The reason that there’s no plausible end-game in Syria anytime soon — and that thousands more Syrians may be fated to die before the conflict is ended — is that the Assad regime is fighting a very different war to the one envisaged by many of its opponents. For Arab and…
It is the revolution of fighting the patriarch. By Mona Eltahawy The Guardian There’s a thin line between sex and politics, and it is nonsense to keep repeating the mantra that Egypt’s revolution “wasn’t about gender”. What revolution worth its salt can be fuelled by demands of freedom and dignity and not have…
Actress Golshifteh Farahani attends the ‘Poulet Aux Prunes’ premiere during the 68th Venice Film Festival at Palazzo del Cinema on September 3, 2011 in Venice, Italy. (Getty) While the Iranian government may not be the biggest fan of native actress Golshifteh Farahani after her skin-baring photo shoot for Le Madame Figaro and for appearing…
Egypt Joins “nude photo revolution” Aliya Mahdy with her body, debunk all myths of Egyptian liberalism. Despise Aliya Mahdy or not, she has done what few revolutionaries in Egypt have been able to do: take revolutionary action. Her public display of her naked body in a blog post has seen attacks from…
A protester waves Egypt’s flag as riot police fire tear gas during clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo; a plea for donations is made at the Occupy London camp outside St. Paul’s Cathedral
What’s at stake in Syria goes well beyond the mere fate of a local dictatorship – however deadly it may be. What is at stake, and is on the brink of collapse, is a major strategic alliance in the Middle East. The Syrians who have been challenging Bashar al-Assad’s regime since March – many paying…
Cairo Thousands of Egyptians stormed the Israeli embassy. The ambassador had to be flown to safety in a military aircraft. In Ankara, too, Israel’s representative was driven out – by the government of Turkey, the host country. The Arab Spring has segued into an incandescent Arab Summer now threatened by a cold snap….
Robert Fisk: Now the Arab Spring becomes an Arab Summer Saturday, 16 July 2011 Rex Features Motorised French troops in Syria, near the border with Palestine, in June 1941. After the Second World War the French were persuaded to abandon their former mandated territories Syrians shot down in the streets across…
Egypt’s Rising Power Player Amr Moussa is on track to succeed Mubarak. And that spells danger for Israel. Head of the Arab League, Moussa has a long history of anti-Israel diatribes. At first glance, Amr Moussa would seem to have scant hope of winning Egypt’s upcoming presidential election—the first truly free contest in…