Civil society in Tunisia is embroiled in a struggle for political power now raging in the transitional period which is divided along secular and Islamist lines.
The ongoing protests have only emphasised the gap between the Turkish government and the EU, and between Turkey and Arab leaders whose fear of revolt doesn’t necessarily translate into political solidarity with Ankara.
Concerned by misrepresentation of Egypt’s withdrawal from the recent NPT meeting in Geneva, a retired Egyptian Ambassador puts the record straight and suggests ways to put the Conference on WMD in the Middle East back on track.
A solution to the Cyprus conflict remains elusive, particularly since national elites use it to maintain their positions of power. Only moving the peace-related segment of Cyprus’s civil society away from the periphery will make a locally-accepted peace process viable.
Fundamentalist mass murder of Algerian people of letters in the 1990s was an intellectocide, in the tradition of totalitarian culture wars. Today, official limits on expression benefit fundamentalist ideas. This is the second death of Algerian intellectuals, says Mustapha Benfodil
L'assassinat massif des intellectuels algériens par les intégristes dans les années 1990 est un veritable intellectocide. Aujourd’hui, des formes de censure culturel officiel sont à l'œuvre, laissant le champ libre aux idées les plus rétrogrades. C'est la deuxième mort des intellectuels Algériens
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Algerian jihadists war on culture. Those who waged the intellectual struggle against fundamentalism in Algeria throughout the 1990s received little support internationally. Karima Bennoune pays tribute to those who fell in the culturicide, and warns
Cette année marque le vingtième anniversaire de la guerre menée par des djihadistes algériens contre la culture. Karima Bennoune rend hommage à ceux qui sont tombés dans ce culturicide et appelle à l’urgente la nécessité de ne pas les oublier.
Expecting new global powers to promote human rights abroad via the United Nations assumes that they will play by the old rules and - if such pressure is to be effective - that human rights factors will condition their bilateral relationships; neither is likely. A contribution to the openGlobalRigh
Arming Syrian rebel forces could tip the balance and break the deadlock - at the negotiating table.
Rather than giving the opposition a decisive means to victory, arms to Syria will only prolong the violence and suggest a grander agenda: rebalancing regional power.
Syria’s agony has been a critical factor in the surprise outcome of Iran’s presidential election. Iran’s Supreme Leader has risked a second opening to the west by allowing Dr Hassan Rouhani’s election to stand. The west must respond urgently in kind.
