Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week: Dubai: a contemporary identity
The political system is closed to Algeria’s citizens, who cannot choose their leadership. Plummeting government revenues and soaring food prices could prompt wide-scale unrest.
Inspired by the Syrian Kurds’ recent experience, the PKK seems to have aimed at organizing a Kurdish uprising in the Hakkari and Şırnak provinces of Turkey. But do the Kurdish people support such an uprising?
Frustration in Tunisia is growing especially among the youth who remain marginalized even though they were the ones who ignited change.
The way they have reacted on several issues gives the impression that what they are working to achieve is a pre-revolution Egypt, except with Mubarak’s NDP replaced with a new Islamic NDP.
Turkey’s desire to re-orient its foreign policy towards the Middle East and gain influence with the Arab Awakening seems to have been undone by its approach towards the Syrian conflict.
Still seeking UN membership, Abbas chooses to ignore the elephant in the room.
On Wednesday, September 5, the request some police officers lodged to be allowed to grow a beard, was rejected.
The Iranian president's forthcoming visit to the United States is an opportunity to highlight the continued repression under his regime, says Omid Memarian.
The proposed $4.8bn IMF loan to Egypt sparked a heated controversy. While the Government claims the funds are absolutely necessary to rebuild the country's economy, opponents warn against potentially disastrous, far-reaching consequences. Their arguments are summarised here.
Doctor Leonid Atlashkin spent almost 20 years in the Soviet prison camps. Unlike many, he went there of his own accord as a young doctor in 1953, and just stayed on. He retired a long time ago, but he has his memories, as Ekaterina Loushnikova discovered when she went to see him.
