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      Faisal Al Yafai

      Faisal Al Yafai

      Contributor
      Location

      Articles

      Iraqi Shiite Hezbollah Brigade militiamen fire weapons against ISIL militants in Husaybah, east of Ramadi. AP Photo
      Why Iraqi sectarianism is a persistent lie

      Iraq is not collapsing. The view that the current chaos reflects an inherent sectarianism is profoundly racist, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionJune 01, 2015
      US Marines enter the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah as they move towards the capital Baghdad in March 2003. Even before the invasion spiralled out of control, US troops were encountering fierce resistance (AFP/Eric Feferberg)
      America already tried imperialism in the Middle East – and it failed

      Those who dream of a new imperialism in the Middle East are full of nostalgia and amnesia, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionMay 27, 2015
      Residents from Ramadi who fled their homes as ISIL militants advanced. Sabah Arar / AFP
      Across the Pacific Rim, America’s allies are watching what happens in the Gulf

      The hands-off approach America is pioneering in its last years in the Middle East will also reach Asia – with serious consequences for its Asian allies, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionMay 18, 2015
      A young Indian Shiite Muslim who bleeds after self-flagellating during Ashura looks at the camera at a street in New Delhi last year. Ashoura, commemorates the 7th-century death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed who is revered by Shiites. Bernat Armangue / AP Photo
      A new McCarthyism has reached the Middle East

      The West is living through a collective madness. And the Middle East is not immune, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionMay 11, 2015
      A supporter of Yemen's Southern Separatist Movement stands in front of a tank flying the movement's flag near the international airport in the port city of Aden. Southerners may want to leave the union, but, says Faisal Al Yafai, may soon come to regret it. (AFP PHOTO / SALEH AL-OBEIDI)
      Yemen could come to regret a messy divorce

      Yemen's south cannot easily stay within a united Yemen. But, writes Faisal Al Yafai, going it alone has far more risks than Hirak and southerners care to admit

      OpinionMay 04, 2015
      A torn picture of Ali Abdullah Saleh sits on the ground in Sanaa's Old City. (Photo: Lindsay Mackenzie for The National)
      Yemen is on fire – and it is Saleh pouring on the fuel

      Ali Abdullah Saleh is wrong to claim no-one has asked him to leave his country – millions of Yemenis did so in 2011, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionApril 20, 2015
      A sea of Lebanese flags during a rally in Beirut in 2005 against Syria's occupation of the country. (REUTERS/ Sharif Karim)
      Arab liberals are to blame? I don’t think so, professor

      Joseph Massad is wrong on whole the most dangerous people in the Middle East are, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionApril 13, 2015
      Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, hold up their weapons to protest against Saudi-led airstrikes, during a rally in Sanaa, Yemen. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)
      Even before the Gulf struck, Yemen was suffocating

      Critics of the coalition strikes against the Houthi rebels have to answer one question, says Faisal Al Yafai: what was the outlook for Yemen at one minute to midnight last Wednesday?

      OpinionMarch 30, 2015
      Tunis special forces stand guard in front of the National Bardo Museum in Tunis. (Fadel Senna / AFP)
      Europe provides fertile soil for jihadi recruiters. We must not be afraid to ask why.

      Something is drawing young men and women from the cities of Europe, says Faisal Al Yafai. An honest conversation is needed.

      OpinionMarch 23, 2015
      US Secretary of State John Kerry kicks a football around during an airplane refuelling stop on Sal Island in Cape Verde, enroute to Washington DC (REUTERS/Saul Loeb)
      An absent America is the worst of all possible worlds

      The flip flopping in Washington over John Kerry's remarks on Bashar Al Assad reflects a broader flip flopping in US policy towards Syria, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionMarch 16, 2015
      Nawal El Saadawi, Eqypt's leading feminist and the author of "Woman at Point Zero", is interviewed by Faisal Al Yafai outside the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai. (Photo: Victor Besa for The National.)
      For Arab liberals like Nawal El Saadawi, political Islam has shifted the terms of the debate

      Writers such as Nawal El Saadawi were not always considered radicals. But the language and ideas of political Islam have sidelined liberalism and secularism in the Middle East, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionMarch 09, 2015
      Syrian rebels hunt for snipers in the city center of Selehattin, near Aleppo (AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC)
      Freezing Aleppo’s war will only swap death for starvation

      Those who think a ceasefire with Bashar Al Assad will save Syrians have forgotten what happened to Homs last year, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionFebruary 23, 2015
      Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, receives Omar Al Bashir, the president of Sudan, at a reception before the opening of Idex 2015 in Abu Dhabi. Ryan Carter / Crown Prince Court Abu Dhabi
      Sudan is facing twin terror threat

      Visiting president says battle against ISIL and Boko Haram is ideological and that ‘ideas can only be fought with ideas’.

      UAEFebruary 22, 2015
      ISIL's logo is seen on the forehead of a protestor. Why are Europeans so attracted to its ideology, asks Faisal Al Yafai? (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
      Why is Europe exporting jihadis to the Middle East?

      What is it about European societies, asks Faisal Al Yafai, which breeds such intolerance and violence?

      OpinionFebruary 16, 2015
      Bashar Al Assad grins while delivering a speech, with a Syrian flag made of pictures of people allegedly killed during the uprising (EPA/SANA)
      While the West is consumed by ISIL, Assad continues to slaughter Syrians

      The sinister policy in Damascus is clear: every time the world looks away, Bashar Al Assad's massacres get worse, writes Faisal Al Yafai

      OpinionFebruary 09, 2015
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