Clashes have erupted in Egypt after a series of appointments made by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi triggered renewed fears that Morsi was working to consolidate the authority of hard-line Islamists at the expense of civil liberties and the Egyptian economy. In Luxor the appointment of Adel Asaad Al-Khayat as the new...

“Mourning for Children: the Sins of fathers” is a powerful essay, which is not officially allowed to be read or cited in Iran. But it is the talk of the town and gossip among Tehran’s political, business, and academic circles. It was published in November, 2011, by Ali Reza Nourizadeh,...

Observers are expressing concerns over the past activities and future intentions of Iranian president-elect and revolutionary-era cleric Hassan Rouhani, who won Iran’s Friday election after a purge of candidates by the country’s powerful Guardian Council, coupled with a subsequent drop-out by another candidate, left him as the relatively most moderate candidate....

Turkish police arrested dozens of people in Istanbul and Ankara Tuesday as part of a crackdown against anti-government protests that began in late May, with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claiming by morning that the government had achieved victory in putting down the protests. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on...

Efforts are being made to bolster the contingent of UN peacekeepers on the Golan Heights,even as it is being scaled down in the shadow of deteriorating stability between on the Israeli-Syrian border. Fiji, a tiny chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, agreed to send it troops to strengthen the...

A G8 meeting today between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the Syrian conflict ended without apparent progress. Reuters conveys the mood awkward: Both leaders looked tense and uncomfortable as they addressed reporters after about two hours of talks, with Putin staring mostly at the floor as he...

The election this weekend of Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani has triggered debate in the foreign policy community. Some see his ascension as a “game-changer” that will open the door to engagement by the West. Others have expressing skepticism that the selection of a revolutionary cleric aligned with Iran’s conservative camp – especially...

Violence in Turkey continued over the weekend and into Monday. On Saturday thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched in the streets overnight Saturday, and observers noted via social media that demonstrations beginning Monday evening were louder than ever. Louder even than yesterday in my neighborhood … — Claire Berlinski (@ClaireBerlinski) June 17,...

Egyptian security forces are preparing for anti-Hamas demonstrations. Popular suspicion that the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group may try to bolster the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood against large-scale anti-government protests planned for June 30 has been deepening. Arab-language media is reporting that police authorities are preparing for the backlash. Theories under which Hamas provided...

Western officials are scrambling to evaluate the diplomatic consequences of extremist statements made by Jibril Rajoub, a Palestinian Authority (PA) official often emphasized by Western diplomats as a relatively moderate voice. Rajoub is a former head of the Preventative Security Force and a member of the Central Committee of PA...