Kurds’ choices: heed history or the US?
Who controls Syria’s borders? The US and Israel are encouraging Syrian Kurds to fight the regime and its allies for border control. The ensuing mayhem might unravel the Mideast and far beyond.Syria is...
View ArticleRace and exploitation in the Gulf
It is time for the issue of race to become central to any discussion on the continued exploitation of workers in the Gulf.A protest on behalf of migrant workers in Qatar near the FIFA Congress in...
View ArticleRace to the sea: Qatar and the balance of power in the Middle East
If the Qatari crisis is not managed rationally, then it is likely to compound the present risks in the regional balance of power, with consequences for all states in the region.U.S. Secretary of State...
View ArticleQatar crisis: a broader consolidation of power
Despite the real tension and rivalries, there is far more that unites Qatar and surrounding countries than what separates them.L-R : Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, US...
View ArticleBehind The Saudi-Qatari spat and the fragmentation of the GCC
The sanctions on Qatar aim to force the government of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to alter its foreign policy – particularly regarding its warming relations with Iran.People buy food at a supermarket in...
View ArticleWith a more enterprising Russia, cards are reshuffled in the Arab world
A new power structure is emerging in the Middle East as Russia uses its intervention in Syria to position itself as an important partner for regional powers as diverse and opposed to each other as...
View ArticleIf ISIS uses chemical weapons, the west will be partly responsible
How can the international community respond effectively and promptly to this growing threat, not just to the Middle East region, but to the world?Security forces simulate chemical attack outside...
View Article'Something wicked this way comes': the Arab transitions (part 1)
An excerpt from a NOREF report on the background to the current situation in the Middle East, focusing on the aftermath of the 'Arab Spring'. Part one: North Africa, Egypt and the Gulf.It is currently...
View ArticleWill Middle East ground troops be rallied against IS ?
Try as we might, the question of Mr. Assad’s fate will not go away: all roads stubbornly lead back to Damascus. Vigil held for the Jordanian pilot in South San Francisco, February, 2015. Steve...
View ArticleAfter the Doha Summit: is GCC reconciliation real?
The 35th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Doha, Qatar appears as a rare and positive momentum in the history of the GCC. However, Qatar's position remains convoluted and reconciliation remains...
View ArticleQatar: diplomats return but differences remain
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have ambassadors returning to Qatar after a nearly year-long absence, a boost for a Gulf state that could do with positive media coverage.West Bay...
View ArticleThis week's window on the Middle East - September 24, 2014
Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week, Anti-Syrian sentiment in Lebanon.Anti-Syrian sentiment in LebanonOn...
View ArticleTripoli airstrikes
These airstrikes demonstrate new fault lines in the Arab world: between Arab conservative regimes, their Islamist foes, and the democratic secular forces who find themselves in an impossible situation....
View ArticleObama’s strategy beyond an abnormal war
To defeat IS you have not only to beat it militarily, but to undercut the financial and ideological underpinnings upon which it rests, and replace it with something that ensures that it cannot manifest...
View ArticleIs Qatar guilty of sectarianism in Syria?
Let’s be clear here, Qatar lost in Qusair. It is embarrassing and undermines two years and $3bn of financial support to the rebel movement. And it is time that Qatar began to take some responsibility...
View ArticleSyrian crisis now a global affair
The outcome of the Syrian crisis, no matter what that might be, will delimit the new Middle East in a way that will affect the entire world—not just Syria and the regionWestern leaders’ conflicting...
View ArticleQatar and the US have a working relationship
The differences concerning Israel, the occasionally troublesome Al Jazeera network, and Qatar’s hosting and funding of hard-line Islamists have been papered over in favour of larger strategic visions...
View ArticleArab awakening: Qatar’s controversial alliance with Arab Islamists
Tension with its Gulf neighbours began to rise from 2006 when Qatar and Al Jazeera stood with Lebanese Shi’ite group Hizbullah during its war with Israel, while western allied states clearly hoped to...
View ArticleThe Qatari reaction to the Egyptian crisis
From this side of the political divide the Egyptians appear ungrateful, rude and disrespectful.Recently I was quoted in the Daily Beast making a rather inflammatory comment about how Qataris view the...
View ArticleQatar’s top diplomat tackles the rumours
A plethora of rumours, some of which originated from very reputable media sources, are circling around Qatari mega-purchases of the Pyramids and the Suez Canal. Last week’s Arab Summit in Doha was a...
View Article