Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Samira Shackle
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Israel is worried about Germany's "significant escalation" against settlements
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. Even Israel’s staunchest allies, such as Britain and the US, acknowledge this fact and make occasional critical statements about them. While international ire generally stops at statements, in recent years, the EU has been introducing...
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Egypt's "roadmap to democracy" is nothing but a mirage
When the Arab Spring protests swept Egypt in 2011 and ousted Hosni Mubarak after decades of dictatorial rule, it seemed that the country was on the road to democracy. But the journey has been long and fractious. Three years after the 25 January revolution that toppled Mubarak, the country...
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Geneva II: threatened by disputes between delegates
Getting all parties to the table at the second round of Syria peace talks, due to start on Wednesday, has been a major negotiation in itself. Russia and the US have been working on getting both the regime and the opposition on-side for over a year – and fundamental...
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Cultural boycott as a weapon of change?
How far should artists and academics be held accountable for the actions of their government? The question was powerfully raised when the Israeli national theatre group, Habima, performed at London’s Globe Theatre in May. Their performance of the Merchant of Venice, part of a series of productions in different...
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Civilians pay with their lives for America's "global war doctrine"
Perhaps understandably, the US is secretive about its drone programme. But over the last decade, thousands of unmanned drones have been deployed in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia as part of America’s covert war on terror. The US claims that these strikes allow them to eliminate the top tier of...
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Serious questions about the Abu Dhabi investments that saved Barclays
The 2008 financial crash brought down most of the UK’s banks, which were forced to turn to the government for huge cash hand-outs to avoid pulling the rest of the economy down with them. While giants Lloyds TSB and the Royal Bank of Scotland needed to be bailed out...
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It is unfair to compare the Turkish government to the discredited dictators
The protests in Turkey have dominated international media coverage for several weeks now. Starting with a local protest over plans to bulldoze a park to make way for a shopping mall, overly harsh policing caused the unrest to spread. The backlash has spread across the country, with people from...
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BBC accused of bias over Israel-Palestine
The BBC is well-used to accusations of bias from many quarters, not least on its coverage of the Israel-Palestine issue, where it appears unable to please anyone. More than 10,000 people have signed a change.org petition demanding that a public inquiry be held into the BBC’s pro-Israel bias. Four...
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EU ban of grants to settlements ruffles a few feathers
In July, plans to block European Union money from reaching Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory became official. The ban will make institutions and entities in the settlements – which are outside Israel’s pre-1967 borders and are illegal under international law – ineligible for EU grants, prizes or loans,...
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Stronger EU measures are needed to halt human rights abuses in Egypt
When Mohammed Morsi was deposed by the Egyptian military on 3 July, the international community was unsure how to react. The US held back from referring to events as a “coup”, as this would trigger an automatic suspension of aid to Egypt. The European Union was no less confused. Immediately...
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Britain's strongest statement on settlements yet
Israel’s settlements – civilian communities built on land occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War – are widely accepted to be illegal under international law. They have been classified as such by the International Court of Justice and repeatedly by the United Nations, which holds that the settlements...
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Tunisia's Nahda-led government takes on the Salafist challenge
Tunisia was the country that kick-started the Arab Spring. In December 2010, a desperate young man set himself on fire, and the ensuing protests led to the fall of dictator President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the country’s first democratic elections in decades (in October 2011). As neighbouring...
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Egypt's war of words with Ethiopia continues
The Nile holds special significance in Egypt – as the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, “Egypt is the gift of the Nile”. The river provides sustenance to the country as practically the only fresh water source in an otherwise parched desert, and played a crucial role in the formation of...
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Morsi has flaws, but toppling an elected government through a military coup does not help the democratic cause
Things are not looking good for Mohamed Morsi. Egypt’s president – the first to be democratically elected in six decades – is floundering after days of mass protests have rocked the country. Protesters, dissatisfied with the president’s rule, took to the streets on 30 June, exactly a year after...
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Did the Gulf kingdoms engineer Morsi's demise?
Conspiracy theories are quick to circulate in the Arab world. Often, they are just that – theories – but often, they are ultimately proved to be correct. The geopolitical importance of countries such as Egypt means that they are, indeed, often subject to interference by international powers. The recent ousting...
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Tamarod appears to have eased the way for Mubarak remnants to return
In 2011, protests in Egypt felled a military dictator, Hosni Mubarak. The mass protests of the 25 January Revolution were a rejection of the corruption and repression engendered by six decades of military rule. Two years later, and a second wave of protests have felled a very different president....
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Unprecedented security cooperation between Egypt and Israel in the Sinai
On Friday, in Egypt’s largely lawless Sinai Peninsula, a drone strike killed at least four suspected Islamic militants and destroyed a rocket launcher. The attack, which came one day after Israel temporarily closed its airport in the holiday resort of Eilat, near to the Sinai, is widely believed to...
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The US should impose sanctions on Egypt as it did with the Burmese military
Wednesday’s events in Rabaa, Egypt, have shocked the world. An estimated 464 people are dead – with the death toll growing – in the greatest loss of life on a single day since Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military on 3 July. The bloodshed started when security forces stormed...
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If America wants to rescue its influence in Egypt, it must reconcile its contesting interests, before it is too late
America has a problem with Egypt: that much is obvious. Ever since President Mohammed Morsi was deposed by the military on 3 July, the US and other western powers have been scrambling around to find a coherent response to the crisis. This has become more pressing as the bloodshed...
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Political reconciliation and economic recovery look distant in Egypt
As the bloodshed in Egypt worsens, the country’s economic situation has been consigned to a postscript in most news coverage, while death tolls, political grappling, and western intervention make the headlines. Yet the economic problems which contributed to downfall of President Mohammed Morsi last month remain, and are set...
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What is there in common between Gen. Musharraf and Gen. Al Sisi?
In the aftermath of the military coup in Egypt on July 3, 2013, comparisons to other countries came thick and fast. For the optimists, there was Turkey, where the army had ousted governments who had become unpopular, and held new elections to allow a seedling of democracy to take...
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Egypt cosies up to the Kingdom
When Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the Egyptian military on 3 July, Saudi Arabia was one of the first nations to express its support for the new regime. The interim president, Adly Mansour, told a newspaper that Saudi’s King Abdullah was the first world leader to congratulate him, in...
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America's symbolic slap on the wrist is welcome, but not enough to bring about real change in Egypt
Since Egypt’s president, Mohammed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup on 3 July, the US has been in an awkward position. An automatic Congressional instrument halts military aid in the event of a coup. The US supports the Egyptian military to the tune of $1.3bn a year, and...
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Israel's segregated bus lines have touched a nerve
One of the most iconic moments in the American civil rights movement took place in Alabama in 1955, when Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat in the “coloured” section of a bus to make way for a white passenger. She was not the first...