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Kuwaiti and Saudi Regimes “Out of Touch” with Political, Economic Realities

Writing in Foreign Policy, Priyanka Motaparthy describes the willingness of the Kuwaiti regime to prioritize stability over freedom of expression. Nasser Abul was arrested in July, accused of crimes against the state, physically abused, and indefinitely imprisoned because of ...

Libya Op-Eds: “Bar Too High?” and Challenging Skeptics

Leslie Campbell, regional director for Middle East and North Africa programs at the National Democratic Institute, authored an Op-Ed in the Washington Post entitled "Is the bar set too high for Libya?" Campbell questioned those commentators who have "distorted" reality "to believe that the future will be worse than the present." He noted the many challenges the Transitional National Council will have in governing, but praised several decisions including ...

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Libya: TNC Moves to Tripoli; U.S. Releases $1.5 Billion

Ali Tarhouni, finance minister for the Transitional National Council (TNC) announced that the Council had begun their work in Tripoli and that Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the TNC leader, would move to Tripoli as soon as the security situation ...

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Syria: U.S, U.N. and Arab League Respond to Continuing Crackdown

State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland condemned the Syrian government's attack on political cartoonist and activist Ali Farzat, and demanded that "the Assad regime immediately stop its campaign of terror through torture, illegal imprisonment, and murder." The ...

Libya: U.S. Reaffirms Commitment to TNC, Speculation on Congressional Support

Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns led the U.S. delegation to the Libya Contact Group meeting in Turkey today. State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the meeting "was characterized by an upbeat spirit and recognition of what our combined efforts have helped to achieve." Separately, Burns met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss a variety of issues. Commenting at the talks, Burns called on the TNC to live up to ...

Syria: Gunmen Attack Political Cartoonist

According to human rights activists, Syrian gunmen attacked anti-regime cartoonist, Ali Ferzat, on Thursday in Damascus and left him bleeding in the streets.  Ferzat, who is in his 60s, was hospitalized after being "heavily beaten and physically abused."  Wall Street Journal reported that security forces also broke both his hands as a "warning to stop drawing" after Ferzat had released a cartoon comparing President Bashar al-Assad to former Libyan Leader ...

Analysts Discuss Arab Spring; Finances After Gadhafi

Anthony Shadid in the New York Times, discussed the "perilous" nature of change in the Arab world. He noted the dramatic changes occurring in Syria, Yemen, along the Egyptian/Israeli border, and in Libya. Shadid discussed regional instability and questioned assumptions that former Gadhafi regime members would have limited influence in the future government, citing the continuous political and sectarian fighting in Iraq as a potential outcome. Deborah Ball and Cassell Bryan-Low from ...

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Iran: Call for the Release of Persecuted Lawyers

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported that the Iranian Central Bar Association "should come to the aid of embattled lawyers subjected to harassment, unfounded criminal charges, or prison sentences for defending prisoners of conscience and advocating ...

Iran: “U.S. is Biggest Sponsor of Terrorism;” Sanctions Enforced by EU

Days after the U.S. State Department released it's annual report on terrorism and labelled Iran as the "most active sponsor of terrorism," Iran retaliated by accusing the U.S. of being the "biggest sponsor of terrorism."  Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast condemned the report findings by citing that the U.S. supports "the most active supporter of terrorism in the world," Israel. The State Department report says that by supporting groups such ...

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Libya: Assets Release “Moving;” Trying to Find Gadhafi

Al-Jazeera reports that the Libyan Contact Group has agreed to speed the release of $2.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets by the middle of next week. Fathi Baja, head of the rebel political affairs committee said, "there are ...

on February 3, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt.

Nonviolent Resistance and the Arab Uprisings

Examining the opposition movements in Libya, Syria, and Egypt, Erica Chenoweth argues that nonviolent resistance is the most effective way to produce change. The preparedness and success of nonviolent protesters in Egypt, who pressured the military to withdraw its support for ...

NY Times: “Libya’s Bloody Road to Freedom”

Azza Kamel Maghur writes in The New York Times on the situation in Libya on Saturday, specifically on what was happening in Al Sarim Street in Tripoli, which is located between Nasr Street and Al Jumhuriyya Street. A typically calm street, Maghur writes that last Saturday "the call to prayer began from the minarets of the Ben Nabi and Buhmeira mosques after sundown and continued to ring out for longer than ...

Ben Rhodes: Obama Method Better than Bush Method

Josh Rogin interviewed top White House official Ben Rhodes who reported that in regards to Libya, Obama administration's "multilateral and light-footprint approach to regime change is more effective than the troop-heavy occupation-style approach used by the George W. Bush administration in Iraq and Afghanistan." According to Rhodes, the Obama administration's strategy for military intervention will have better results in Libya's future and will also "form the basis of Obama's preferred model for ...

Egypt: The Future of the Muslim Brotherhood

Eric Trager writes on the role of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the political transition of Egypt.  Trager argues that "The Brotherhood is Egypt's most cohesive political movement, with an unparalleled ability to mobilize its followers, who will serve it extremely well in a country still unaccustomed to voting."  From January through March this year, Trager interviewed about 30 current and former Brotherhood members in an effort to examine its organizational ...

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Yemen Leadership Returning From Saudi Arabia

Prime Minister Ali Mujawar returned to Yemen yesterday after months of convalescing in Saudi Arabia following a bombing of the presidential compound in early June. Mujawar is the first high ranking Yemeni official to return from Saudi Arabia, ...

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Syrian Opposition Council; Analysis of Assad’s Fate

Syrian opposition leaders meeting in Istanbul, Turkey moved closer to forming an opposition national council but mistrust and deep divisions have apparently stymied the process. The opposition is deeply fragmented along ideological and sectarian lines, and despite their ...

Libya: Analysts Discuss Post-Gadhafi Nation-Building

Writing in Foreign Affairs, James Dobbins and Frederic Wehrey discuss the prospects for post-Muammar Gadhafi nation-building. A successful transition will necessitate ensuring security, creating representative institutions, stimulating the economy, and tempering expectations. The authors conclude that the Libyan people must "translate the euphoria of their recent gains into patience and steadfastness in the months and years ahead," while the U.S. and international community "must apply the lessons of past reconstruction ...

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Syria: Clinton on U.N. Resolution; Ford Travels to Jassem

Yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement supporting the creation of a U.N. Human Rights Council independent Commission of Inquiry into events in Syria. She said, "the Commission of Inquiry will investigate all violations ...

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Libya: TNC Plans for Elections, Collaborates with the U.N.

The leader of the Transitional National Council (TNC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, announced that the new government will hold free elections in eight months, and will put Muammar Gadhafi on trial in Libya rather than an international court. He said, ...

Analysis: The Mind of Egypt’s Military

Michael Hanna writes in Foreign Policy about the confusion the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) in Egypt has caused through its "erratic decision-making process and its complete lack of transparency."  Rumors suggest that the SCAF's intention is to re-impose de facto military rule, and activists claim that the SCAF is planning to block systematic change and will continue the repressive rule of the former regime. Historically, the SCAF has been ...

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