Change isn’t on the ballot as Iranians head to the polls
With just a few days left before Iranians head to the polls, it is clear that the June 28 presidential election is not exciting the country’s voters. After several televised debates, some of which have been mildly contentious, the six men in the race have failed to energize the public. In fact, a major “no vote” campaign has been under way on social media and elsewhere, aimed at convincing Iranians to stay home.
“Vision of darkness balanced by light”: Lebanese-American Artist Nabil Kanso’s Works Express the Current Moment, Decades After Their Creation
Nearly six decades after Kanso moved to America and began his career as a visual artist, his work remains enormously important, channeling the zeitgeist of our uncertain and violent era. Yet as dark as Kanso’s vision is, he also reminds us that even the most hellacious of contexts can contain light and the possibility of rebirth and renewal.
Alex Vatanka (Director, MEI’s Iran Program) and Ali Afshari (Iranian political analyst and pro-democracy activist) discuss Iran’s snap presidential elections, set to be held on June 28th, following the sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month. The 63-year-old regime loyalist was widely viewed as a leading potential successor to the Islamic Republic’s 85-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The elections come as Iran faces a number of challenges both at home and abroad, ranging from long-running domestic economic troubles and preparations for an eventual leadership transition to the regional reverberations of the ongoing war in Gaza and the tit-for-tat exchange of missile and drone strikes with Israel in April.
ليبيا تظل مفتاح الناتو لمواجهة الأنشطة الروسية الخبيثة في أفريقيا
قبل ثماني سنوات، لم يكن أحد يتوقع أن روسيا ستتوسع في أفريقيا بهذه السرعة والشمولية. واليوم، هناك إدراك واسع النطاق للتهديد الذي يشكله التوسع الروسي المزعزع للاستقرار في أفريقيا على حلف الناتو وأعضائه والمنطقة الأفريقية.
No real alternative: The failure of opposition parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region
Politics in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region is centered on the ruling duopoly of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Other political parties — broadly referred to as the opposition — offer themselves as alternatives to the KDP and the PUK, but are disorganized, divided, and largely unable to capitalize on public grievances about governance. At present, they do not constitute a viable alternative to the ruling parties.
New US pier off Gaza holds opportunities beyond humanitarian aid
The new U.S. pier off Gaza is back in operational mode, after breaking apart and undergoing a week of repairs. Despite the rocky start, this American initiative could serve as a steppingstone towards a new, more peaceful, post-war Israeli-Palestinian reality. But for this to happen, the U.S. will need to leverage opportunities, address regional skepticism and bring the Palestinians on board.
Migration in North Africa: EU Engagement & Policies
MEI’s North Africa & the Sahel Program Director Intissar Fakir and Guillaume Soto-Mayor discuss Soto-Mayor’s paper “Libya, Tunisia, and Niger as Case Studies for Counter-Productive Anti-Migration Policies” – including how EU policies reinforce criminal patterns and empower illicit networks in these areas.
A Turkish foreign minister in China: Subtitles of a silent visit
The most defining aspect of the Sino-Turkish relationship is the need for Turkey to find economic or geopolitical leverage to attain some semblance of equality with China. During Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s recent visit to Beijing, his subtle references to the Turkic and Islamic credentials of Xinjiang may have gotten lost in translation for the Chinese.
To assist government policymakers faced with a plethora of “day after” plans for Gaza, the following proposes a framework for how to consider and decide among such proposals.
