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Fikra Forum

Fikra Forum

خلق الحوار. التأثير على السياسة.

Generating Dialogue. Impacting Policy.

Lebanese are Tired of Hosting Syrian Refugees

Edward Gabriel

During a recent trip to Lebanon, members of the American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) were struck not only by the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Lebanon but also by how many Lebanese blame the strains of their country on the significant number of Syrian refugees who remain in the country. Without the partnership of the United States, Lebanon, and the international community, they fear these suffering refugees and host communities will become even bigger losers in a larger regional conflict.

Fikra Forum

“Miss Me Yet?” What the UAE Drawdown Means For the United States and UN in Yemen

Michael Knights

At the end of June, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used a combination of leaks and statements to communicate that it was beginning to fold its large military intervention in support of the internationally-recognized—if rather undeserving—government of Yemen. The UAE’s drawdown has a number of possible consequences for the counter-terrorism fight, the humanitarian situation, the UN peace process, and the military balance inside Yemen.

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Gorran and the End of Populism in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Mera Jasm Bakr

After months of back and forth, the leading parties of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are engaged in negotiations to finalize the cabinet, which must be completed by July 12. Yet as the shape of the KRG’s coalition government becomes clearer, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s (KRI) opposition party Gorran appears to have accepted its minor role in the coalition government.

How Iran’s New Education Proposal Silences and Criminalizes Non-Persian Languages

Rahim Hamid

Despite Iran’s composition as a multi-ethnic country whose citizens speak dozens of languages—including Persian, Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish, Balochi, Turkmen, and the Caspian people’s Gilaki and Mazandarani—the prevalent educational policy in the country deliberately ignores this linguistic pluralism and enforces Persian-Iranian hegemony in the form of language exclusivity.

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The Uncertain Future of Algeria’s Anti-Corruption Battles

Ahmed Marwane

In Algeria, a recent crackdown by Algeria’s transitional government has caused a number of prominent senior officials from the Bouteflika era to face charges from the Sidi M'hamed central court in Algiers, mostly related to corruption. While systemic corruption was one of the issues that fueled Algeria’s recent protest movement, questions regarding the motivation behind these cases have weakened the public’s trust in an already uncertain political and economic system.

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Exploring Russia’s Humanitarian Intervention in Syria

Marika Sosnowski and Paul Hastings

From September 2015, Russia’s military intervention into the Syrian civil war succeeded in turning the conflict’s momentum from the opposition back to the Syrian government. However, in the past few years Russia has simultaneously undertaken a quieter intervention in the Syrian conflict through humanitarian institutions.

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Fikra Forum is an initiative of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The views expressed by Fikra Forum contributors are the personal views of the individual authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the Institute, its staff, Board of Directors, or Board of Advisors.​​

منتدى فكرة هو مبادرة لمعهد واشنطن لسياسة الشرق الأدنى. والآراء التي يطرحها مساهمي المنتدى لا يقرها المعهد بالضرورة، ولا موظفيه ولا مجلس أدارته، ولا مجلس مستشاريه، وإنما تعبر فقط عن رأى أصاحبها