Politics

Parliamentary elections in Iraq

Change or political stagnation in Baghdad?

Will Iraq's parliamentary elections bring change? The new electoral law, which allowed independent candidates to stand for the first time, provided a golden opportunity. But not many people took advantage of it. And voter turnout was shamefully low. Birgit Svensson reports from Baghdad and Mosul
By Birgit Svensson
Attack on West Bank village Mufkara

Militant settlers sow the seeds of violence

The Palestinian villages to the south of Hebron in the West Bank have often come under attack from militant settlers. But the raid last week on the village of Mufkara by eighty masked men left more than just windows broken. It also nearly cost a three-year-old child his life. Many Israelis were horrified. The foreign minister Yair Lapid spoke for the first time of "terror". By Inge Gunther
By Inge Günther
Middle East

Arabs ease Assad's isolation as U.S. looks elsewhere

While Bashar al-Assad is still shunned by the West, which blames him for a decade of brutal war in Syria, a shift is under way in the Middle East, where Arab allies of the United States are bringing him in from the cold by reviving economic and diplomatic ties. By Maha El Dahan
By Maha El Dahan
Afghanistan

Victim-blaming – a trope of the West's failure in Afghanistan

One prominent narrative relating to the defeat of the western-led military intervention in Afghanistan is that it was a mistake to try to build a modern democracy in a society steeped in "mediaeval traditions" and "tribal attitudes". Hans Dembowski condemns this self-serving and condescending standpoint, which persists in ignoring the serious flaws in the West's engagement, while blaming the victims for its failure
By Hans Dembowski
Katajun Amirpur's "Khomeini" biography

Khomeini, the enigmatic Ayatollah

Recently published in German, Katajun Amirpur's new biography of Ayatollah Khomeini is a multi-faceted and knowledgeable portrait of the Iranian revolutionary leader that also offers some surprises. Marian Brehmer read the book for Qantara.de
By Marian Brehmer
Electioneering in Libya

Could Muammar Gaddafi's family stage a comeback?

The children of Libya's brutal and erratic former dictator Muammar Gaddafi are becoming more popular as the country's elections, scheduled for 24 December, approach. Some fear they could benefit from an increasingly fragmented political scene. By Cathrin Schaer
By Cathrin Schaer
Middle East

Factbox: Who's competing in Iraq's elections?

Iraq holds a general election on 10 October, its fifth parliamentary vote since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and ushered in a complex multi-party system contested by groups defined largely by sect or ethnicity.
Taliban takeover

Afghanistan crisis looms as West cuts aid lifelines

The world must take action now to prevent a deep and lasting humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. But what, if anything, can be done? The one billion dollars pledged by international donors is merely a short term fix, argues Rashmee Roshan Lall
By Rashmee Roshan Lall
Egypt‘s illegal deportation practice

Eritrean refugees in Egypt: arrested, beaten, threatened

Two refugees detained in Egypt are facing deportation to Eritrea. The expulsion of the Eritreans, who have been incarcerated in Cairo for more than eight years, has been halted for the time being. But the attempted deportation is not an isolated case, and sheds light on Egypt’s draconian approach towards refugees and migrants. By Sofian Philip Naceur
By Sofian Philip Naceur
Arab world

Germany and the Middle East – a tale of morals and markets

Germany's foreign policy is explicitly values-based. But what happens, Ralf Bosen asks, when democracy, the rule of law and human rights collide with the logic of trade and business?
By Ralf Bosen
9/11 twenty years on

Muslims in the West – the cultural go-betweens

Twenty years after 9/11, the world is faced with the dual challenge of Islamophobia and anti-Westernism. Ahmet Kuru argues that Muslims in the West, well versed in both Western and Muslim cultures, are key to resolving the mutual antipathy felt by many
By Ahmet T. Kuru
20 years after 9/11

U.S. war on terror is still omnipresent

Twenty years after 9/11, the United States is recalibrating its war policy. However, its assertions that the era of endless wars is over are a myth, writes Maha Hilal
By Maha Hilal