Totalitarian rule, war, sanctions, invasion, destruction, sectarian suspicions, western manipulation all have brought Iraq to its knees. Any formula that relies on a basic regrouping and reshuffling of a corrupt regime in control of state resources will collapse in violence.
Prominent neo-conservatives associated with the G.W.Bush administration have written to President Obama calling for a US-led Nato to develop plans to command Libyan waters and air space. Will this protect the Libyan people?
The arrest of Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the defeated presidential candidates and leaders of Iran's Green Movement marks a new phase of repression in Iran. But a leaderless movement may emerge from this crisis united and all the stronger, as Egypt and Tunisia's protest movements have show
The Arab world has spoken truth to power in ways that question the celebration of western style democracies and the ‘end of history’ marked by the ‘1989 velvet revolutions’.
Our author prepares for Mardi Gras, intent on paying proper tribute to his local culture.
The human security outlook deteriorates in Côte d'Ivoire, and "free and fair" elections are shown again to be far from a sufficient condition for democratic transition
With its oil reserves measured in years rather than decades and facing the imminent yet difficult transition to a post-oil economy, Bahrainis simply cannot afford another wasted ten-year cycle of partial reform and renewed repression. Major unrest in the Gulf States is altering their self-projecti
International pressure on Gaddafi mounts. Belarus violates Ivorian arms embargo as violence escalates. Rangoon bomb blast. Yemen to announce government of national unity within 24 hours. North Korea threatens war over leaflets. All this and more in today’s briefing...
For over three years now, we have relied on Gaddafi and his state apparatus to keep asylum seekers and other migrants away from our European doors.
International organisations will never regain popular legitimacy if they continue their inaction over Libya. Intervention must be measured so as not to exacerbate the situation, but inaction is the worst course of all.
Some have linked the emergence of a strong human rights agenda in the Arab world with the policies of the last American president. In a way they are right: post-9/11 abuses overseen by the Bush administration were the tragedy that brought to light the urgency of claiming rights.
