Group items tagged

! This article shares 3 stories of women who have gone through the FGM procedure. They tend to consider FGM as the "Right of Passage" for young worn. Many women die in childbirth or have complications because of the results of FGM. 

This article from News Week basically paints a picture of Libyan history and how Gaddafi's reign devastated the state economically, socially, and politically. Author Dirk Vandewalle uses the phrase "a political tabula rasa" which in Latin means a blank slate, to describe the fate of Libya after Gaddafi's rule and convey the extent to which the country has to literally reconstruct every component that makes up a society and its government. He highlights major events that led to the downfall of both the Gaddafi regime and the Libyan state as a whole such as Arab nationalism, Jamahiriya, the Green Book, security apparatuses snuffing all opposition, terrorist incidents, isolation and international sanctions, the Lockerbie bombing, weapons of mass destruction, human right violations, divide and rule policies, and his use of oil revenue to fuel his insurgency. Vandewalle concludes the article with uncertain ideas thoughts towards Libya's future and the way the state is going to literally rebuild themselves from this "blank slate" that Gaddafi left behind. 

In this New Yorker article, the issue of statehood is examined through Israel's new President, Ruvi Rivlin and his idea for a single state.

Lack of political freedom and poor education is a shocking reality for women in Egypt.

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.

A trafficking ring has been taking Sahrawi children to Europe. The children are taken under the impression that they are going on a "vacation," but in reality they are taken to families in Europe who want to buy them to adopt.

By Gehad Abada, Aswat Masriya When Amira Gamal* walked into the clinic in a murky street in Imbaba, she did not know what to expect or how far off pregnant she was. She arrived before the doctor and read the pamphlets on reproductive health and stages of pregnancy as she waited.

Could social media help build another uprising soon? Supporters of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi often claim that Egyptian internet activists are powerless and disconnected from reality. They say that activists are living in their own virtual bubble; however, recent incidents suggest otherwise. When the 'Arab Spring' began in 2011, the role social media played was undeniable.

This was an article (originally published by the Independent, however, I found it on their website via my first article from the BBC) by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence of London. The article suggests, allowing fighters to return home safely and enroll in a De-radicalization program would be more beneficial than current policies of severe punishment (prison, stripping of citizenship, etc.). The authors contend current repercussions for fighters returning to their home countries leave them trapped and isolated and prison sentences often lead to further radicalization. Overall this article really captured my attention in its non-conventional proposal for governments to handle these situations.

Both Britain and France have shunned Syrian President Assad in their quest to fight terrorism. They oppose all that the Syrian government stands for and this is why they will continue to dismiss the Syrian government and any ties with them. 

Orwellian fiction and reality appeared to blur into one on Sunday when reports suggested that an Egyptian undergraduate had been arrested for possessing a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The U.K. government accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of being sympathetic to terrorists and a risk to British national security. They accuse the United States of not waking up to the reality of their threat. They state that the Brotherhood has been affiliated with Hamas, and even though they criticized al Qaeda's 9/11 attack, many state that 9/11 was actually fabricated by the US, which raises a concern for Britain.

This article takes a closer look at the Houthis and the malapropisms found in the media when reporting on the war. For example, the war is often simplified to Shi'i vs. Sunni when, in reality, not all Houthis' enemies are Sunni.