Politics

Commentary Nasrin Alavi

Tehran's Red Card to Human Rights

The presence of Tehran's notoriously repressive prosecutor-general, Saeed Mortazavi, as a delegate to the United Nations's new Human Rights Council in Geneva is an international scandal.
By Nasrin Alavi
Afghanistan

Drugs Problem Deeply Ingrained in Society

In Afghanistan, the world's main producer of opium, poppy cultivation was down for the first time since 2001. However, a UN report warned that it could go up again this year. Ratbil Shamel reports
Islam in Russia

Trying to Ease Tensions Within and Without

Moscow's relationship with the Muslim world and majority Muslim neighbours is a sensitive one, as the war in Chechnya has demonstrated. Hermann Krause looked into Russia's relationship with Islam
Interim Constitution for Sudan

Milestone on the Road to Peace

Though highly significant for the peace agreement in Sudan, the new interim constitution has yet to prove itself in political practice. It is supposed to clarify the autonomy of the south and the relationships among the ethnic groups. By Frederik Richter
Indonesia

Abu Bakar Bashir Released

Radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has been released from prison in Jakarta after serving time for links to the 2002 Bali bombings. Bashir is alleged to be the spiritual leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah. James Fletcher reports
Iraq's National Soccer Team

Reconstructing Iraq on a Different Front

The Iraqi national soccer team is in Germany for a training camp, making it their first trip to Europe since the end of the war. German coach Bernd Stange says soccer is the best path to international understanding
Reform Policies of the Turkish AK Party

Setting an Example for Arab Islamists?

Many still regard the experiment represented by the Islamic AK Party with skepticism. Nevertheless, there is hope that the party could develop into a reform model for political change among the Islamic movements in the Arab world. By Slaheddine Jourchi
Kuwait's Political Turmoil

It's Not Just Conservative Islamists versus Liberal Reformers

The dissolution of Kuwait's parliament and the calling of early elections reflect developing social and economic fissures in the Gulf emirate.
By Raymond Barrett
Kuwait

Taking Hate out of School Textbooks

As an answer to the charge that Kuwait is home to Islamic terrorists, the government wants to revise questionable concepts in school textbooks - against fundamentalist opposition. Lina Hoffman reports
Interview with Nadia Yassine

"The System Is Blocked"

Nadia Yassine is the leader of "Justice and Spirituality", Morocco's biggest Islamist organization. She belongs to a new generation of Islamists: western-educated but not westernized. Alfred Hackensberger interviewed her
Germany's No-Go Areas

Zones of Fear

The debate on No-Go areas in East Germany has demonstrated that the Germans are by no means as enlightened and purified of counter-civilizational tendencies as some anti-Muslim cultural warriors would claim. By Eberhard Seidel
Samir Kassir

The Arab Malaise

A year before he was murdered, Samir Kassir published a short book in France under the provocative title "Thoughts on the Arab Malaise". It is written from the viewpoint of one of the shrewdest and most incisive Arab intellectuals. Susan Javad has read it