Group items tagged

This article presents the top 10 shipping ports in the Middle East by giving a description, pictures, and specifications of the ports. The history of each port corresponds to the great wealth that each port creates for the respective region and this site presents a general understanding of the ports' history.

Women after the Arab Spring are still awaiting their rights. This article presents what has happened with women's rights in various countries including Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria.

Women after the Arab Spring are still awaiting their rights. This article presents what has happened with women's rights in various countries including Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria.

This report conducted by Pew Research center presents the findings of how many are in support for gender equality in various countries. Among the countries, Egypt can be found with support for women equality being 60%.

This report conducted by Pew Research center presents the findings of how many are in support for gender equality in various countries. Among the countries, Egypt can be found with support for women equality being 60%.

This article presents Egyptian culture and traditions. Women traditions are talked about as well as calendar differences and special dates.

This article presents Egyptian culture and traditions. Women traditions are talked about as well as calendar differences and special dates.

This report presents the issue of female mutilation. Within the report, percentages are found for various countries showing how many women are for change and against female genital mutilation.

This report presents the issue of female mutilation. Within the report, percentages are found for various countries showing how many women are for change and against female genital mutilation.

This article goes briefly over the history of the Yemen and gives information on the present conflict. The future of this country looks grim as the war between the Shiites in the north and Sunnis in the south will divide the country.

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. 

This article discusses the issue of censorship. By talking with Egyptian novelist Khaled al-Berry, presented is the idea of a strong hope for less censorship because the January 25th revolutions had opened up a future of possibilities and challenges for Egyptian literature. While in previous years there had been no actual direct political censorship, publishers would attempt both religious and moral censorship as a means to protect people. While the article does discuss that there will always be censorship, they also look forward to a culture that values art and reading that will change the perspective of the culture.

The Council on Foreign Relations published an article about democratization in the middle east and the major obstacles that are present in the process. While most assume Islamists and Islamic embedded institutions are the root of the delayed democratic transition, the problems are much bigger than that. While Islamist regimes do indeed stunt the growth of democratic progress in terms of creating a stable government, Arab countries struggle with economic and social factors as well. The Arab Spring Revolutions have caused economic and social degradation across the region, resulting in a road block of political leadership. Without a reliable and capable government structure, the states are unable to progress economically. However, in order to have a stable government, social and economic institutions must be in place to create this capitalist economy that they strive for. Because most wealth resides in oil, the revenue that the states bring in isn't distributed properly throughout society and is concentrated within few business elites. The article stresses that instead of foreign aid going into the hands of an unstable leader or regime, it should be invested in institutions in order to spur economic growth and eliminate corruption. Rather than focusing on the Islamist-secularist divide, the world should be working towards the strengthening of institutions to create a stable foundation for governance. 

This article provides a detailed outline of the battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria through the use of maps, charts, and photographs to allow readers to visualize areas where fighting is taking place. Several maps provide locations of ISIS controlled territory, locations of airstrikes, and locations of ISIS controlled oil refineries. It was really helpful to see different maps outlining this information because I often hear about this conflict on the radio or television programs and it can be hard to understand the scope of the conflict without any visual aids. I really appreciated the effort to show in detail the specific locations.

This article outlined the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq providing detailed maps, charts, and photos to present a more clear picture of where violence and air strikes are occurring.

Hugely important collection of data presented in a variety of media.

A Syrian Opposition group killed 1300 civilians in a chemical weapon attack in Damascus. Many of the victims were women and children. The victims presented with classic signs of chemical poisoning, including foaming mouth and dilated pupils. The attach occurred on August 21, 2013

In this Bloomberg article, the details of President Obama's speech on an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal were examined. Discussing the issues presenting on both sides (including the highly controversial Israeli settlements), President Obama pushed for a deal based upon the 1967 delineated lines.

This is a report published on November 6, 2014 by the International Crisis Group about the current peace talks between Turkey's President Ergodan and leaders of the PKK. It discusses how after decades of conflict which cost tens of thousands of people their lives, neither Turkey nor the PKK believe that military victory is possible, and are meeting to discuss a peaceful resolution. However, the events in Syria has reignited ever-present tensions between the two groups, and a fruitful compromise between them is seeming less likely. In this report, the International Crisis Group details the parameters of a possible peace deal, and states that differences need to be put aside so that basic issues like "transitional justice, disarmament and decentralization" can be resolved.

Prime Minister Habib Essid announced a new minority government that excludes most of the major figures on the political scene, including Islamist and leftist parties. The 24 ministers presented appear to come from two parties that may not have enough seats to survive a no-confidence vote. This means lacking seats in Parliament they may have difficulty carrying out the necessary reforms to fix Tunisia's economic problems.

A somewhat in-depth interview with Assad concerning Syria's present state, answers to questions of bombing Syrian cities, and Syria's foreign relations. Interview taken 1 week ago

Oil prices have been declining since June 2014.This trend presents new economic realities for oil-exporting countries in the middle east.

This article provides an analysis of the role in religion moving forward from the revolution. While some groups promote a totally secular state, others are encouraging a system of government that is dictated by Sharia law. Some articles have been passed in the new constitutional referendum that are very controversial. The articles (2, 54, and 219) were an attempt to establish Islamic authority in rule, as well as the authority of other groups like Coptic Christians and Jews. In short, the identity of the Egyptian state is being defined by these political moves. Although different Islamic groups try to distinguish themselves politically, other leaders have tried to present the issue as a dichotomy between and Islamic state and a secular state. In reality, the political diversity is better represented by a spectrum. However, these groups must find enough popular and physical support to enact policies. Any policies enacted will be too much for one group, and not enough imposition for another.