Tower Magazine, June 2015. The most significant dynamic in the Middle East over the last decade has been the collapse of strong, centralized regimes in a series of Arab states and their replacement by chaos, civil war, and the proliferation … Continue reading →
If the Muslim Brotherhood is Taking Over Tunisia What Hope is there for Anyone Else?
With Libya going down the drain, Egypt daily moving toward an Islamist dictatorship, and Syria in a bloody civil war between Sunni and Shia Islamists, how is Tunisia—the most potentially moderate Arab state which had the best chance of achieving democracy–doing? Not very well. Anna Mahjar-Barducci is one of the best authors writing about North […]
A Small Cautionary Tale
The map above was produced by the Relief Web website. Relief Web is a project of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The website, according to its homepage, aims to ‘provide reliable disaster and crisis updates and analysis to humanitarians, so they can make informed decisions and plan effective responses.” […]
Arab Moderation Murdered: The Meaning of an Assassination in Tunisia
And if the good men are murdered by the forces of political evil then they certainly cannot do anything. Hence, the outcome is assured. Thus, the “Arab Spring” has just been murdered with bullets and hijacked amid bloodstains. Here is the list of countries in the Middle East area currently ruled by Islamists: […]
Tunisia: Goodbye Democracy? Islamists Start to Take Over Media
The much-touted, Islamist-led coalition government in Tunisia is showing how little has changed. It is imposing the regime’s power on the media, choosing loyal editors and censoring the news. The liberal and independent National Authority for the Reform of Media and Communications (INRIC) is so disgusted that it’s closing down. Leaders of the INRIC openly accuse the […]
The Wild Card in Arab “Democratic” Politics: Extra-Parliamentary Violence
Consider just a small part of what’s gone on in Tunisia, a relatively moderate country where the radical Islamists “only” got 40 percent of the vote and were forced to lead the country from within a coalition with moderate, secular parties. Hundreds of Salafis rioted in several cities and set fire to police stations as […]