Stephen Maly provides an uncommonly entertaining look at trade in this illuminating personal narrative of his recent working visit to the UK: ‘TTIP, Brexit and Bespoke. June 17,2016 My brief encounter with Transnational trade issues and the British brand. “Europe is finished.” The statement floored me. I stopped slurping the wine and garlic broth from […]
The Erdogan Loyalists and the Syrian Refugees
THE NEW YORK TIMES – Over the last five years, millions of Syrians, most of whom are Arabs, have flooded into Turkey. The newcomers seem foreign to most Turks, but the two peoples have memories of an ancestral divorce. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/magazine/erdogans-people.html […]
Students of art can find that the art gets to know them, too
THE WASHINGTON POST, PostEverything – Past Fellow Eve Fairbanks writes about how creative works respond to our current fixations. Read more […]
A New Generation of Arab Comics
Jonathan offers an crash course on Arab comic art in his review of the book Muqtatafat: A Comics Anthology Featuring Artists from the Middle East Region, by A. David Lewis, Anna Mudd, and Paul Beran. In his essay, Jonathan discusses a new generation of comic artists in the Arab world and their innovative works, which appear online and in print. In explaining […]
Israel and Hezbollah – A Fragile Peace
Tablet – Past Fellow Neri Zilber delves into the complex reality of life along Israel’s border with Lebanon in his recent article. Along the so-called Blue Line that divides the two countries, the threat of conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and the Shi’a militia group Hezbollah is ever-present. Neri describes how 10 years on […]
Wings to Nowhere — Birds, Land Use, and Climate
Luis whips his head around so quickly that a droplet of water flies out of his nose. He’s mid-sentence, walking through the heavy sand and talking about community-based management for his town, when he stops abruptly. His eyes grow wide behind his square-ish glasses, and the skin on his thin face pushes back into an […]
A Fire in Cairo
25 June 2016 Attaba is Cairo’s most popular bazaar. Just east of downtown, the sprawling network of alleys and squares offers thousands of stores and street sellers. It takes skill to navigate the crowds; everyone has a shopping bag—or two or three—in their hands, or on their heads, trying to edge their way through the […]
Andrew Tabler Only Analyst Quoted in NYT Article on Assad Speech
The New York Times – In a recent speech, Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad appeared to reject humanitarian relief and all attempts to peacefully end the civil war raging in the country. Past ICWA Fellow Andrew Tabler, now a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was the sole analyst quoted in David E. Sanger […]
A Gulf Away: Muscat and Dubai
“Our journey of development has been and will remain a race for excellence; a race to consolidate Dubai’s position as an evolving, leading, and unrivalled contender for the title of the Middle East’s financial and commercial capital” — H.H. Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai[i] “We should be open to the experience […]
Fast Times at Art Dubai
May 2, 2016 I am in a Masarati speeding toward the dinner party of an Iranian collector. A publicist invited me an hour ago. The motor hums, gently massaging my back, as the car cruises past strip malls and warehouses that could be on the outskirts of LA. At the destination, strings of white light […]