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This article begins by illuminating the regional democracy assistance cuts that are dropping from $459.2 million to $298.3 million It explains that the Bush Administration began the quest for democracy in the Middle East, and the Obama administration has only continued in his footsteps. The author presents the viewpoint that the U.S. approach to Arab democratization has been in the form of "ad-hoc crisis management" rather than "large scale reform initiatives." Promoting democracy in the form of democratic politics are insufficient, elections and political parties have consistently proved to weather away and fester further civil strife. Consequently, the article proposes a new approach to the region conflict. This approach calls for "systematic reforms" focusing on basic institutions such as the civil service sector, justice and law enforcement, and the military's role in governance. The idea is that addressing these lacking departments in the arab world will eventually pave the way to a smoother democratic transition. 

Looks like fun.

"Activists in the UK have launched a campaign to have Hezbollah officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the British government. The Israel-Britain Alliance is leading the campaign to have Hezbollah officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government. Nearly 20 different organisations, both Jewish and Christian, have thrown their weight behind the initiative so far."

"The Saudis have initiated a major campaign to undermine Iran's ally Hezbollah, which they believe is vulnerable today. Riyadh is likely to have considerable but not complete success. It's a characteristically risky strategy. The Saudis branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization earlier this year and then persuaded their Gulf Cooperation Council allies to do the same on March 2. Then Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef pressed a summit of Arab interior ministers to join in lambasting Hezbollah in Tunis in early March. The Arab League formally agreed to label Hezbollah a terrorist group at a Foreign Ministerial in Cairo later in the month. Only Iraq and Lebanon abstained. "

Discusses the origins of the Muslim Brotherhood in America as well as how the organization has spread. There are more similarities on the spread of the organization then I initially thought.

In this Al-Bab translation, the details of the 2002 Arab Summit peace initiative for the Israel-Palestine conflict are outlined. Including borders based off of 1967 lines, and the right of protection, the plan was inspired by Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.

"The Poetry of Revolution" discusses the ideas behind the street chants shouted out by the Egyptian people in their times of revolution. It focuses on the history of Egypt's uprisings and how they have changed before. This article was written a few days after the initial January 25th uprisings and attempts to explain how the chants take on a greater meaning to the protesters. Because they are given words to yell and shout, they are able to bind together and announce the same goals. Colla discusses how if the people did not have these chants, they would be too afraid to stand for their revolutions.

Arab states have began to jump on board offering support to the coalition against ISIS. UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon have recently voiced their support. Turkey, the only Arab member of NATO has voiced their lack of support in the coalition thus far. Saudi, the home to major religious cities, feels like a direct threat to ISIS and have made it clear that they will be playing a major role in the war against the Islamic State. UAE allegedly initiated bombings from Egyptian bases on Libya due to islamic militia takeovers of major cities and institutions. Arab states along with France, Germany, and Britain have agreed to form a "coordinated military campaign." Bringing in Assad from Syria is somewhat crucial, but the coalition is hesitant due to the loss of the Assad Regime's legitimacy over the past years of civil strife. Official plans of attack are still sketchy, but are definitely in the works. The coalition of states have made it clear that in order to tackle this ISIS threat, they must band together to dynamically exterminate the Islamic State from all angles.

This article basically condemns the intentions of US intervention in Libya. Larison conveys that the assumption that US intervention was crucial in Libya to oust Gaddafi was based on attributing "values" that Americans wanted to believe that they had, putting far more significance on the conflict than it truly possessed. US intervention was unpopular in the region because of distrust in the US and resentment to interference regardless of the side Washington chooses to take. The author says this tells us that the US is far too quick to take sides in foreign conflict, and far too eager to throw their weight behind their side to make sure it wins. The US ought to serve as a neutral mediator resolving conflict rather than initiating further bloodshed through their impulse to "do something" immediately. 

In 2011 Tunisia experienced two quarters of decline in GDP. The size of the Tunisian economy decreased. Before 2011 the average growth of the Tunisian economy was between 4% to 5% per year. Immediate initiatives need to take place. An example of one would be banning strikes until the end of 2011, that would help reassure companies that are the main source of wealth and jobs creation.

This New York Times article discusses the lead up to, the details of, and the resultant trilateral agreement that came from the Middle East Peace Talks that President Clinton held at Camp David in July of 2000. While talks initially seemed to be going well, negotiations reached an impasse over the control of Jerusalem. While Barak agreed to lesser control of East Jerusalem, Arafat would not consider anything of the sort. Both Clinton, Barak, and the media blame Arafat for the failed discussions.

The old leadership in the brotherhood no longer have complete control due to the younger generation taking more initiative. After the incarceration of brotherhood leaders, the group adapted a more on the ground approach, which can be attributed to the the youth having a very strong presence in the organization.

This piece is about the education reform K-12 in Qatar. The program has started to use local education supplies to create a better community attitude toward education. Their have been efforts to create a universal curriculum and higher evaluation and testing. 

This article also talks about the problems Syrian children face regarding education. International laws about "schools remain out of conflict" has gone ignored for a long time. Public Schools are overstretched in neighboring countries due to extra children in schools. The most interesting part of this article is the video which goes into more details about the growth of education in the last four years.