Nabil Mohsen

The strategic balance in the Black Sea region has shifted dramatically in Russia’s favor in the past decade. Russian anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities in Crimea, and the ongoing modernization of its Black Sea Fleet, enable Russia to threaten its neighbors’access to sea lanes and economic resources and apply coercive pressure via conventional power projection. Littoral states should prioritize addressing the military imbalance to deter Russian coercive actions. Rather than rely on increased U.S. presence, Black Sea states should create a flexible network within NATO or the EU to build their own A2/AD capabilities.

ما الذي حصل يوم السادس من يناير في اقتحام الكونغرس وما الذي أدى إلى ذلك؟ هل كانت حادثة عفوية أم مُخطّط لها؟ هل يمكن حصول أحداث مشابهة في يوم التنصيب؟ ما هي الانعكاسات لما حصل على العملية السياسية وعلى الحزبين الجمهوريين والديمقراطيين؟ وما هي آثاره على المجتمع الأمريكي؟ وكيف سيؤثر على إدارة بايدن وقدرته على تمرير أجندته وتنفيذها؟

Is Iran’s Proxy Warfare Strategy of Forward Defense Sustainable?

MEI experts Gerald Feierstein, Alex Vatanka, Gonul Tol, and Charles Lister join host Alistair Taylor to survey what lies ahead for the region in the year ahead, with particular attention to Yemen, Iran, Turkey, and Syria.

The Biden administration will face a number of major challenges in the Middle East over the next four years, from great power competition and climate change to cybersecurity and refugees and migration. But what realistically can it achieve in that time on the policy front? To better understand what’s possible, we asked 10 experts from across MEI to weigh in with their thoughts.

Until December 26, 2020, techno music was not a common topic of conversation in Palestine. That changed when Sama Abdulhadi, a famous techno DJ, gave a concert at Maqam Nabi Musa that provoked a backlash from religious conservatives. Abdulhadi, who is a Palestinian living abroad, decided to return to her homeland to perform three concerts that would be streamed on Beatport, a website specializing in techno music. She reached an agreement with the Ministry of Tourism to perform at Maqam Nabi Musa for a crowd of about 30.

A decade on from the Arab Spring, 9 experts from across MEI offer their thoughts on what has and hasn’t changed — and what it all means for the future of the region.

Keeping up with and making sense of the flood of information about the COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge. It doesn’t help that much of that information is misleading, often by design. The “infodemic” surrounding the coronavirus, described as such by the World Health Organization (WHO) as early as February 2020, “spreads faster and more easily than the virus” itself. A recent joint statement by WHO, UN, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNAIDS, ITU, UN Global Pulse, and IFRC noted grave consequences. It is “undermining the public health response and advancing alternative agendas of groups [and] individuals,” in ways that “cost lives … and threaten long-term prospects for advancing democracy, human rights, and social cohesion.”

عن تصنيف الحوثيين كمنظمة إرهابية والانتقال الديمقراطي في تونس.

Temporary marriages and sex tourism in Iran

This paper looks at the political implications of the relationship between Shi’a in the Gulf states and Iranian marj‘as, the historical background to these ties, and Gulf states’ concerns surrounding the outflow to Iran of religious taxes. In some Gulf countries, these issues are tied to concerns about the loyalty of Shi’a to the nation. The authors argue that the emergence of a marj‘a who would be based in one of the Gulf states could quell these concerns.The authors identify potential marj‘as from the region and steps that Gulf states must take so that their Shi’a citizens will shift their allegiance from foreign-based marj‘as to domestically based ones.

The leaders of EU institutions and most of its member states are undoubtedly counting on a general improvement in transatlantic relations under Biden, but also on a fresh start for policy in the Middle East.

In two months’ time, Syria’s crisis will turn 10 years old — a grim milestone for what has been the most deadly and destructive civil conflict in recent history.