Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Nasim Ahmed
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The embarrassment of Saudi and the UAE exposes regional misfortunes
It was clear from the moment that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain issued their 13-point ultimatum to Qatar at the end of last month that they had bitten off more than they could chew. It was no surprise then to see the Gulf triumvirate and their Egyptian...
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Al Jazeera pivotal to ‘the second wave of the Arab Spring’
The Middle East is going through a period of “historical regional re-arrangement” where Al Jazeera is an enemy to the forces opposed to democracy, government accountability and press freedom, a panel of journalists and media heads said at an event in the Houses of Parliament yesterday. In a discussion...
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Qatar-based foundation joins UN steering group for global education programme
With one of the highest youth populations in the world, the Middle East has the potential to be the main beneficiary of one of the biggest UN-led initiatives to improve education around the globe. The details are outlined in a highly aspirational UN Resolution: “Transforming our world: the 2030...
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US foreign policy has been hijacked by ideologically driven individuals
The Saudi-led blockade on Qatar has exposed deep divisions within the Trump administration over its response to the diplomatic crisis rocking the region. Repeated confessions by senior US officials denying any kind of feud have done little to check the suspicion that the American administration has locked horns over...
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Failure to protect education in conflict zones undermines our security
Protecting schools in conflict zones is crucial to our efforts in building peace and prosperity across the Middle East and deterring people from future conflicts and extremism, Professor of Law, Maleiha Malik, tells MEMO on World Refugee Week. The author and lecturer advocates for an internationally recognised set of...
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The blockade of Qatar may have more to do with Palestine than we think
Israeli officials must have been tripping over each other in their rush to endorse the Saudi-led blockade on Qatar. “The Sunni Arab countries, apart from Qatar, are largely in the same boat with us since we all see a nuclear Iran as the number one threat against all of...
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Corbyn’s victory is greater than the keys to Number 10
Britain underwent the most important general election of this century. For the second time in a row, Conservative leaders scored the most spectacular own goal ever to be seen. Twice within the period of two years, British prime ministers gambled with the lives of the British people and lost;...
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Why I will be voting for Jeremy Corbyn
The night before the most important general election of my generation is probably the best moment to share this personal story and say why I wish to see Jeremy Corbyn emerge victorious tomorrow. I first met Corbyn during a cross party delegation to Syria in 2009. With representatives from...
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Remembering Israel’s deadly assault on the humanitarian Freedom Flotilla
Seven years ago, Israeli commandos attacked a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid and activists to Gaza. The assault took place in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine civilians were killed by the Israeli soldiers. What: Sea and airborne assault on the Freedom Flotilla When: 31 May 2010...
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Why are British rabbis endorsing a ‘festival of hate’ in Palestine?
Let’s imagine a scenario. A leading Muslim figure, an imam no less, and a member of the British House of Lords, extends a personal invitation to members of the British Muslim community to join a festival which has been known for inciting violence, extreme provocation and calling for the...
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Israel is an apartheid state; let’s not pretend otherwise
In an editorial about a recently proposed bill in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) which seeks to impose Israeli law on Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, Haaretz said somewhat peevishly that the measure could officially transform Israel into an apartheid state. The bill was proposed by two extreme...
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Trump's moment of truth on Palestine has arrived
For all his bluster during the election campaign, US President Trump has offered no clear indication which way his Middle East policy will go. The president has prevaricated on his election promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, implementing the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act; he...
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Remembering the Nakba
Sixty-nine years ago, the state of Israel was born following the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli forces. What: The Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) When: 15 May 1948 Where: Palestine What Happened? On 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the World Zionist Organisation, declared...
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The facts are clear; the UN is biased towards Israel, not Palestine
Few have mastered the art of division and diversion better than Israeli governments, and even fewer have used it to greater effect. The manufactured outrage over the UN’s alleged bias against Israel is a classic example; instead of addressing the issues raised by many different UN bodies, Israel and...
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Trump will end up looking more stupid if he has no political solution to offer Syria
US President Donald Trump has got what he wanted; a chance to be commander and chief. But does anyone really believe that a military strike against President Assad, however deplorable he is, without a clear political goal will bring about anything positive? Since when has military intervention by the US...
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Israeli collective punishment under spotlight at the UN
Sadly collective punishment has been a common feature of the Israeli occupation. ...
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Syria 6 years on: What does the future hold?
When pro-democracy protests started six years ago in Syria’s southern city, Daraa, few would have anticipated that the violent clampdown by the regime would trigger a brutal civil war. Even fewer would have expected it to last more than six years. While the war has been characteristically unpredictable, it...
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Battling to save schools in times of war
Over the past five years, thousands of schools have been attacked, damaged or totally destroyed by armed conflict in the Middle East. Across Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen and Libya, almost 9,000 schools have been rendered unsuitable for learning. With nearly 14 million children (40 per cent) from five war...
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With the Muslim ban, Trump poses a threat to the US constitution
It is easy to forget the temporary nature of our existence. We not only lose sight of our own mortality, but also become totally oblivious of the fact that our socio-economic context and political structures that shape our lives and ideals are neither permanent nor everlasting. While we feel...
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Comparing the ‘Muslim ban’ to the ban on Israel is totally fallacious
Countering an allegation of wrongdoing with another allegation of wrongdoing is universally accepted as a misguided fallacy; two wrongs don’t make a right. This fallacy, however, has become a common theme in the current polarised political discourse. Take the “Muslim ban” ordered by US President Donald Trump as an...
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Trump’s anti-Brotherhood bill is another Muslim ban in all but name
In the current political climate, the moves under way in the US to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation are unsurprising. On his way to the White House, President Donald Trump has given a powerful voice to anti-democratic elements within America; people whose view of the world...
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Rethinking foreign aid in the Middle East
The flow of money, it seems, defies the laws of physics. Despite endless promises of a fairer distribution of wealth, money has actually been gushing upstream towards a greater concentration of wealth, not downstream. This has been an irreversible trend to levels now unseen in history, with eight billionaires...
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Explained: Netanyahu's media corruption scandal
A new scandal is rocking Israel at the moment which may usher in the end of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political career....
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Terrorism cannot be defeated without political reform
This week the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which is an arm of the US intelligence community that is in charge of long-term strategic analysis, published its assessment of the future. Taking into account the forces and choices shaping the world, it provided a forecast of the direction the world...
