Politics
Topics
-
Commentary: Iran's Presidential ElectionA Triumph for Islamist Hardliners
In a surprise victory, Teheran's archconservative mayor Ahmadinejad has won the presidential election – in large part, Peter Philipp argues, due to low voter turnout and calls for a boycott on the part of Iranian dissidents in exile.
-
"World Tribunal on Iraq"
The Defendants Are Absent
Istanbul is hosting the final meeting of the "World Tribunal on Iraq" which is made up of NGOs and aims to hold to account the US and its allies for the invasion of Iraq. Dorian Jones reports
-
Commentary Volker Perthes
Stability Must Be the Primary Aim of Iraq Policy
Despite continuing disagreements with the U.S. administration, there is no schadenfreude on the European side regarding the predicament the US is facing today. Volker Perthes presents a catalogue of suggestions for a new Iraq policy
-
Ridwan al-Sayyid
The Struggle for Islam
The Islamic world urgently needs reform initiatives, says the Lebanese scholar of Islam Ridwan al-Sayyid. Wolfgang G. Schwanitz has read al-Sayyid's latest book "The Struggle for Islam" and says it should also be studied in the West
-
Defamation of Tunisian Journalist
Smear Campaigns Waged at the Lowest Level
The Tunisian journalist Sihem Bensedrine is fighting against the indescribable methods of the regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who stops at nothing when it comes to dragging oppositionists through the mud. By Hamid Skif
-
Analysis Presidential Elections in Tunisia
Hopes Dashed for Democracy and a Civil Society
The recent presidential elections in Tunisia shed light on the deplorable state of democracy in that country and the regime's all-powerful control apparatus. A post-election report and analysis by Sihem Bensedrine
-
Interview Nabil Abdel Fatah
Egypt – Hopelessness, Frustration Spawning a New Generation of Terrorists
The recent terrorist attacks in Cairo have raised many questions about the motivations of the assassins. Nelly Youssef speaks with Nabil Abdel Fatah, a scholar at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo
-
Turkish Penal Code Comes into Force
"Reforms Are Not Easy, But Necessary"
Turkey's new penal code brings Turkey almost completely into line with EU standards on human rights. Among other changes, the law increases penalties against human rights abusers and torturers. Erik Campano reports
-
Interview Ali al-Atassi
"There Is a Need for Pressure from Inside of Syria"
After the withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon many experts assume that the events will have a political impact on Syria. Bernhard Hillenkamp spoke with Mohammad Ali al-Atassi, Syrian civil society activist and journalist of the Lebanese daily "an-Nahar"
-
The Third World in WWII
"Our Victims Don't Count"
During Europe's commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the end of WWII, the war's victims from the former colonies scarcely found a mention. A new book, "The Third World in WWII," tries to fill the gap. Goetz Nordbruch has been reading it
-
France's EU Referendum
Muslims Divided on EU Constitution
The outcome of France's referendum on the EU constitution is yet unpredictable. Still conservative Muslims in particular seem to find the charter more acceptable than France's emphatically secular political culture. Bernard Schmid reports
-
Georges Corm
"Laicism Should Not Be Seen as a Specifically Western Doctrine"
Georges Corm, economist and former finance minister of Lebanon, doesn't spare the Islamic world criticism, but he also says that the West is far less rationalist than is commonly believed. By Alexandra Senfft
Most read articles
-
German foreign policy
Hunger in Gaza—made in Germany
-
Suwayda
Not a local conflict, but geopolitics in disguise
-
Iran's monarchists
Producing nostalgia, courting war
-
Sex tourism in Egypt
A bride for the summer
-
Fairuz
Songs for a Lebanon that never existed
-
Gaza
Caught between starvation and deadly aid centres