Tag Archives: Arab

Top US policymakers increasingly speak of Egypt as a problem to be managed, their attention focused on avoiding the worst-case outcomes of state collapse. The past four years have taken a serious toll on U.S.-Egypt ties. But 2015 offers potential opportunities, requiring the two countries to learn some lessons from the past and to look to the future.

From Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to Bangladesh and Indonesia in the east, a network of Arab charities is funding militancy and mayhem to coerce Muslims of diverse traditions to conform to the Salafi and Wahabi traditions. Bangladesh needs to be steered away from becoming a Pakistan or an Afghanistan, says one Bangladeshi analyst.

Mahmoud Abbas is doing everything in his power to prevent a general uprising, which might quite well endanger his regime. But pressure from below is mounting. Popular wisdom in Israel has already found a name for the situation: "Intifada of Individuals". For the Israeli security chiefs, that is a nightmare.

The prosperity of Sudan’s boom years ended when South Sudan seceded in 2011 and delivered a serious blow to its economy. The end of the oil years has reversed the great expansion of the middle class. Presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for 2015. Whether the hitherto quiescent Khartoum bourgeoisie will make apparent its dissatisfaction at its bowed circumstances is one of Sudan’s pressing political questions.