Tag: Middle East & North Africa

130 Articles

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Understanding Iran Review

William R. Polk. Understanding Iran: Everything You Need to Know, From Persia to the Islamic Republic, from Cyrus to Ah-madinejad. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 247 pp. .…

July 26, 2013

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From Tehran to Khartoum: Thirty-Five Years As An American Diplomat Interview with Ambassador Joseph D. Stafford III

GJIA: What has been your favorite part about being a career Foreign Service Officer, and why? Stafford: I think my favorite part has been having the opportunity to live and work…

July 26, 2013

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The Religious Component of the Syrian Conflict: More than Perception

The sectarian divide in Syria is neither a perception nor a secondary point of analysis. It is a reality that is central to the roots of the conflict as well as to why it is…

June 21, 2013

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Iran vs. Its People: Abuses Against Religious Minorities

Iran is a theocracy with a constitution that proclaims the Twelver (Shi’i) Jaafari School of Islam to be the official religion of the country. The head of state, Ayatollah Ali…

June 20, 2013

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The Plight of the Christians in Syria: Flagrant Violations of Christians’ Human Rights

At the advent of the civil war, Christians hoped to remain neutral in the conflict, but as the war progressed, they were singled out as Assad sympathizers and have consequently…

June 17, 2013

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Five Things to Know About the Protests in Turkey

1.     The protests are not just about a park For the original environmentalist protestors, the planned destruction of Gezi Park to make way for a replica of an Ottoman…

June 13, 2013

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The Global Online Freedom Act

The wide diffusion of the Internet in developed and developing nations has made it a key medium for political debate and activism. Social media tools like Facebook, Twitter,…

May 16, 2013

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The Turkish-Kurdish Peace Progress

During the summer and fall of 2009, the continuing and often violent Kurdish problem in Turkey seemed on the verge of a solution when the ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi …

May 16, 2013

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The Gulf States and U.S. Policy: How Strongly to Push Reform?

As revolution swept across the Arab world beginning in early 2011, the monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) appeared largely immune. In Bahrain, the only GCC country…

May 16, 2013

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Clash of Elites: What Lies Behind the Defamation Debates

Since Samuel Huntington’s 1993 article warning of inter-civilizational conflict, pundits and policymakers alike have been quick to forecast a so-called “clash of.…

May 16, 2013