السياسة العربية والإسلامية

Late last month, two diplomatic rows erupted when French president Nicolas Sarkozy visited Turkey and Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Germany. Sarkozy had an unfriendly welcome in Ankara, including a deliberately unflattering photo that showed Erdogan towering over him during a handshake. And during a speech in Dusseldorf

On Friday, March 11, groups advocating greater political freedom in Saudi Arabia plan to hold a "day of rage" in the kingdom, mimicking protests that have been sweeping through much of the rest of the Arab world. These demonstrations have been scheduled despite Riyadh's announcement last month of a $36

On March 6, Iraqi soldiers acting on the orders of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shut down the Baghdad offices of two Iraqi political parties.

On February 24, 2011, the two leaders of the Iranian opposition Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi, were arrested and taken initially to Heshmatiyeh prison in Tehran. Meanwhile, within the ruling circle of the Islamic Republic, hardliners are trying to further consolidate their position. At least as important

Although few serious analysts of Saudi Arabia believe that politics in the kingdom could play out as dramatically as recent events in North Africa, it remains to be seen whether the Saudi people will continue to quietly accept the royal family's succession chess game.

The United States should make at least $50 million available immediately for democratic institution building in Tunisia. The country's size and considerable assets mean that a modest investment could bring huge returns for the Tunisian people and U.S.-Tunisia relations.

As Egypt's revolution reaches the one-month mark, the first of the people's major demands has been met with the departure of Hosni Mubarak. But this development has left the country's leadership in the hands of the Supreme Military Council (SMC), a body apparently headed by Mubarak's minister of defense, Muhammad

Egypt is now effectively under military control and will likely remain so for some months. The Supreme Military Council (SMC) holds effective decisionmaking authority, although a civilian cabinet remains in place. The SMC has pledged to make a swift transition to a new civilian government, but to date it has

On February 16, Bahraini security forces used brute force to clear democracy protestors from Manama's Pearl Square, on orders from a regime seemingly undaunted by international media coverage and the near-instantaneous self-reporting of Twitter-generation demonstrators. Although the relatively small size of the crowds (compared to recent protests in Egypt and