Perfect sandstorm? High stakes in the Sahel
There is only one region in which Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and ISIS have all emerged as major threats – the Sahel. United Nations secretary-general Ban… Read more »
Category: Political Islam
Exploiting Disorder: al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
A purely military approach to countering violent jihadist extremism risks entrenching the resentment and victimization of Sunnis and deepening chaos, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group (ICG). The… Read more »
Iran trying to shut down UN Human Rights investigation
Iran executed nearly 1,000 prisoners last year, the highest number in two decades, and hundreds of journalists, activists and opposition figures languish in custody, a United Nations investigator said on… Read more »
Moderates’ election gains ‘a setback to Iranian democracy’
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday hailed last month’s elections that saw gains for allies of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, denying they lacked competition, AFP reports: The February… Read more »
Iran election underscores rejection of hardliners
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran and his allies appeared Monday to have made strong gains in two national elections, the first to be held since Tehran completed a sweeping nuclear deal with… Read more »
Egypt’s civil society: two misperceptions
During a congressional hearing on the Obama administration’s FY17 budget request, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke briefly regarding the state of human rights in Egypt, expressing his concern over the… Read more »
Iran poll balances ‘external loosening’ with ‘internal stiffening’
Iranians headed to the polls Friday in elections made easy for conservatives after sweeping bans that left many pro-reform candidates off the ballots, adding further political pressures on Hassan Rouhani,… Read more »
Myths and realities of Iran’s election
Iranians will go to the polls on February 26 to elect members of the 290-seat parliament and the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, notes Council on Foreign Relations analyst Ray Takeyh…. Read more »
Algeria: ‘birth of a new democracy’?
International media outlets substantially covered news on the recently-endorsed constitutional amendments in Algeria, according to Sasha Toperich and Samy Boukaila of the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins School of… Read more »
Governments can’t win war of words with ISIS
Why is the West not winning the war of words with ISIS and reclaiming the virtual landscape in which radical Islamists openly recruit? asks Jonathan Russell, head of policy… Read more »