics found in Nile River Fish: Toxic Pollution threatens World’s Longest River

The Conversation

By Dalia Saad, University of the Witwatersrand | – The Nile is one of the world’s most famous rivers. It’s also Africa’s most important freshwater system. About 300 million people live in the 11 countries it flows through. Many rely on its waters for agriculture and fishing to make a living. The Nile’s two main […]

Egypt

Egypt Threatens Netanyahu with End of Camp David Peace Accords if he Invades Rafah

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is being widely reported based on press leaks that the Egyptian government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has privately threatened Israel. Cairo is said to have warned that the 1978 Camp David Peace Treaty will be suspended “with immediate effect” if the government of Binyamin Netanyahu tries to take […]

Arab Spring

Why, Despite the Arab Spring and Mass Protests of the 2010s, People Got the Opposite of What they Wanted

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution (New York: PublicAffairs, 2023). Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – At the end of 2019, there was no shortage of articles looking retrospectively at the events that had shaped the decade of the 2010s. One of them was aptly titled “A […]