As the slow wheels of government inch toward policies that lead to cleaner air, Egyptian drivers could be provided with faster results by an unlikely partner—Chinese auto companies.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Marvin G. Weinbaum, Charles Lister, Paul Salem, and Ahmad Majidyar provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the recent Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, upcoming Syria talks in Sochi, the crackdown on competition in Egypt’s presidential campaign, and U.S. and European reconsideration of the Iran nuclear deal.
Read the full article on The Washington Post.
President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate the U.S. embassy there was met with Arab and international censure. The United Nations General Assembly voted 128 to 9, with 35 abstentions, for a resolution demanding that the United States rescind this declaration. Human rights groups decry the decision as a death knell for the two-state solution.
Lebanese judicial authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Iran-backed Iraqi militia group called Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Iran’s Fars News Agency reports. Quoting Lebanese sources, Fars added that the Lebanese Army and General Security Directorate have also ordered all relevant authorities to arrest the Iraqi militia commander if he reenters Lebanon. They allege that Khazali last year had entered Lebanon illegally.
The deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces has said that, with the military defeat of ISIS, the paramilitary forces will now play a key role in the security sector, Fars News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) reported.
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has urged European powers not to support the Trump administration’s efforts to amend or cancel the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers in 2015. Ali Shamkhani also stressed that Tehran would not renegotiate the nuclear accord.
Widespread protests have rocked Tunisia in recent weeks in response to a series of tax increases, exposing a general frustration among the population who have yet to see the fruits of the 2011 revolution. Are these the growing pains of a nascent democracy, or is Tunisia at another breaking point? Dokhi Fassihian (Freedom House), Eric Goldstein (Human Rights Watch), and Tunisian journalist and researcher Asma Ghribi join Paul Salem to discuss.
Read the full article on The National Interest.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced on Wednesday that its agents had seized two large caches of weapons and explosives intended for “terrorist operations” in public areas, the Iranian media reported.
A senior official of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that he has no information about a recent decree reportedly issued by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling on the country’s armed forces to transfer their investment holdings and commercial assets to the private sector. “I was unable to find such a declaration and have not seen it,” Brigadier General Mohammad-Saleh Jokar, the deputy head of IRGC in parliamentary and legal affairs told Etemad Online.
The spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas thanked Iran for its support to the “anti-Israeli resistance front.” In an interview with Tasnim News Ag
On January 20, Iran’s defense minister said that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered the country’s powerful Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to curtail its growing business empire and divest its commercial assets that are not relevant to its domain of work. The announcement has raised the hope that the regime may have finally decided to loosen the IRGC’s grip on the economy.
January 24, 2018 – Turkey began 2018 embroiled in domestic dissent and diplomatic friction. Last April’s constitutional referendum was met with widespread criticism as an attempt by President Erdogan to consolidate power. Activists and journalists face increasing restrictions on their rights, the government continues its crackdown on the opposition, and debates swirl over the future of Turkey’s economy, the Kurdish question, and relations with the United States and European Union.
