by Cinzia Bianco Despite recurring indications that King Mohammed VI of Morocco was due to visit King Salman of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh at the end of April, no such visit has yet materialized—a new sign of rising tensions between… Continue Reading
by Jonathan Fenton-Harvey Civil societies and political actors in the Middle East and North Africa have continuously fought for democratic change and positive reforms since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. Yet they have faced setbacks and even defeat since—partly owing… Continue Reading
by Andreas Krieg In the era of “alternative facts” and “fake news,” the European Union has woken to the disruptive potential of disinformation and weaponized narratives—particularly in the context of the Kremlin’s covert attempt to disrupt liberal discourse in Europe.… Continue Reading
by Joe Stork Ahmed Mansoor, the United Arab Emirates’s most prominent human rights activist, has been on a hunger strike for the last three weeks to protest abysmal prison conditions and the flagrantly unjust trial that put him there. He… Continue Reading
by William D. Hartung Unlike Saudi Arabia, which has been strongly rebuked for its murder of Jamal Khashoggi and its strikes against civilians in Yemen, the other major U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has… Continue Reading