Egypt won’t see ‘Algerian’ war: senior Muslim Brotherhood leader
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Egypt’s generals have set political rules that could keep the army in power for years, one of their senior Islamist opponents warned on Wednesday, but the Muslim Brotherhood will not fight back in the way that plunged Algeria into bloody civil war. Saad al-Katatni, speaker of the short-lived democratic parliament dissolved ... Read More
Iran, world powers stuck in nuclear impasse: analysts
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Talks between world powers and Iran to defuse the Iranian nuclear crisis face a tough future after the sides failed to edge any closer to a breakthrough at a crunch meeting in Moscow, analysts said. Negotiators from the six world powers and their Iranian counterparts managed at the Moscow talks to prevent the ... Read More
Egyptian analysts claim Muslim Brotherhood made critical mistakes
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
The Muslim Brotherhood has committed several grave mistakes since the regime was toppled in 2011, said professor of law Hossam Eissa. “When the referendum on the constitutional amendments was drawing near, they disappeared from the scene and switched off their cell phones,” he told Al Arabiya’s Presidential Candidate. “They ... Read More
Somali rebels bruised, but may dodge knockout blow
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Expelled from a string of strategic towns, cut off from revenue sources and struggling for its survival, Somalia’s Islamist militant group al-Shabaab is steeling for an anticipated assault on its last bastion by Western-backed African forces. But while the capture of the southern port and militant stronghold of Kismayu ... Read More
Egypt’s chapter of Arab Spring ends not as scripted
Monday, 18 June 2012
The Egyptian chapter of the “Arab Spring” ended not as it was scripted by the revolutionaries of Tahrir Square. They deposed a military dictator, secured the first free presidential race in their history, and then may have lost it to a die-hard Islamist president. Not only this. The generals who had stood behind Hosni ... Read More
Egypt’s ‘anti-Tahrir’ TV ad seen as ‘smear campaign’
Monday, 18 June 2012
An Egyptian TV commercial warning of false reporting on the country’s mass protests has drawn criticism by political experts as being an “anti-Tahrir Square” propaganda tool of the country’s intelligence services. The advert, recently broadcast on state television, shows an Egyptian man telling someone on the phone about ... Read More
Is the U.S. losing its clout in the Middle East?
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Events in Egypt, Bahrain and Syria illustrate the limits of U.S. influence in the Middle East following the Arab Spring and a U.S. reluctance, at times, to exercise such clout as it has. Court rulings in Egypt and in Bahrain this week, analysts say, show the ruling authorities’ desire to maintain their grip on power and the ... Read More
Spotlight on the Saudi succession process
Saturday, 16 June 2012
To outsiders, the al-Saud ruling family’s succession process often appears opaque. But behind the ornate doors, the senior princes in the royal family have long planned the next step in a complex balance of power. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz is widely seen as the next most senior prince in the ... Read More
Egyptians choose ‘least worst’ in run-off
Saturday, 16 June 2012
It isn’t yet nine in the morning, but Omneya Amer is already sweating as she waits outside a Cairo school to cast her ballot for the “least worst” candidate in Egypt’s divisive presidential run-off vote. In a grey and white headscarf, with sunglasses shielding her eyes, she explains that she is supporting ... Read More
Calls to boycott get louder on eve of Egypt vote
Friday, 15 June 2012
Ahmed Ali, a 44-year-old janitor, plans to mark a red “X” across the names of both candidates in Egypt’s presidential run-off when he goes to vote this week. He is part of a broader political trend planning either to boycott the election or spoil ballots to protest against a first-round result that produced a run-off ... Read More
Court rulings tip Egypt’s transition into turmoil
Friday, 15 June 2012
Egypt’s supreme court ruled on Thursday to dissolve the Islamist-led parliament, plunging a troubled transition to democracy into turmoil just two days before an election to replace ousted leader Hosni Mubarak. Islamists who gained most from Mubarak’s overthrow decried what they called a “coup” by an army-led establishment ... Read More
Hashemi trial portrays dark side of Iraqi politics
Thursday, 14 June 2012
With testimony of torture, betrayal and death, the trial of Iraq’s fugitive Sunni vice-president is reviving memories of sectarian killings with witnesses painting an ugly portrait of the underbelly of Iraqi politics. Vice-president Tareq Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim politician in the Iraqiya bloc, fled Baghdad in December ... Read More
‘The ghost:’ Where is Yemen’s Saleh?
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
“He’s like a ghost,” a Yemeni waiter quietly tells a visiting political expert during a chance chat about his country’s former leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh. “You don’t see him, but you can certainly feel his presence,” the waiter said, in an answer to a question that has left many minds blank. Where is Saleh now? He was ... Read More
Gulf nations apprehensive of Muslim Brotherhood president in Egypt: experts
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
With the second round of Egypt’s presidential elections drawing closer, speculations over the impact of the results on neighboring countries have been rife and apprehensions about the victory of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi seem to prevail in the Gulf region. If Mohamed Mursi wins the elections, no region will ... Read More
Egypt Christians rally behind rival of Islamists
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
In the small southern Egyptian town of Azaziya, where almost all the residents are Christians, few doubt that nearly everyone who can is going to vote for Ahmed Shafiq, ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister and his longtime friend, in this weekend’s presidential election. Shafiq’s candidacy has ... Read More
Dispute with U.S. nuns began decades ago
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
A conflict that has entangled the Vatican, American bishops and the largest umbrella group for U.S. nuns may seem to have erupted suddenly, but it actually has its roots in decades-old disputes over Roman Catholic teaching. The headlines came in April, when the Vatican orthodoxy watchdog, the Congregation for ... Read More
Embattled Iraqi PM holding on to power for now
Monday, 11 June 2012
Iraq’s embattled prime minister has fought off an attempt to push him out of office, aided by divisions among his opponents and Iranian intervention on his behalf. Nuri al-Maliki’s tactical victory averts a potentially destabilizing contest to replace him, at least for the time being, but perpetuates the ... Read More
Zeal of Turkey’s ruling Islamists worries EU diplomats
Sunday, 10 June 2012
European Union diplomats are expressing growing concern at what they see as the increasingly militant stance taken by Turkey’s ruling Islamists. They accuse Ankara of using probes into alleged plots against the government as a tool to jail and silence opponents and compromise the country’s secular credentials ... Read More
Al-Qaeda in Pakistan: Down but not out
Sunday, 10 June 2012
When al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi arrived in northwest Pakistan several years ago, he commanded so much respect that even some of the world’s most dangerous militants held him in awe. Already a legend in the shadowy world of jihad for breaking out of a high security U.S. prison in neighboring Afghanistan in 2005, he ... Read More
Critics say politics tainting trial of Iraqi VP
Saturday, 09 June 2012
Iraq’s first major trial dealing with the country’s savage Sunni-Shiite sectarian killings is tainted by politics, critics say - an ominous sign for those hoping for justice for tens of thousands of victims of street executions, bombings and kidnappings. The defendant, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, says ... Read More