This paper is part of a MEI scholar series titled “The Middle East and the 2016 Presidential Elections.”
Introduction
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Randa Slim, Charles Schmitz, and Paul Salem provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the next round of Syrian peace talks, the cease-fire in Yemen and the negotiations ahead, and Saudi King Salman’s visits to Egypt and Turkey.
Round Two of Syrian Peace Talks
Randa Slim, Director of the Initiative for Track II Dialogues
No European government has made any substantial reference to the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principle (R2P) during the current migrant crisis. This is remarkable since the crisis, which has gone on for the past five years, is mainly due to displacement of people fleeing from mass atrocities and crimes. At the same time, several European governments are using the word ‘protection’ with reference to European citizens and borders to justify the need of a ‘fortress Europe’. The world ‘protection’ has probably never been more popular in post-cold war Europe. At the same time, the word seems to have lost its association with R2P since the principle’s inception.
“The ‘Islamic State’ Rocked Crusader Europe Again. Hundreds of Deaths and Injuries as a Result of Martyrdom Operations in Brussels,” read the headline of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) Arabic-language newsletter al-Naba’ on March 21, 2016. There were not much details about the terrorist bombings, but they certainly follow a pattern established since early 2015. “Do not look for specific targets. Kill anybody,” said Boubaker Hakim, an ISIS commander of French-Tunisian origins, in an interview initially published in March 2015 by ISIS’ French-language magazine Dar al-Islam.
This essay examines China-Iran trade relations, as well as Chinese investments in Iran. Particularly, it asks whether the Chinese-Iranian stated ambition to increase the value of bilateral trade to $600 billion within a decade is attainable. Additionally, it identifies the factors responsible for the trade deficit in Iran’s favor, and shows that the pace of China’s foreign direct investment (F.D.I) in Iran is slowing in spite of absolute increases.
On a sub-level inside one of the Smithsonian’s art galleries in Washington, a man stood entranced by the Golden Hour, a six by eight foot photographic composition of Mecca.
The man noted the dozens of cranes and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, a monstrous and controversial piece of architecture that dwarfs everything around it. Then, with his finger, the visitor carefully air circumnavigated around the Great Mosque.
“What’s this tiny black cube in the middle?” he asked, pointing to the Kaaba.
Some problems cannot be postponed indefinitely, and Libya is one of them. U.N. mediators, fronting for a hesitant and oft-divided international community, are running out of gimmicks for further talks among the feuding parties in Libya’s dysfunctional political process. Moving swiftly after his arrival in Tripoli last Wednesday, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj reached out to the Libyan public, key central government institutions, and regional and municipal authorities.
In the Declaration on European Identity, the nine Member States at that time expressed their determination to build a community of law and democracy which measures up to the needs of the individual and preserves the rich variety of national cultures.[12] Many things have changed since 1973, but I would argue, the building blocks for a political—as well constructive—notion of European identity remain the same … Yet, the actions of the member states during the last 12 months with respect to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ reveal their betrayal of those commitments undertaken in 1973.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Gonul Tol, Robert S. Ford, Charles Lister, and Paul Salem provide analysis on recent events including Turkish President Erdogan’s visit to Washington, the reshuffling of Iraq’s cabinet, King Salman’s forthcoming visit to Egypt, and the latest attempts by Jabhat al-Nusra over the weekend to disrupt the Syrian political process.
At the request of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Middle East Institute (MEI) solicited a series of short academic papers on aspects of Kazakhstan’s domestic and regional policies for advancing prosperity, confidence-building, political stability, and nuclear nonproliferation. Experts from MEI and three other leading institutions presented their work in a round table discussion on March 29, 2016. They engaged in an active exchange of views with invited counterparts from the U.S. administration, think tanks, and from Central Asia, including Afghanistan.
The Middle East Institute (MEI) is saddened by the passing of Zaha Hadid, the renowned Iraqi-born architect whose iconic structures ignited imaginations and experimented with new spatial concepts. Hadid was the first female and first Arab recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field’s highest honor. In 2013 she received MEI’s Issam M. Fares Award for Excellence in recognition of her visionary contribution to architecture and urban design.
This essay examines the 2015 Bay of Bengal migrant crisis in Asia from three broad perspectives: 1) the historically entrenched views towards the Rohingyas in Myanmar, which are now conflated with religion and which have exacerbated the refugee situation; 2) the lack of humanitarian response by governments for the plight of the displaced; and 3) the challenges of using regional mechanisms to tackle the issue.
A casual, short visit to Stockholm may not yield any eye-opening revelations. The mood is as tranquil as ever—the trendy restaurants and bars occupy every neighborhood in the center, and the grandeur of its dazzling, opulent architecture blinds the eye from noticing the Roma beggars scattered across the city.
