On Thursday, the Center for Transatlantic Relations and the Department of Conflict of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies hosted a panel discussion about Algeria’s upcoming elections and prospects for revolution. The panel featured Alexis Arieff, analyst in African and Middle East Affairs for the Congressional Research Service, John Entelis researcher for the Middle East Studies Program at Fordham University, Eric Goldstein from Human Rights Watch, and Daniele Moro, visiting ...

Jason Pack and Barak Bafi published a policy brief through the Washington Institute for Near East Policy discussing the ongoing struggle for power in a post-Qadhafi Libya. The paper discussed historical background of the conflict, current challenges and problems facing the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) and, suggested policies to rectify the current security issues. The authors argue the volatility that characterized post-Qadhafi Libya, which directly undermines the authority of the NTC,  is ...

On March 2, Iranians will have their first chance to vote since 2009 elections, which resulted in nation-wide protests and a sweeping wave of detentions. This round of elections Iranians will choose their representation in the 290-seat parliament. A large portion of Iran’s population “see it as a meaningless exercise” seeing as the regime prevents dissidents from standing in the election. The number of registered candidates fell by nearly a third ...

On Tuesday, GeorgeWashingtonUniversityhosted a panel on the Syrian uprising and its future prospects. The speakers were Bassam Haddad from George Mason University, Salwa Ismail, from the University of London and Steven Heydemann from the U.S. Institute of Peace. The event was moderated by Marc Lynch fromGeorgeWashingtonUniversity.   For full event notes, continue reading below or click here for the PDF   Marc Lynch opened the panel by questioning how to effectively response to the ever-escalating ...

On Thursday, the Center for National Policy hosted a panel discussing choices facing the international community and the implications of an ever increasingly violent conflict in Syria. Among the panelists were Middle East Project Director Mona Yacoubian, Washington Bureau Chief of Al-Arabiyya Hisham Melham, and Professor Daniel Serwer from Johns Hopkins University. The event was moderated by Bloomberg News correspondent Indira Lakshmana. For full event notes, continue reading below or click ...

FRIDE released a report this month discussing the role religion will play in the ongoing transitions to democracy across the MENA region. The report discussed the emergence of Islamist parties into the political sphere, some new and some established, and the implications of the ideologies on their political decisions. Religion has always been " a major force of Arab Politics." According to the report, the success of Islamist parties can be attributed to their ...

Late Tuesday, a Sunni youth group organized a rally of 20,000 people in central Manama protesting the dialogue between the regime and opposition parties. "How can there be a dialogue at this time?" questioned Khalid Bloashi, one of the groups organizers. "The priority is deterring vandalism that aims to blackmail the nation from foreign agendas...we will never accept backroom dialogue, so for how long with the state ignore us?" he said. The ...

On Tuesday, the Jordanian National Movement and the Jordan National Council hosted a press conference outlining the most recent issues and concerns regarding the “Arab Spring” developments in the Arab world and Jordan. The press conference dealt with King Abdullah II regime’s corruption, human rights records, and the systematic harassment of opposition leaders, journalist and activist in Jordan. The panel featured Stephen McInerney, executive director of Project on Middle East Democracy, ...

After intercepting communication between Syrian Army Officers, Lebanese intelligence staff has determined that "direct orders were issued to target the makeshift press centre in which Colvin had been broadcasting." This news comes as a shock after the recent death of the 55 year old Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin and 28 year old photographer Remi Ochlik. Lebanese intelligence reported that if journalists were successfully killed, their deaths were to be made out to ...

On Wednesday, the Project on Middle East Democracy hosted a panel discussing Turkey’s increasingly important role on the world stage and the Arab world supporting democracy and the seemingly widening gap between Turkey’s international and domestic image as a democracy. The panel featured Executive Director of the Institute for Turkish Studies Dr. Sinan Ciddi, Assistant Professor at St. Lawrence University and Turkey Specialist Howard Eissenstat, and former ambassador to Turkey ...