Khartoum, Sudan, 2009: Ten women were publicly flogged and fined for wearing trousers following a spate of arrests at the hands of the Public Order Police, the governmental law enforcement body charged with upholding standards of public morality. Since 1991 gendered clothing specifications have been enforced, with female Islamic dress covering the body increasingly replacing [...]
Read moreOn 12 August 2012, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister and former oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, announced that oil output had risen to about 3.2 million barrels per day (b/d), thereby overtaking Iran for the first time since the late 1980s. The International Atomic Agency also reported that in July Iraq produced more than 3 million b/d, [...]
Read moreIt all began on March 15 2011 when protestors, inflamed by the arrest of a group of teenagers and inspired by the Tunisian, Egyptian, and Libyan people, took their desire for freedom and justice to the streets of Daraa in southwest Syria, and started the deadliest episode of the Arab Spring. Despite President Assad’s confident [...]
Read moreIntroduction When former Brazilian President Lula first visited the Middle East in 2003 in an effort to enhance relations between Brazil and Arab countries, he acted through the Foreign Policy of Diversification of Partnerships, whereby Brazil was searching for new strategic partners in order to implement its development agenda. He said in a speech in [...]
Read moreSince the commencement of the popular uprising against President Saleh of Yemen some nine months ago, country-wide chaos and social disorder has paralysed this geo-strategically important nation of the Arabian peninsula. In spite of both international and regional efforts to calm the situation, there is still no real prospect of a quick end to the [...]
Read moreThe relationship between religion and politics is central to any discussion of Muslim politics. More important in recent decades has been the intensifying trends of religious resurgence and democratisation that continue to define the political landscapes of the Muslim world. Beginning with the late 1960s and early 70s, the growing significance and vigor of political [...]
Read moreSince the late 1920s, the Middle East has emerged as the world’s most important source of energy and the key to the stability of the global economy. Home to 65 per cent. of proven global oil reserves and 45 per cent. of its natural gas, the Middle East also controls a significant portion of the [...]
Read moreRelations between Britain and the Ottoman empire towards the end of the nineteenth century are easily defined by their quantitative differences, the product of differing fortunes during nineteenth century Europe’s long peace. By 1900, a quarter of the world’s population resided within the British empire, which boasted 69 cities with a population of over 100,000, [...]
Read moreIn December 2010, revolt and unrest broke out in Tunisia and Algeria. The situation rapidly proliferated and several other countries in the Middle East and North Africa were soon affected by turmoil and violence: Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, and, of course, Libya. In some of these countries, revolt ended with the fall of long-serving rulers. [...]
Read moreEl Maadi is favoured by expats for being a quiet, leafy suburb of Cairo, but never was it quieter than in early February 2011, devoid of the usual 4x4s, grocery shoppers, or crowds of Western students around the American College at lunch time. Although many of the Western expatriates working and living in Egypt stayed [...]
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