A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters. Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia‘s president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House’s The Read more
Believe it or not but a funny thing happened at the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran last month. When the new Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, denounced the “oppressive” Syrian government, it didn’t go down so well with the pro-Assad Iranians. So, local journalists decided deliberately to mistranslate “Syria”, in Farsi, as “Bahrain”, prompting Read more
Last week there was shock and outrage around the globe at the massacre of scores of women and children in Syria by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Part of the tension causing the present conflict is the fact that Assad and his supporters belong to the minority Shia Alawite sect, about 10 per cent Read more