Articles
The ABCs of innovative policy to fund expatriate education
Schooling for expatriates is a persistent problem in the UAE. Here are four ways to solve the schools crisis for low-wage expats.
Pessimism may be easy, but it ignores Middle East potential
It can be difficult to be optimistic about 2013 in the Arab world. But it is essential to do so: there is love and life everywhere
In Middle East politics, the US can't find the right exit strategy
After a succession of expensive military endeavours and with waning influence, the US wants to leave the Middle East but can't find the right exit strategy, writes Faisal Al Yafai.
Turbulent year in Middle East hid deeper political currents
As we look back over a tumultuous year in the region, and look forward to year of more progress, peace and prosperity, it is helpful to recall the context in which these flashes of news occur.
Egypt's constitution could be Brotherhood's undoing
The Muslim Brotherhood may think its constitution will keep their political competitors out. In reality, it is only likely to box the Brotherhood in.
What hope for a defining image to emerge from the Arab Spring?
Two years on, the Arab Spring has produced historic moments but, as yet, few defining images, writes Faisal Al Yafai.
Save the Quartet from itself by including Arab powers
By reforming the ineffective Quartet, influential regional countries would be given an important role and a stake in solving this intractable Middle East conflict.
UN vote obscures - for the moment - Palestinian justice
Does mere recognition of Palestine at the United Nations make a just solution for Palestinians even more difficult – or even impossible?
Arab audiences aren't enthusiastic about Arab art
It often seems that while Arabs like their own cinema, they don't yet much care for other forms of art produced in the Arab world.
Cairo faces a choice: lead on Gaza, or simply follow Hamas
Taking the lead position in mediating the most recent conflict is a welcome reassertion of the historic role of Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country.
The death of Arab secularism
No major political party in the Arab world can today be described as secular, a situation unthinkable a generation ago. How did Arab politics change so rapidly? The answer, writes Faisal Al Yafai, can be found in a now vanished nation.
Secular parties risk irrelevance in Tunisia's polarising politics
The longer it takes for a constitution to be put in place and elections to be held, the more frustrated Tunisians will become.
In US foreign policy, questions of power remain unimaginable
The US presidential debates have highlighted some questions that can never be asked. No journalist would imagine querying by what moral or legal right America seeks to wage war on Iran.
Arab Spring countries torn between justice and populism
Politicians, particularly those with long experience in exile, need to recognise that leading a nation means not putting what the people want today ahead of what the people will need tomorrow.
Legacy of Hungary's uprising has lessons for Arab Spring
Like the uprising in Egypt, the aborted 1956 Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union was a spontaneous demonstration of people power, as the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawn understood
