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Attiya Ahmad is Georgetown University’s 2009-10 Center for International and Regional Studies Post-Doctoral Fellow. She recently completed her PhD in Cultural Anthropology at Duke University. Dr. Ahmad’s work brings together scholarship on Islamic studies, globalization, diaspora and migration studies, economic anthropology, and political economy.
The Iranian government rejected France’s call for talks over Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths will lead a new round of negotiations next week to attempt to end the long and costly war in Yemen. A new UN report this week that outlines possible war crimes by the parties engaged in the conflict underscores the need to find a resolution. MEI’s Gerald Feierstein, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, and Randa Slim, who was a member of the last UN negotiating team on Yemen, join host Paul Salem to assess the prospects for the peace talks.
On Aug. 15, Qatari Emir Shaykh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pledged to invest $15 billion in Turkey’s economy. The pledge will provided temporary relief to Turkey’s beleaguered banking industry following tense Turkish-U.S. diplomatic relations that most recently led to a precipitous drop in the value of the Turkish lira.
Read the full article on Foreign Policy.
On Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani appeared in front of Iran’s parliament to defend his government’s economic record. He faced a tough crowd. The body had already removed his economy minister, Masoud Karbasian, on Sunday. And before that, it had canned his labor minister, Ali Rabiei. Both were ousted on charges amounting to incompetence.
Over the past 25 years, the world has seen a rise in the frequency of natural disasters in rich and poor countries alike. Today, there are more people at risk from natural hazards than ever, with those in developing countries particularly at risk. This essay series explores measures that have been taken, and could be taken, in order to improve responses to the threat or occurrence of natural disasters in the MENA and Indo-Pacific regions.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Jean-François Seznec, Randa Slim, and Charles Lister provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Saudi Aramco’s stalled IPO, the Iraqi Kurds’ evolving role in government formation talks, and ratcheting tensions in Idlib.
The bureaucratic battle for Saudi Arabia’s future
Jean-François Seznec, MEI Scholar
In August 2017, President Donald Trump gave a speech outlining his Afghanistan policy, a major aim of which was to compel the Taliban to begin peace negotiations with the Kabul government by applying military pressure on the insurgency. Simultaneously, he criticized Pakistan—terming it deceitful—while praising neighboring India for its development work in Afghanistan.
Turkey is under enormous strain as it faces an economic crisis that has caused the lira to lose 40% of its value since the beginning of this year; an ongoing crisis in domestic politics; and an international relations crisis with the United States. Gönül Tol, MEI’s director of Turkish studies, and Ömer Taşpınar, professor at the National War College, join host Paul Salem to explain the causes of these challenges and what lies ahead.
Read the full article on The American Interest.
As Bahraini government security services cracked down hard on popular protests against the ruling Al-Khalifa family in February 2011, the U.S. Department of Defense quietly considered alternative basing options for the Fifth Fleet, stationed permanently in Bahrain since 1995.
Over the past 20 years, Indonesia — the world’s fourth most-populous country and the largest Muslim-majority nation — has evolved into a democracy based on tolerance and a moderate interpretation of Islam, and has emerged as one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. This essay is part of a series on “Indonesia and the Middle East: Exploring Connections,” which examines the nature, scope, and implications of Indonesia’s ties with the MENA region.
There are numerous, unmistakable signs that the crisis in Syria is moving to a new phase, one that will push Washington further to the sidelines. Not least among these fresh developments is the rapidly evolving situation in Syria’s northeast, where Washington’s Kurdish allies are slowly but surely reconciling with the Assad regime.
