Door een akkoord te sluiten met Iran jagen we onbewust de soennieten verder in de handen van groeperingen als IS en Al Qaida. Toegegeven, de nucleaire deal met Iran is een historische overeenkomst zoals er de laatste decennia maar weinig zijn gesloten in het Midden-Oosten. Qua symbolische waarde zeker vergelijkbaar met het Camp David-akkoord uit…
The Senate Report on the CIA’s use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques – or just plain torture – has shocked many. Despite the fact that much of these revelations where not new, it will still have an important legacy on global politics and counter-terrorism practices in the future. The report is an important document for several…
Being in Lebanon I noticed Saad Hariri’s 14 March movement showed remarkably poor strategic vision and tactical savvy in dealing with the bombing in Ashrafieh. This article was published by Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram When a car bomb detonated in the Christian quarter Ashrafieh in East Beirut I was only half a mile away. I…
In last week’s edition of Al Ahram Weekly, James Zogby from the Arab American Institute argued that the US should not promote democracy in the Arab world as long as it fails to listen to Arab voices. Zogby makes a very compelling argument why Washington indeed struggles to support and nurture democracy in the region.…
My latest take on the Iranian nuclear issue published by New Europe. An adapted version of this article featured in Hürriyet Daily news The debate on how to tackle Iran’s nuclear ambitions is once again dominating the political arena in Israel and the United States following the assassination of a nuclear scholar in Teheran. With…
My latest article exploring the potential for EU relations with the new Middle East. It was published by EUobserver.com BRUSSELS – One of the most striking elements of the outside involvement in the Arab Spring is the failure of the Obama administration to develop a comprehensive approach in dealing with the uprisings. The United States…
I wrote this article in September, a day before the General Assembly of the UN. It was published by the Atlantic Community and also by Daily News Egypt (the latter without informing me!) On Friday, 193 UN member states formally received Palestine’s request for statehood. This is a bold move with potential to bring about…
