Religion and politics in post-coup Egypt
How have the highest religious authorities in Egypt reacted to the conflict between Egypt's military and the Muslim Brotherhood, and what does this tell us about the part they play in Egypt's unfolding...
View ArticleSyria's chemical weapons: is the UN exceeding its mandate?
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should be a technical agency of the UN. But it has arguably become a piece in a geo-political chess game dominated by the US, invited into Syria...
View ArticleBrokering Geneva II
How can the US and Russia look past their longstanding rivalry to move the political track forward and bring Syrian parties to the negotiating table?Over two and a half years on, a deep paralysis has...
View ArticleSyria and Libya, a slow meltdown
The diplomatic agreement over Iran is welcome. But it also conceals policy failure and media neglect in two arenas of deepening war and insecurity: Syria and Libya. The interim agreement over Iran's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The city of soap: Nabulsi identity beyond the communal experience of occupation
Nablus' soap - a potent symbol of Nabulsi identity - at the height of its popularity was exported to the Middle East, western Europe and beyond. However, restrictions have negatively contributed to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
British government hires private jet to deport hunger-striker Isa Muazu
A Nigerian asylum seeker on hunger strike at a UK immigration detention centre is due to be forcibly deported tomorrow.Protesters at Air Charter Scotland's offices, East Kilbride, 28 November...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A new German government: but what about that new German politics for Europe?
After months of campaigning, leading to an election, followed by weeks of negotiation, the German Social Democrats and Merkel's CDU/CSU have finally agreed to form a grand coalition. But can this...
View ArticleLambeth's political cult: the lessons
The experience of control and domination among a former radical group in south London must be understood in its true reality, says Alexandra Stein, a former cult member and now an academic.My one hope...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Egypt: the police state
Peaceful protesters holding up signs and chanting are not a threat to national security. The authorities and security officials are a threat to people’s security.Some people ask me why demonstrations...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ukrainians are in the EU, even if Ukraine isn’t
If Brussels doesn’t learn its lesson from a tactical defeat by Russia and prepare a plan for secure economic integration with Ukraine, tens of millions of Europeans will remain outside of the EU’s...
View ArticleThe Erbil explosions – designed to change the strategic climate of the KRG
When is a terrorist attack a terrorist attack?On September 29, 2013, a well-planned suicide attack targeted Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) security in the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ukraine's Black Saturday
Yesterday was Black Friday in the west – people out shopping; in Ukraine, today will be remembered as Black Saturday – people running for their lives. Have the Ukrainians been shopped by the...
View ArticleModi as future Indian PM? Development, camps, the ‘Muslim Vote’
Is it not contradictory that Modi stands exonerated of any role in the pogrom of over 3,000 Muslims in Gujarat whose Chief Minister he was, whereas even the construction of a toilet or fixing of a...
View ArticleAn end to AIDS?: Not through medication alone
In the world of HIV, the allure of the bio-medical techno-fix still attracts many policy makers. Meanwhile a parallel world of care, support, community spirit and women’s resilience still beats...
View ArticleRapprochement under Rouhani: Iran and Britain
The reconciliation with Britain as part of a broader policy of détente has paid off more quickly than expected during the second round of nuclear negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran in Geneva.The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In defence of freedom of expression
openDemocracy Russia joins Europe's leading journals in condemning the ongoing violence and provocations in Ukraine. We, as representatives of Europe's leading cultural and opinion journals gathered...
View ArticleTaliban and Salafism: a historical and theological exploration
The Taliban, like other sociopolitical movements, is not reducible to Islamic doctrines.Since September 2011, the Taliban has become synonymous with Muslim extremism and Salafism in the minds of many....
View ArticleGrand colonic tour: Theroux does Angola
Unimpressed by the savvy interviews with new oligarchs advertising their art and charity credentials, and nervous expats’ claims that the country is improving by leaps and bounds, Theroux doesn’t pull...
View ArticleWalmart's Black Friday strikes: a new dawn for organised labour?
Walmart has been extremely hostile to the concept of worker collective voice, and this hostility, in time, led to it becoming a major innovator in anti-union tactics. But labour is organising...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tunisia's fight against fundamentalism: an interview with Amel Grami
In conversations with Karima Bennoune over the past two months, Tunisian intellectual Amel Grami shares her analysis of the political crisis in Tunisia during the rule of the Ennahda party, and the...
View Article