Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Omar Ahmed
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Winners of 8th Palestine Book Awards announced
The 8th PBA awards ceremony was preceded by an informal event with authors of the shortlisted books speaking about their publications at the P21 Gallery, giving the public an opportunity to ask questions about the works collated this year. The oversubscribed event was well received by attendees, who were also…
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MEMO to host 8th Palestine Book Awards in London
Middle East Monitor will be hosting the 8th annual Palestine Book Awards in London on Friday evening to honour and celebrate the best newly published books relating to any subject on Palestine. More than 40 English language books were entered in this year’s competition with seven having been shortlisted by…
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Lebanon’s protests look like destabilisation by proxy
Exactly two years ago, Saudi Arabia’s firebrand State Minister for Gulf Affairs, Thamer Al-Sabhan, called for “toppling Hezbollah”, promising “astonishing” developments in “the coming days”, whilst maintaining that the issue was not about bringing down the Lebanese government, despite the fact that Hezbollah forms part of it. Five days later,…
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The UAE lobby in America lacks legitimacy
The tiny Gulf nation of the United Arab Emirates has long been known to punch above its weight internationally. With a native population of about one million and in possession of the world’s seventh largest oil reserves, this is certainly achievable. Ever ambitious and forward-thinking, the Emirates also serves as…
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The Kurds may well have ‘no friends but the mountains’, but they do have Israel
There is an old saying that “the Kurds have no friends but the mountains”. Poetic, poignant and tragic; but not quite true. Despite the mainstream Western media lamenting the latest “betrayal” of Kurdish allies by the US government, there has been one ally who has had a consistent relationship with…
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Syria and the multipolar era
The way that history has a tendency to repeat itself is intriguing. In Alfred Lilienthal’s The Other Side of the Coin, published in 1965, he said that the “Soviet Union has taken advantage of the resultant decline in American prestige in a suspicious Arab world to establish itself on the…
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‘Coup’ attempt in Iraq is really an attack on Iran
Having failed to dislodge Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad after eight years of conflict and with the twin political processes of the UN and the Astana initiatives moving a step closer towards peace, the alliance against Iran appears to have turned its sights on Iran’s neighbour and other ally, Iraq by…
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Najran could well be Saudi Arabia’s fault line as much as its front line
The 14th century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun is famed for his treatise Al-Muqqadimah and is regarded as “the father of social science”; he wrote about the rise and fall of states and civilisations. Tunis-born, his ancestors hailed from Yemen’s Hadramawt. He is notable for popularising the notion of ‘asabiyya which…
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Israel and the evolution of asymmetric warfare
War, wrote the 19th century Prussian General and military strategist Carl von Clausewitz, is an “act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.” This is an enduring maxim of the essence of war to this day, with von Clausewitz’s work still studied by army officers around the…
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Was Iran really behind the attack on Saudi Aramco facilities?
On 14 September, state-owned Saudi Aramco’s oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in the Eastern Province were the target of a sophisticated drone and cruise missile attack. The Houthis of Yemen were quick to claim responsibility for “Operation Deterrent Balance 2”, which more than halved Saudi Arabia’s oil output…
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Did Saudi push Yemen’s Zaydi community into Iran’s hands?
It has been argued that the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam is closer to mainstream Sunni Islam than it is to the Twelver Shias who form the majority in Iran. This is particularly so in regards to jurisprudence and general practises. However some socio religious developments among Yemen’s Zaydi community…
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Revival, not revolution in southern Yemen
On 1 August, the Houthi movement based in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa launched a complex ballistic missile and drone attack on a military parade in the southern port city of Aden, killing at least 40 people, including UAE-backed commander Brigadier General Monier Al-Yafie. The offensive represented the first significant…
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#USAEnemyOfPeace campaign against America’s role in Yemen
The US’ attacks on civilians in Yemen have taken centre stage on Twitter as social media users highlight America’s actions using the hashtag #USAEnemyOfPeace. America has been supporting the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen by providing it with intelligence and weapons. Nearly 100,000 people have been killed as a result…