Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Basheer M. Nafi
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Turkish elections surprise everyone
Until the morning of 17 April, those who talked about early elections in Turkey were described as insane or as seeking factional interests and targeting the stability of the country. Therefore, the proposal made by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, to bring forward the elections to late...
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Why the Balfour Declaration did not promise a Jewish state
For some time, I have been grappling with the British reasons behind the Balfour Declaration and what it really meant. Let us start with what we know. In early March 1915, with a sense of urgency, Czarist Russia demanded that Britain and France should enter into negotiations over various...
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Egypt is no longer the heart of the Arab world
The status of a country is not determined, as some historians would have us believe, by its history alone, nor just by its geography, nor indeed by its political will. The role of countries is fashioned by the interaction of geography, history, politics and resources together. It is through...
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Trump, Russia and the Syrian crisis
Ten days ago, US warships fired dozens of missiles at a Syrian air base from where it is suspected fighter aircraft belonging to the Assad regime took off to launch a chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhon in the province of Idlib; dozens of the small town’s residents were...
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The Muslim Brotherhood is an Arab issue, not a US one
The Muslim Brotherhood was born in Egypt in 1928 as an Islamic da’wah association, which means preaching Islam to Muslims. It was not the first organisation of its kind, nor was it the last. Egypt was not the only majority Muslim country to witness the birth of such civil associations, whose...
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For Arab revolutionaries, there is no choice but to continue the fight
After nearly six years of battling the regime, its Iranian allies and sectarian militias, the prospect of change in Syria seems farther away than ever before. It is certainly more distant than when the popular revolution erupted in March 2011. The tragedy of human loss and destruction is now...
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Syria: What will happen if the revolution is defeated
Should the loss of Aleppo result in the end of the Syrian revolution, the outcome would be catastrophic for the country and the region as a whole. Aleppo, which has been under siege for months, is just one battleground. Its occupation by the regime should not change the course...
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Trump's neo-fascist vision undermines the very foundations of America
The election victory of American billionaire Donald Trump came as a shocking surprise for many Americans, including leaders and experts within the Republican party that he represents. But it was also a shock for the overwhelming majority of politicians around the world, including the allies of the United States...
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There's no honour among coup leaders, General Sisi
Egypt's president has alluded to the threat he faces from allies who now see him as a disaster for the country...
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History, not religion, has wrought violence on Islamic societies
The introduction of the European state model and collapse of the Ottoman Empire, not Islam, is at the root of regional violence today When we talk about the roots of political Islam, we can look back to the Egypt of the 1920s and the emergence of such groups as...
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Towards a new Turkish foreign policy
A few days after he took office in May, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim now famously said that his government would pursue a foreign policy aimed at “reducing the number of enemies and increasing the number of friends”. So it was no secret that the Turkish leadership could see alarming...
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The birth of a new Turkish republic
Before the start of the annual gathering of Turkey’s Military Consultative Council last week, the prime minister and top armed force commanders, following tradition, stood before the tomb of the Republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal. Speaking particularly loudly, as if he really desired to be heard and quoted, Binali Yildirim...
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Egypt's Regeni crisis: The repercussions of European hypocrisy
In a recent rambling address to the nation, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi stressed that he resorts to neither lying nor deceit (as if the matter necessitated such an explanation). He urged the Egyptians to listen to none but to him. This is the same general who boasted in...