Egyptian Prisons as Islamic State Recruitment Centers

by Joe Stork When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Cairo on January 10, he commended President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi for his “leadership” in combating “the ongoing threat of terrorism as well as the radical Islamism that fuels it.” In fact,… Continue Reading

Intellectual Repression in the Arab World

by Sam Hamad As the world continues to follow the murder of Jamal Khashoggi with a sense of horror and outrage, you might forgive the relative silence surrounding the arrest of Egyptian economist Abdel Khalek Farouk by the Sisi regime on Sunday. Farouk’s only… Continue Reading

Resuming Military Aid to Egypt: In US National Interest?

by Rana Allam The UK Foreign Office recently issued an advisory warning British holidaymakers visiting Egypt to avoid spreading “strongly negative opinions” about the Egyptian government and security forces and that “derogatory comments on social media” have led to prison.… Continue Reading

Trump’s War Hysteria Against Iran Ignores Middle East Realities

by Emile Nakhleh By threatening a devastating war against Iran, President Donald Trump’s recent response to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani’s benign statement about “the mother of all peace” and “the mother of all war” is another example of erratic and… Continue Reading

Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan: Doomed to Failure

by Mitchell Plitnick The regional tour of Donald Trump’s primary Middle East envoys—his lawyer, Jason Greenblatt, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner—has concluded. So, it’s an appropriate time to take stock of the peace plan the Trump team seems to be… Continue Reading