Policy Analysis

When Jordan traced its first case of coronavirus to an individual who had traveled to Italy on March 2, the response was swift. March air raid sirens, which called for a full curfew and social distancing, the likes of which the nation had not witnessed since September 1971. The semi-rentier

Iran’s coronavirus outbreak has left the government struggling to respond, to the point that the regime has announced the release of 85,000 prisoners to reduce the risk of coronavirus spread in overcrowded prisons. However, this amnesty policy has excluded a significant majority of Iran’s prison population, no less likely to

Since Italy first announced its first confirmed case of coronavirus in late January, the virus has spread throughout the country with unprecedented speed. Today, Italy has become one of the major epicenters of the pandemic as the number of confirmed cases and deaths continues to climb, though restrictive social distancing

Since March 13, my family and I have been locked at home in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), ordering all supplies and groceries via deliveries provided by the local supermarkets. As my neighbor Mr. Namiq, a public servant, put it: “Public daily routine has gotten complicated. [We have] a

The coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the world and is a new contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which scientists believe originated from a mutated virus carried by bats and originated in Wuhan, China December of last year. As of March 27, more than 549,105 cases

With the spread of coronavirus restricting travel, European leaders are meeting virtually with Ankara this week in an attempt to resuscitate and potentially fine-tune a flawed migration deal from 2016, which has now effectively collapsed. This will come as the second attempt in less than a month to reach an

Iran has been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 11,364 confirmed cases. While Iran struggles to contain the virus, its healthcare system has become severely stressed and public health officials have done little to ease public anxiety. And as the coronavirus epidemic continues to worsen, vulnerable populations

The first signs of the coronavirus epidemic came just two weeks before Israel’s third election, when fourteen Israelis were quarantined for two weeks on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan. For Israel’s politicians, the virus gave them the excuse to bombard the electorate with news of

The disenchanted response of much of the Arab world to U.S. President Trump’s recently announced Peace Proposal has highlighted the serious need for alternative visions of a peace process, especially from Palestinians. And as an international community, we need to shake the foundations of this conflict to find peace. The

Around the start of the Lunar New Year holiday on January 25, fears heightened as experts announced that the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP) could no longer be contained in its origin city of Wuhan, China. Because much remains unknown about the virus, the international public has been reacting in a

With this year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day recognizing the 75th anniversary of the freeing of Auschwitz, it is also important for the German public to address the potential implications of a new wave of anti-Semitism within its borders. Germany’s notable acceptance of over one million refugees from Syria, where anti-Semitic

The four most vital governorates in Yemen, in terms of agriculture and population density, are Sana’a, Ibb, Taiz, and Hodeidah. Ibb in particular is known as “the fertile province” or “Ibb the Green” because of its unusual amounts of rainfall and soil properties, and it serves as a major agricultural

With Israel preparing for an unprecedented third national election in March, domestic politics have been trapped in a kind of political stasis for almost a year since the original elections in April 2019. But demands for reform have not stopped, including the contentious question of crime and punishment in Israel

Iranian regime forces and affiliated militias have been taking advantage of the world’s diverted attention to carry out a campaign of slaughter and mass arrests against the country’s Ahwazi Arabs. These killings are occurring in the Ma`shour (also known as the Bandar-e Ma`shour) area of the Arab Ahwaz region of

In his briefing on Yemen’s peace process on October 17, the United Nation’s Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, mentioned the importance of bringing peace to the currently besieged city of Taiz. Although the inhabitants of Taiz appreciate Mr. Griffiths’ sentiments, we want more than his word. We

Back in 2015—during the annual forum at American University in Suleimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan—I had the chance to tell former U.S. special presidential envoy for the Middle East Brett McGurk to “please tell our friends in the administration to not confuse us [the Kurds] with the conflicting U.S. foreign policies of

Sudan’s revolutionary spirit has succeeded in toppling the country’s dictator and achieving the Sudanese people’s aspiration of seeing their country free from the most oppressive and bloody regime in Sudanese history. The Sudanese people are now prepared to push forward on a set of ambitious yet achievable goals and targets

In early October, deadly protests calling for an end to pervasive corruption, improvement of basic services, and further job opportunities swept through the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities.

As Yemen’s devastating war drudges into its fifth year with no end in sight, Yemen’s public sector continues to deteriorate at alarming rates within the conflict zone. The already weakened state of the public sector, especially education, is expected to worsen in the near future. While the plight of Yemen’s

As of now, it appears that the American public is not yet aware of the full consequences of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. While most American media outlets are focusing on the military side of the problem, and as the European Union is panicking over the possibility of