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Awesome article about the recent Russian bombing of Syria and how it affects the big picture. This article has some time-lapse maps with territories highlighted on it. It is very helpful in better understanding how current events are affecting the territories being controlled.

This is an article with pictures of Aleppo, my hometown. I know most of these places, and the pictures are surreal. I cannot believe the level of destruction that has affected the city.

Compiled by faculty members at the German University in Cairo, this working paper series addresses the effect that watsa has on competence and morality in Middle Eastern economics and society. The authors define watsa as, "the intervention of a patron in favor of a client to obtain benefits and/or resources from a third party." In simpler terms it is a system of social networking in Arab culture in which family and social ties play a significant role in the attainment of economic advantages and resources, largely in the hiring process in businesses and organizations. A person applying for a job seeks out watsa to increase their chances of getting hired. Comparable to nepotism and cronyism, but is not restricted to friends and associates, watsa can also involve strangers linked through some social web of people. Watsa runs somewhat parallel to a Chinese concept of guanxi, based on Confucian ethics and focusing on strong collective ties. While guanxi is a part of Chinese ethics it actually defies Muslim ethical values, which advocates hiring the person most capable. In a Jordanian survey, 87% of respondents want watsa eradicated. While we know that unemployment in the Arab region is widespread, we can assume that this motivates people to do anything they can to improve their chances of obtaining a job. However, the practice of watsa as a whole is actually degrading the economic systems in the Arab sates even further. The article explains the linkage between watsa and poor job performance, economic decline, and the festering of injustice and frustration among the masses in Arab countries.

This looks super interesting, but I can't get the link to open. Thanks for writing a thorough summary of it!

This article details were certain countries, that are most affected by the Syrian conflict, stand within the conflict and how they would like to solve the issue. 

The author of this paper gives the readers insight to the way the revolution on January 25th has affected the literary scene for bookstores, for authors, and the things people are allowed to read or sell (due to censorship).

This article discusses issues with the women's inequality in Saudi Arabia. One issue it discusses that I did not take into consideration yet is the domestic abuse women face by their fathers and husbands. This article takes a slightly deeper look into the way the laws against women's rights affect them.

This article basically highlights the significance of Libyan oil fields in terms of the international community. Chaos in Libya not only affects the eastern region, but all OPEC members and importers of crude oil across the globe. After the recent attacks on Sharara, the biggest field in Libya, production has significantly slowed down. Libya's elected parliament assures the global community that they will resume normal outputs soon, but as the country deepens further into civil war, international actors remain skeptical.

On Sunday, Sept. 28, President Sisi made a speech at Cairo University, declaring his affection and support for the Egyptian youth. He also warned the students against "malicious" activities and that universities were "solely for education." The speech followed the draft of a new controversial law allowing for the arbitrary firing of faculty members. Sisi pledged to dedicate state resources like special councils and scholarship funds to the cause of the youth demographic.

A study found that 99.3% of women were subjected to sexual harassment in Egypt. Forced marriages and human trafficking were also stated to highly affect the women.

Egypt is said to be one of the worst places for women. Women experience everyday harassment including sexual harassment.

Egypt is now the worst country for women's rights in the Arab world, according to a poll of experts on gender issues in 22 Arab states.

This article briefly addresses the current global petroleum market, outlining the top national producers and their current import/export strategies. The article is a good overview of the global politcs affecting oil prices.

This video demonstrates how the women's right's campaign has been affected due to the Arab Spring, especially in Egypt.

Why is there particular revulsion over such attacks versus conventional warfare? The population feels they can do nothing to protect themselves. Chemical weapons are invisible and indiscriminate killers than could affect anyone at any time. The fear can even cause symptoms that aren't real.

This article talks about the strategical approaches from Oil leaders including Saudi Arabia to maintain control of their market share, and how they use their oil as a "Weapon" in the sense that their decisions financially affect other countries greatly.

I really enjoyed this article. It talks about major flaws as well as positivity from the American education system, comparing it to the education system in Egypt. It focuses more on the tuition in Universities and how that affects young students.

This article focuses on the possibilities of action that Yemen could take that would affect oil supply, prices, and production.

ISIS has been negatively affected by the international war against them in both Iraq and Syria. The issue is that they are now beginning to make progress in returning to Libya.

The affects that the tensions and terrorist attacks has on the tourism industry in Egypt are touched on in this article. The particular incident that happened about a month ago is mentioned in great detail, including the involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood and what that means in regards to moving forward.

The Muslim Brotherhood is defined and described from an individual who is close to the organization and closely affected by their actions. He answers the question of what the brotherhood is and what their movement is all about.