Writing in the Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Trita Parsi and Reza Marashi discuss the regional uprisings affect on the regional power-balance.  The others note Saudi Arabia and Israel's disapproval of the Arab Spring given the strategic and political implications for their own countries.  Parsi and Marashi state that while Saudi leaders understood there was little they could do to prevent U.S. supported revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, they moved ...

A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that the United States remains unpopular in key Arab and Muslim countries, as it has remained for a decade. President Barack Obama is viewed unfavorably in all countries polled with the exception of Indonesia. The Arab Spring has correctly reflected regional enthusiasm for democracy, which is generally viewed as the best form of government. However, the poll shows that people ...

On Tuesday, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum hosted a discussion on what lessons from South Africa and Indonesia can be applied to the political transitions in the Middle East and North Africa.  Leena El-Ali, Director of the Muslim-Western Relations and the Middle East and North Africa Programs at Search for Common Ground, who moderated the event, made opening remarks and introduced the following panelists: Endy Bayuni, Visiting Fellow at ...

On Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs held a hearing entitled “Human Rights and Democratic Reform in Iran.”  Senator Robert P. Casey (D-PA) chaired the committee hearing, Senators James Risch (R-ID), Tom Udal (D-NM) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) were also present. Assistant Secretary of State Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Michael H. Posner; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State ...

The Pew Research Center published a poll on Egypt's political outlook on Tuesday, offering the "first credible" statistical insight of the political trends in post-revolutionary Egypt. Researchers conducted personal interviews with 1,000 Egyptian adults between 24 March and 7 April. Generally, the poll shows a highly favorable view of the military, and split support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the April 6 Movement and Ayman Nour's Al-Ghad party. The ...

Karen Leigh, writing at the Atlantic, articulates that the world has been privy to the reality of government sponsored violence and human rights abuses in Bahrain, but Bahraini citizens have not. Leigh asserts that there has been a clamp down on foreign press within the kingdom which has led to a monopoly by the state run television. "The narrative the government wants to put across, which is powerful, is ...

Abigail Hauslohner, writing at Time Magazine, questions what the fate of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his sons, and other high ranking government officials will be in the coming months. Hauslohner asserts that some Egyptians want "clean, flat out revenge" and  "compensation for the billions of dollars they allege the regime stole from the public through corruption." With a weak judicial system and a large web of former Mubarak connections ...

Laura Rozen writes that the crisis in Bahrain is indicative of a reactionary swing in the Arab Spring. Drawing on comments from Professor and Obama advisor, Marc Lynch, and recent editorials by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and former Ambassador Martin Indyk, she argues that the Washington policy establishment is torn between enthusiasm for the democratic movements and wariness over the regional balance of power against Iran. She also offers ...

Yesterday, Yassin Saeed Noman, the leader of the Joint Meeting Parties and three other opposition leaders were slated to travel to Riyadh to meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). There, they were to discuss the timetable of a draft agreement from earlier this  month which calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer presidential powers to his deputy and leave office. It also gives him and his ...

On Friday, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) held their 12th Annual Conference under the theme “Tunisia’s and Egypt’s Revolutions and Transitions to Democracy.” CSID President Radwan Masmoudi opened the conference by giving special attention to discerning real and fake stability and development in Egypt and Tunisia. The first panel, chaired by George Washington University Visiting Scholar and Program Committee Chair for the event, Radwan Ziadeh, was ...

In two similar pieces,  Marc Lynch and Joseph S. Nye, lament budget cuts to U.S. State and Foreign Operations, defending the efficacy of soft power.  Nye defends the relevant instruments of soft power, the term he coined: “public diplomacy, broadcasting, exchange programs, development assistance, disaster relief, military-to-military contacts.” He argues for an overarching governmental structure to coordinate these similarly minded efforts. Lynch focuses on public diplomacy particularly. Lynch vindicates the Obama ...

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh rejected a mediation offer by Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) calling it a "blatant interference in Yemeni affairs."  Yemeni Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Kurbi in a statement on Friday said that the government was in fact studying a proposal by Gulf Arab states to help end the unrest in the country.  Tens of thousands of people gathered in Sana'a to continue their call ...

Bahrain's main Shi'ite opposition party al-Wefaq has stated that security forces have recently stepped up their campaign to arrest activists and Shi'ites in the country.  The party puts the number already arrested at 302 people and expects that number to reach 400 soon if the rate of arrests continue.  An influential Bahraini internet activists has reportedly been arrested.   Mahmood al-Yousif runs several websites including Just Bahraini, an anti-sectarian website ...

David Ignatius, writing in The Washington Post, argues that President Bashar Al Assad is,  "attempting a new survival tactic in this Arab Spring — organizing what looks like a coup against his own government." With his dismissal of the government and his support for massive protests, Ignatius believed that Assad was gearing up for a major statement on reform today. Although this major statement did not come in explicit terms, Assad's claims ...

On Wednesday, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri, who delivered King Mohammed VI's message of reform. Minister Fihri’s appearance marked the first Washington visit by an Arab foreign minister since the fall of Mubarak. Minister Fihri discussed reforms and the challenges facing the wider Arab world today. Vice President Martin Indyk, director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, provided introductory remarks and ...

On Thursday, March 24th, Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner will deliver the keynote address, "The Four Freedoms Turn 70: Ensuring Economic, Political, and National Security in the 21st Century" at the American Society of International Law's 105th Annual Meeting.  Assistant Secretary Posner has recently returned from a week in Egypt and will discuss how the slogans from Tahrir Square echo President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" and ...

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Issandr El Amrani, writing at Time, asserts that the passing of the referendum by 77.2% of those that voted is "a vote for stability, a return to normalcy after the biggest political upheaval in decades." For those who voted no he states: " They saw it as a victory for counterrevolutionary forces, a plot by the military to ram through a rapid transition plan that will not give ...