2020 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 December 2020 Libya. Fezzan, Struggling Against Marginalisation Asma Saïd · December 2020 Fezzan is a highly strategic region in Libya because of its petroleum resources. Deeply divided, abandoned by the Government of National Accord in Tripoli, the Tubus and the Tuaregs who live there have formed an alliance to resist the offensives of Marshall Haftar. But for these peoples, the (…) Islam. A Little-Known Poem by Victor Hugo as an Antidote to Islamophobia Louis Blin · December 2020 In a little-known poem from La Légende des siècles, Victor Hugo takes a stand against the media uproar following the assassination of the French and British consuls in the city of Jeddah, then under Ottoman rule, on 15 June 1858, by resolutely inscribing Islam in a universal humanist (…) French Law on Separation of Church and State. Diverting Secularism to War against Islam Alain Gresh · December 2020 On December 9, the anniversary of the 1905 law separating Church and State, the French Council of Ministers will propose a text “reinforcing republican principles.” Under the pretext of defending secularism, it goes against the letter and the spirit of the 1905 law, marked by a liberalism (…) Turkish Incursion Wreaks Havoc in Iraqi Kurdistan Sylvain Mercadier · December 2020 Locked in a bloody struggle for decades now, Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are now confronting one another in the Kurdish mountains of Iraq. Little by little, the area is being depopulated. And the struggle has aggravated tensions between the various Kurdish factions, raising (…) November 2020 France. The Inaccessible Archives of the Algerian War Sylvie Braibant, Pierre Audin · November 2020 The French law dated 7 Thermidor Year II (25 July 1794) stipulates that every citizen should be able to be informed of whatever had been done in their name. This was the origin of the public service of the National Archives of France, a body created four years earlier by the Constituent (…) Fight One-way Thinking, Support Orient XXI · November 2020 In December 2010 the people of Tunisia swarmed into the streets, triggering what came to be called the “Arab Spring”. In just a few months, Egyptian, Libyan and Yemeni autocrats were swept aside, those of Syria and Morocco seriously threatened. Ten years later, Winter has again descended on the (…) UE-Egypt: A Disgraceful Partnership Baudouin Loos · November 2020 Long gone are the days when the countries of Europe and the European Union itself welcomed the uprisings of the Arab Spring. Today they have no scruples about hobnobbing with the most ferocious dictatorships, like that of Egypt. His journey went unnoticed at a time when the whole world had (…) Russia’s Thwarted Return to the Red Sea Ivan Ulises Kentros Klyszcz · November 2020 For the past twenty years, under President Putin, Russian diplomacy has been reasserting its presence in the Middle East and in the Horn of Africa. In the context of this “return”, Moscow is again focusing on the creation of a military base on the shores of the Red Sea, as in the days of the (…) A Censured Debate Farhad Khosrokhavar · November 2020 On 29 October 2020, a journalist from Politico got in touch with me to ask me to do an article on secularism and the debate around it in English. The next day I sent her an article respecting the limited number of words she had set for me. On October 31, she let me know that the article had (…) Islam: A One-Sided Debate Alain Gresh · November 2020 Emmanuel Macron took advantage of the columns of The Financial Times on Thursday 5 November to reply to an article which that newspaper published on Franco-Algerian relationships. What could be more normal? But what is less so is that the article, written by one of its regular journalists, (…) The Dangerous Religion of Secularism Farhad Khosrokhavar · November 2020 Another string of jihadist attacks has shaken France. The most recent, at a church in Nice, left three people dead, only two weeks after a teacher was beheaded on the outskirts of Paris after he displayed cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in his classroom. Why is France targeted, over and over (…) Debating “Blasphemous” Cartoons Tom Theuns · November 2020 On Saturday, Farhad Khosrokhavar, a retired professor of Sociology at the prestigious School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris published an op-ed in Politico Europe which was given the title “France’s dangerous religion of secularism”. The piece generated an immediate storm, (…) Separatism: Bringing Islam and France’s Muslims to Heel Raphaël Kempf · November 2020 President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation on Friday 2 October with a speech on “separatism”. His initiative was preceded by a political and media campaign aimed effectively at criminalising Islam and the Muslims. This trend was illustrated by a report published by the Senate in July 2020. (…) Afghanistan Peace Talks: From Deadlock to Deadlock Georges Lefeuvre, Jean Michel Morel · November 2020 The negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and a delegation from Kabul are meant, in the words of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to “reconcile the country.” While Trump would like to withdraw completely, Putin is waiting for just that and there are still many unanswered questions about the (…) October 2020 French Soldiers in the Sahel: A Barely Repressed Colonial Unconscious Rémi Carayol · October 2020 They’ve “done their time” in Africa. Or better still they’ve made war in Africa. In the Sahelo-Saharan strip, known in French army jargon as the “BSS”. A war they describe in their own words, the language of soldiers brought up on the “exploits” of colonial conquest and indoctrinated in war (…) Seventy Years since the Departure of Iraqi Jews Ella Shohat · October 2020 Seven decades after their massive exodus, the narrative about the departure of Iraqi Jews is hardly settled, not even within the displaced community itself. A continuous millennial existence in Mesopotamia was rendered impossible in the wake of a historical vortex generated by overpowering (…) Iran Torn Between Armenia and Azerbaijan Benoit Filou · October 2020 Despite a precarious cease-fire, the prospect of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh flaring up again has Tehran worried. Though Iran is, like Azerbaijan, a Muslim country, it is allied with its traditional trading partner, Armenia, while in the country’s Azeri provinces, public protests have (…) Egypt. The Waking Dreams of Supersonic Generals Mona Abouissa · October 2020 The memory of the Arab-Israeli wars, particularly those of 1967 and 1973, remains deeply rooted in the Egyptian army. And the pilots and generals who took part in the battles cultivate the memory, made up of heroism, sacrifice and death, which they share with the younger generations. Encounters. (…) Gulf-Israel. The Covid-19 Mirror Effect Ezra Nahmad · October 2020 The world’s highest rates of contamination are to be found in the Gulf monarchies, where the pandemic mainly affects migrant workers. Covid-19 has also hit Israel very hard, mainly in the ultra-orthodox communities. At a time when these countries have undertaken a normalisation of their (…) “The Sick Man of the 21st Century” Will Not Die in Peace Bahey Eldin Hassan · October 2020 The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is, with the exception of Africa, the part of the world least affected by Covid-19. Yet the economic and political repercussions of the pandemic presage a major disaster whose impact will be felt lastingly-beyond the region, with the emergence of (…) September 2020 Palestine. A History Punctuated By the Intifadas Maher Al-Charif · September 2020 The end of this month of September will mark the 20th anniversary of the Second Intifada, an important moment in the long struggle of the Palestinian people, since the beginning of the last century, for their right to self-determination on the land of their ancestors. That Intifada came in the (…) Climate Change Devastates the Sahel Rémi Carayol · September 2020 The Sahel is a region made increasingly arid by the encroaching desert and yet it must deal periodically with devastating floods. A double bind with many causes. A man wading across an expanse of water carrying a mattress on his head. A woman piling onto a makeshift rowboat the pots and pans (…) Israeli Society Sick With Rape Jean Stern · September 2020 A 16-year-old girl was raped by some 30 men in a hotel at Eilat. Some of them filmed the scene and posted it on the social networks. This gang rape shocked the whole country and prompted an unprecedented mobilisation. In addition to their anger, some feminists began to wonder about the sources (…) Unworthy Agreement Between France and the United Arab Emirates Eva Thiébaud · September 2020 Paris has remained curiously silent since the revelations in 2019 about the use by the United Arab Emirates of the Yemeni gas plant at Balhaf as a military base and secret prison. France’s taciturnity could be explained by its discreet and fruitful partnership with the UAE, especially in the (…) Algeria. President Tebboune’s Immobilism Will Lead Nowhere Jean-Pierre Sereni · September 2020 Nine months after his disputed election in December 2019, President Abdelmahid Tebboune has still to tackle the financial and political crises which are strangling his country a little more each day. This two-fold incapacity does not bode well for the future considering that the rapid exhaustion (…) Can Iraq Reform Itself Amid Chaos? Mohamed Shiaa, Sylvain Mercadier · September 2020 For more than three months, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s transitional government has ruled Iraq. As the ongoing sanitary crisis is only getting worse, budget deficit is widening due to low oil prices while Iraqi’s living conditions are going from bad to worse. As tensions between Iran and the United (…) Towards a New Arabic Pop? Pierre France · September 2020 The grand return of the music industry to the Arab world since 2018 is not easy nor successful so far. Furthermore, it has come along with the return of historic players in the region, such as the Saudi company Rotana, as much as it has confirmed YouTube’s dominance since the mid-2000s. How will (…) Israel-Emirates. Neither Betrayal nor History-Making Deal Hicham Alaoui · September 2020 Political observers have voiced contrasting opinions about the peace treaty between Israel and the Arab Emirates. Some have seen it as a monumental betrayal, others as an historic breakthrough. Actually, the treaty changes nothing in the Middle East political equation, nor does it attenuate in (…) August 2020 Gaza: “Pacification” in Exchange for Health Security Sarah Daoud · August 2020 In the context of a worldwide pandemic which for the moment has spared the overcrowded Gaza territory, negotiations between Hamas and Israel, with the active participation of Egypt, are aimed at finding a pacification agreement, implying a pause in the rocket attacks in exchange for medical (…) The Iranian View of Hiroshima: Beyond Anti-US Ideology? Banafsheh Keynoushmulti , Clément Therme · August 2020 Seventy-five years after 1945, the Islamic Republic of Iran is instrumentalizing the memory of the United States dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tehran is drawing a tragic parallel between then-Japanese victims and Iranian victims of Iraqi chemical weapons. While Japan is not (…) Iraq: The Ministry of Death Under Fire Quentin Müller · August 2020 The Iraqi health system is on the road to ruin. The country’s public hospitals, where the medical practice was once the finest in the Arab world, have become places of bribery, theft and murderous clientelism. At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic flares up again, all attempts to reform the (…) From anticolonialism to Zionism: the variations of Albert Memmi Hèla Yousfi · August 2020 The Tunisian-born writer and essayist, who died on May 22, 2020, was the author of major books on colonization such as the famous The Colonizer and the Colonized written in 1957. Albert Memmi would later be very critical of the post-independence Arab states, but silent on Israeli colonization (…) Black lives scorned: The Wretched of the Maghreb Rafik Chekkat · August 2020 Voices from the Arab world, like that of Palestinian actress Maryam Abou Khaled, have touched off a debate over the racism suffered by the Black population of North Africa and the persistent legacy of centuries of Arabo-Berber slave-trading. While Franz Fanon wrote little on the subject, his (…) Overwhelmed by sanctions and Covid-19, Iran turns to China Shervin Ahmadi · August 2020 The draft agreement between Iran and China, which is preparing to undertake massive investments in transports and industry has caused controversy, even in Tehran. But the population’s main concern is the robust return of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that comes with it. Plus, the (…) July 2020 Change of course for the Gulf States’ Sovereign Wealth Funds Sebastian Castelier · July 2020 Their sovereign funds are multi-faceted bodies which invest the Gulf states’ budget surpluses on the world’s stock exchanges. But the volatility of oil prices, the increasing debt ratios and the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on the economies of the region should by rights redirect these (…) Turkey: The “Reconquest” of Hagia Sophia, a Bad Movie Jean-François Pérouse · July 2020 On 19th July, President Recep Tayyib Erdoğan took himself to Hagia Sophia to check on preparations for the first Friday prayer, which was to coincide—what a historical clash!—with the anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923), the foundation of Turkish territorial sovereignty regained (…) The Right to Inheritance and to Return, Keys to Peace in Palestine Ilan Pappe , Tamar Yaron, Uri Davis · July 2020 The “peace process” which culminated in the Oslo Accords in 1993 has failed to ignore two key issues: the nature of the State of Israel and that of the right of return of the Palestinians expelled in 1948. However, in 2005, a United Nations special rapporteur, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, defined (…) Lebanon: Adrift in Stormy Seas Jim Muir · July 2020 With its currency in free-fall against the US dollar, half the population plunged into poverty, and rescue talks with the IMF in disarray because Lebanon’s leaders seem incapable of enacting basic reforms, the country appears to be lurching ever closer to a collapse into chaos. It happened (…) Tunisia: Battleground for the Gulf Media Sarra Grira · July 2020 The political controversies between the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda and its opponents have only known a short lull with the coronavirus crisis. And the foreign policy initiatives taken by the party’s leader Rached Ghannouchi have triggered hot debates, especially in parliament. This (…) Egypt. Fighting “Evil People” Rather Than Covid-19 Ahmad Abdelhalim · July 2020 While Egypt sinks deeper and deeper into the Covid-19 crisis, Abdelfattah Al-Sisi’s regime steadfastly opposes the emergence of any dissident voices criticising its handling of the pandemic. To discourage the more reckless souls, the power structure uses the weapons previously deployed against (…) June 2020 Palestine. “Formal annexation won’t change anything on the ground” Robert Malley, Sylvain Cypel · June 2020 Robert Malley, former Middle East adviser to Barack Obama, remains doubtful about the scope of the annexation project presented on 1 July by Benyamin Netanyahu, considering that “the Palestinian territories have been de facto annexed for decades”. While in the United States the debates within (…) Jordan Valley. Ethnic Cleansing and Harassment of Palestinian Farmers Adrian Guerin · June 2020 A few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu presents his plan to annex this strategic region, Israel is quietly carrying out a campaign to displace Palestinian communities from the land it plans to acquire in the northern West Bank. It was 6 am when Omar heard the Israeli (…) Why Streaming Hasn’t Overtu(r)ned Music in the Arab World. Not Yet Pierre France · June 2020 A chaabi Egyptian artist, Amr Diab in a giant portrait on Time Square in New York; an Egyptian Chaabi artist, Hassan Chakouch, number 2 in the world’s top soundcloud: would the great comeback of Arab music in the international hit game be in sight? The industry dreams that the rhythms of the (…) Origins of Military Power in Algeria Jean-Pierre Sereni · June 2020 The political preponderance of the armed forces in Algeria emerged only after a long period of confrontation following the outbreak of the war of liberation in 1954. And after the sidelining of the political figures whose influence at the start of the uprising was decisive. Throughout the (…) Iraq: The Al-Sadr Dynasty Is Losing Ground Hamid Nasser · June 2020 The mass protests that have been going on since October 2019 illustrate the generational conflict between the Shiite communities entrenched in their religious certainties and an emerging urban youth movement. The Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr bears the brunt of this disaffection which may mark the (…) 4th Congress of Studies on the Middle East and Muslim Worlds · June 2020 Following three successful previous editions, the GIS (National Scientific Network) MOMM (Middle East and Muslim Worlds) is organising the 4th Middle-East and Muslim World Studies Conference on 28-29-30 June 2021 in the premises of the Arts, Languages and Humanities Faculty of Aix-Marseille (…) Show your ID! The Origins of Border-Circumvention in the Levant César Jaquier · June 2020 The borders between Lebanon, Syria and Iraq became meaningful a century ago with the appearance in the Levant of the motor car. Their actual role evolved with the changing regulations which allowed certain privileged travellers to cross them and kept out “undesirable elements.” Even though the (…) Facebook Recruits an Israeli Censorship Expert Jean Stern · June 2020 Facebook’s new global Oversight Board, tasked with ruling on content ethics, has the former director-general of Israel’s Justice Ministry as one of its 20 members. Emi Palmor had set up a cyber unit in charge of monitoring and censoring Palestinian social media posts, on the orders of the (…) In Libya, Marshal Haftar Is Suffering Setbacks, France Too Patrick Haimzadeh · June 2020 The tide is turning in favour of the coalition in power in Tripoli. Its troops have won back control of several cities from the forces of Field Marshal Haftar, albeit with Turkish support but also with that of a population apparently hostile to the idea of a military dictatorship. The numerous (…) Egypt’s Lost War in the Sinai Vinciane Joly · June 2020 For the last eight years, the Egyptian armed forces have been fighting in the Sinai, with little success, against what is at once an Islamist insurrection and a tribal rebellion against the central state. After having failed to eradicate social and economic poverty among the Bedouins of the (…) May 2020 Yemen. The Impossible Way Out of the War Helen Lackner · May 2020 In the early months of 2020, the already disastrous situation in Yemen worsened further, far from the eyes of the world, which was almost exclusively concerned with the Covid-19 pandemic. The huthi military offensive, the proclamation of autonomy for the South and devastating floods added to the (…) Support for Orient XXI Under the Shadow of Covid19 · May 2020 Much has been written about the present time, the dramas, our astonishment faced with a pandemic we never thought could happen, the deep transformations our societies are going to have to undergo and the changes in our way of seeing things and considering our place in the world. While Orient XXI (…) The Lessons of the Arab Springs Charles Thépaut · May 2020 Arab countries still have fewer cases of Covid-19 than the United States, Europe or China, but they also have fewer policy options as they have not fully recovered from the “Arab springs”. Local and international actors should not merely freeze conflict lines but seize the pandemic’s momentum to (…) The Painful History of Epidemics in Saudi Arabia Philippe Pétriat · May 2020 For Saudi Arabia, the Covid-19 crisis is just another episode in a long series of viruses which have struck the Kingdom since the Spanish flu of 1919. When Saudi Arabia announced its first Covid-19 case on 2 March 2020, it seemed to many Saudis that history was repeating itself. While (…) Virus, Dance of Death and Social Control Christian Jouret · May 2020 Covid-19 is a godsend for the media, monopolising the news. But we seem to forget that there have been pandemics throughout history and that political regimes have always taken advantage of them to tighten their grip on society. In times of the plague, smallpox, cholera, or Spanish flu, (…) COVID-19: A Dual Punishment for Palestinian and Arab Prisoners · May 2020 More than 150 personalities from the Arab world call for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and prisoners of conscience in the Arab world. Among the signatories are the Tunisian and Moroccan academics Yadh Ben Achour and Abdullah Hammoudi, the Jordanian and Egyptian writers (…) The Threat of a Water Shortage in the Maghreb Ali Chibani · May 2020 The availability of running water in North Africa has diminished by 60% over the past 40 years. The rainfall deficit due to global warming, poor maintenance of the water network and the inadequacy of wastewater treatment plants are the cause of this worrisome situation which specialists call (…) The Planned Theft of Qalandia, Jerusalem’s Forgotten Airport Laurent Perpigna Iban · May 2020 Until 1967, the Jerusalem airport was a doorway to the world for Palestinians. Since the second Intifada, it has been definitively closed down. This little-known site is in the news again now that the Israelis plan to establish a new colony in its place. “The Qalandia Airport was a magical (…) April 2020 Iran. In Chabahar, Fear of the Virus Reduces Smuggling Elsa Perret · April 2020 A large part of the population of Sistan-Balochistan, in the south-east of Iran, engages in informal trade with its Emirati and Pakistani neighbours. However, the explosion in the number of Iranians infected with Covid-19 (5,710 dead as of April 26) has dealt a severe blow to these cross-border (…) Russian Military Companies. Wagner, How Many Divisions? Emmanuel Dreyfus · April 2020 Implicated in Moscow’s interventions in Ukraine since 2014 and in Syria since 2015, Russian military companies have more recently shown up in Libya and in several sub-Saharan African countries. The mys-terious Wagner group, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, closely connected with Vladimir Putin, has (…) Lebanon. The Political Class Saved (provisionally?) by Covid-19 Jim Muir · April 2020 Even before the Covid-19 lockdown, Lebanon was in the grip of a severe economic, financial and social crisis. If the spread of the epidemic seems to be under control, it is to be expected, after the country’s recovery, that there will be a tsunami of unemployment and poverty, the consequences of (…) How Religious Beliefs Have Responded to the Challenge of Covid-19 Christian Jouret · April 2020 For several weeks now, many of us have wondered why certain religious groups, certain communities are reluctant to comply with the sanitary rules which a majority of the peoples of the world regard as indispensable to stop the spread of Covid-19. How can this be explained? In the West, the (…) Erdoğan Appropriates the Cultural Heritage of Turkey’s Minorities Verda Kimyonok · April 2020 In south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, the government has undertaken a revision of history. Islamisation of cultural and religious sites, territorial reorganisation: every effort is being made to impose Sunni Islam as the driving force of Turkish identity by doing away with all the (…) Where’s Iran Going? Ali Fathollah-Nejad · April 2020 With the defeat of the reformers and the victory of the conservatives in the parliamentary elections, the challenges facing the country, from sanctions to the coronavirus epidemic, remain daunting. And the regime seems little able to meet them. Iran’s 21 February parliamentary (Majles) (…) Gulf Hubs Asphyxiated by Covid-19 Sebastian Castelier · April 2020 Over 800 jetliners are grounded in the airports of the Gulf countries. Nerve centre of the air routes between Asia, Europe and Africa, the region has cause for worry: will the industry that plays a crucial role in the diversification of economies that are far too dependent on hydrocarbon (…) “Our Boys,” a Clever Israeli TV Mystification Jean Stern · April 2020 Based on the murder of a Palestinian teenager by three Israeli settlers in the early summer of 2014, the Israeli series Our Boys is carried by strong scripting and excellent acting. But by focusing on a single victim of criminals from the religious extreme right, it ends up ignoring the fate of (…) Syria: Communitarianism as a Combat Strategy Pierre-Yves Baillet · April 2020 After nine years of war, the conflict in Syria has considerably modified the country’s demographics. Sunni Arabs, who used to be in the majority, now constitute only 49 to 52% of the population. This is due to the large numbers of refugees and displaced persons generated by the fighting, but it (…) March 2020 Will President Sisi Ride Out the Coronavirus and the Convulsions of the Egyptian Economy? Jean-Pierre Sereni · March 2020 While the army continues to tighten its grip on the economy, Egypt is facing new challenges, including a towering debt which is increasingly difficult to pay down and the collapse of the tourist trade due to the coronavirus. Delayed containment measures do not appear to be able to stop the (…) Iran, Already vulnerable, Ravaged by Coronavirus Marmar Kabir · March 2020 Hospitals overflowing and ill-equipped, a deprived and desperate populace, the police and military mobilised to control the country: Covid-19’s progress through Iran has been blistering. Faced with a health and social crisis, the authorities are turning to the IMF for emergency aid, and (…) Greece, the Humanitarian Dead-End Amelia Cooper, Sylvain Mercadier · March 2020 The spread of the coranovirus crisis has diverted attention from another human tragedy, that caused by the European management of the “refugee crisis” that began in 2015. After the announcement that Turkey would open its borders to refugees wishing to come to Europe and the Greek reaction of (…) Syria: Competition for Influence Between Moscow And Tehran Régis Genté · March 2020 The Kremlin has decided to follow to the end the logic of its support for Bachar Al-Assad. Since the beginning of the year Russian aircraft have been bombing Idlib, the last demilitarised zone in Syria, while Damascus’ troops and Iranian militias are advancing on the ground. And Recep Tayyip (…) Veiled Women in France. Entrepreneurship Against Discrimination Ariana Mozafari · March 2020 In France, veiled women suffer from the hostility of society, but also from discrimination in hiring, which is often illegal but difficult to combat. In order to access the job market nevertheless, some of them try to create their own businesses. The 2019 edition of the Annual Meeting of (…) Oman: How the Shah of Iran Saved the Regime Marc Pellas · March 2020 The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos Ibn Said, who died in January 2020, waged, at the beginning of his reign in the seventies, a war of several years against a Marxist rebellion in the Dhofar. It was with the support of British troops and later Iranian air and ground forces; in an operation conceived (…) February 2020 Mali: TV Can Kill Rémi Carayol · February 2020 The family of Sadou Yehia, a Malian villager murdered by Jihadists on 8 February, accuse France 24, a news channel with a large audience in the region, of being responsible for his death. In a sequence shot by a crew accompanying French soldiers and showing how stock breeders are racketed, the (…) Lebanese Identity Clash as the Agent Returns Doha Chams · February 2020 Responsible for a terrible secret prison in Southern Lebanon occupied by Israel until 2000, “collaborator” Amer Fakhoury was arrested after his return to Beirut in September 2019. His 1996 conviction for “intelligence with the enemy” is statute-barred and he seems to have benefited from (…) Sudan-Israel: a Change of Course Sparks a Political Crisis Gwenaëlle Lenoir · February 2020 Prepared in utmost secrecy, with the active support of the Trump administration, February 2 meeting in Uganda between Khartoum strongman General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu has shuffled all the cards in Sudan. This normalisation reveals a split between military (…) Assessing the Resilience of the Algerian Regime Ebtihej Sdiri · February 2020 As Hirak celebrates its first anniversary, it’s time to take stock. In a country accustomed to demonstrations, the wave of protests that was first directed against former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the late Chief of Staff of the National People’s Army Gaïd Salah impressed by his (…) Algeria, Sacred Country or Secular Land? Ghania Mouffok · February 2020 The “Hirak” has stirred up all the bones of contention accumulated between the country’s population and its rulers since independence was won. A spirit of fraternity has at long last burst through the stifling dictatorship of the “unity of the people.” Improvising a pagan festivity against the (…) Rojava, the Suspended Future Chris den Hond, Mireille Court · February 2020 Since the United States withdrew from northern Syria in October 2019, and the Turkish military operation began, what remains now of Rojava, created in 2014 during the battle of Kobane, won by Kurdish forces at the cost of enormous sacrifices? Duration: 25 minutes. Ennahda, the “Sick Man” of Tunisian Politics Thierry Brésillon · February 2020 Since the revolution of 2011, Ennahda has been at the heart of the Tunisian political debate, raising all fears for some, all hopes for others. But nine years later, the party is questioning its future and struggling to set its priorities, causing disappointment among its supporters. Right (…) The History of Arab-Turkish Relations As Told On Tv Series Moustapha Baissouni · February 2020 The Emirati TV mega-production Kingdoms of Fire which premiered in the autumn of 2019 is a critique of the role of the Ottoman Empire in the Arab and Muslim world. In contrast with the simplified historical narratives put forth by a popular Turkish series, this historical serial is symptomatic (…) In Sudan, General Hemetti Leads the Fray Gérard Prunier · February 2020 The man who organised the harsh crackdown in Khartoum last June, and who is now the No. 2 in the ruling junta, Gen. Mohamed Dagalo, known as ‟Hemetti”, began his bloodstained career in Darfur. Brutal and cunning, in reality it is he who wields the real power, in advance of a supposed democratic (…) January 2020 Yemen. Failed Attempts To Restore Peace Helen Lackner · January 2020 Two months after the signature of the Riyadh Agreement between Yemen’s internationally recognised government (IRG) and the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), what is the situation on the ground? Coming 13 months after that of the UN-Sponsored Stockholm Agreement, it is appropriate (…) Morocco: Silencing the Last Dissenting Voices Omar Brouksy · January 2020 For several months now, a wave of repression has rained down on those who, inside Morroco, on the social networks and under their own names, criticise King Mohamed VI whose popularity is waning. They are not political figures, professional journalists or activists, but mostly just ordinary (…) Africa. The Living Memory of the Usman Dan Fodio’s Caliphate Pierre Prier, Vincent Hiribarren · January 2020 In the 19th century, Africa’s largest State was a jihadi empire which lasted one hundred years. The Sokoto Caliphate and the name of its founder, the Fulani warlord and religious reformer Usman Dan Fodio, are still remembered in West Africa. Historian Vincent Hiribarren, lecturer at King’s (…) India: Why Modi’s Plan Against the Muslims Is Coming Unstuck Olivier Da Lage · January 2020 By refusing nationality to Muslim refugees from three neighbouring states, the Prime Minister is actually targeting India’s own Muslims, whom he wants to make stateless. Faced with this shock wave, the latter, for long regarded as second-class citizens, have begun mobilising as never before (…) Tripoli, “The Bride of The Revolution” Clothilde Facon-Salelles · January 2020 Though it gets less media coverage than its Beirut counterpart, the popular uprising against the governing regime and corruption that has pervaded the north Lebanese capital for more than two months shows no sign of running out of steam. This social discontent is rooted in the endemic poverty (…) Egypt. The Army’s Cheap Dodges Jean-Pierre Sereni · January 2020 The Egyptian army has its finger in every aspect of the country’s economy, not just the armaments industry. Few sectors have escaped its voracious appetite. An unprecedented study reveals the damages wrought by a system marked by low productivity, opacity and collusion schemes. How did this (…)