On Tuesday, The Brookings Institution held a forum on “The European Union Response to the Arab Spring” featuring Catherine Ashton, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Police.  The forum was moderated by Martin Indyk, the vice president and director of the foreign policy department at the Brookings Institution.  Ashton spoke on the role of the European Union in supporting the Arab Spring. For full text, ...

On Wednesday the New America Foundation hosted an event entitled “How to Ignite, or Quash a Revolution in 140 Characters or Less.” The event featured eight panels throughout the day, including: Reflecting on the Tunisian Hair Trigger by Sami Ben Gharbia, co-founder of www.nawaat.org, moderated by Steve Coll, President, New America Foundation; Internet Freedom and Human Rights: The Obama Administration's Perspective by Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for ...

On Wednesday, Robin Wright, Distinguished Scholar for the United States Institute of Peace and the Wilson Center, discussed her new book Rock the Casbah, which focuses on a new phase of Islamic activism termed “counter-jihad” by Wright. The discussion was moderated by Hala Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. Video footage of the event can be found online. For full notes, continue reading. Or click here ...

The Syrian government is holding a two-day meeting announced by President Bashar al-Assad with members of Syrian political, independent, opposition, academic and youth activists, as well as members of the ruling Baath party and its opponents. Vice President Farouk al-Shara said that he hoped Syria would eventually transform into a pluralistic democracy.   Dialogue is being held in Damascus and discussions will include possible reforms, specifically multi-party elections and a ...

Egypt's general prosecution released a statement that confirmed former President Hosni Mubarak's trial date is set for August 3. In addition, Egypt's general prosecution issued a new statement on it's official Facebook page in regards to the shooting of protesters trials updates.  The statement addressed the progress of the trials of those charged with shooting protesters and also included the names of those accused and their trial dates.  The prosecution ...

On Wednesday, the Institute for Gulf Affairs hosted a conference titled, "U.S. Foreign Policy and the Future of Bahrain" at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  The conference featured speeches by Bahraini political activists on the violations against human rights and a panel of experts that spoke on the current political situation in Bahrain.  The conference began with opening remarks by Ali al-Ahmed, the director of the Institute for Gulf ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today that TechGirls, an initiative that encourages innovation and the use of new technologies by young women in the Middle East and North Africa, will be launched next year through the TechWomen program.  The initiative will bring teenage girls from the Middle East and North Africa for an "intensive month of educational activities" in the United States. "Since it seems like technology is evolving so ...

Egypt's interim prime minister, Essam Sharaf announced on Monday that Egypt's parliamentary elections would be held in late September despite many political groups request for a later election date.  New political groups wanted a later election date due to concerns over the former ruling party and the Muslim Brotherhood gaining the upper hand in the elections. The Egyptian Court of Cassation Party Affairs Committee approved the establishment of four new political ...

Tariq Aldoais, an activist in the Yemeni youth revolution and a doctor, heading the revolution's field hospital at Tahrir Square in Sana'a, wrote in the Guardian newspaper about the demands of the leading revolutionary committee. The demands are: to form an inclusive temporary presidential council of 5 - 7 people with integrity, experience, and competence to limit the transitional period to 9 months, dissolve the current constitution and government structure, guarantee the rights ...

Elections in Egypt are planned for September, however, many fear that there has been a lack of preparation for the elections, which would ultimately question the election's legitimacy.  Concerns have increased because no election law has been implemented and an electoral system with districts drawn out have not been announced either.  In addition, there has been no specific date set. As debates continue on whether Egypt should postpone the elections, police ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is planning to travel to Budapest, Hungary on June 29th to discuss democracy promotion in the region.  She will be supporting the Lantos Institute and it's dedication to democratic principles and the protection of individual and human rights.  In addition, she will travel to Vilnius, Lithuania on June 30th to participate in the Community of Democracies Sixth Ministerial, and will be joined by senior government ...

The Conference for Change in Syria took place from May 31 to June 2 in Antalya, Turkey, and established a 31-member Consultative Council that will be responsible for organizing and monitoring the activities related to the conference.  The conference also issued a final resolution demanding for President Bashar al-Assad's resignation and handing leadership to the vice president.  According to the resolution, the vice president will reside over the transitional period, ...

In an effort to fight against the economic challenges posed by governments in the Middle East, the Arab Spring has successfully overthrown some regimes. However, many countries still face dire economic challenges as they try to move forward in their quest toward democracy. America Abroad has posted a new listening program on their website, "Roots of the Arab Spring," that will also air on National Public Radio on June ...

On Thursday, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a panel discussion on the future of women in the Middle East, with a specific focus on Tunisia and Egypt. The panelists included Lilia Labidi, Minister of Women’s Affairs, Republic of Tunisia, and Moushira Khattab, former Minister of Family & Population of Egypt. To see full notes, continue below. Or click here for the pdf. Lilia Labidi focused her comments on the ...

On Tuesday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a debate to be aired on BBC's The World Debate on U.S. foreign policy in response to the uprisings in the Middle East. Matt Frei, anchor for BBC's World News America moderated the event and introduced the following panelists: Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment; Tamara Wittes, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Near Eastern ...