Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Iraqi women living in Yemen hold up the Iraqi flag used during the Baath Party’s rule under ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, as they take part in a protest in front of the Iraqi Embassy, in the capital Sanaa on January 16, 2013. (AFP PHOTO/ MOHAMMED HUWAIS)

Iraqis Have a Chance: What Will They Do With It?

by Amir Taheri | Mar 15, 2013 | Opinion

Almost a decade ago a four letter word divided political opinion across the board. The word was “Iraq” whose regime had acted as a rogue state since the late 1960s. The debate that caused the division achieved new intensity when a “coalition of the willing” led by the...

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Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

Maliki, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar

by Abdulrahman Al-Rashed | Feb 28, 2013 | Opinion

“The stance of these two states is very strange,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki remarked in mid-2012, in reference to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. According to him, it was strange that these two countries were providing military, logistic, and humanitarian support to...

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Iran: A “Conservative” State

by Hussein Shobokshi | Feb 21, 2013 | Opinion

In some dictionaries, the word “conservative,” when applied to a country, has referred to a hardline state that is skeptical about attempts to promote tolerance in religious discourse, open societies, and rapprochement with neighboring states. Such a...

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A poster for President Mohamed Mursi is seen on a wall as a protester throws a tear gas canister back at policemen during clashes in Alexandria, January 25, 2013. Youths fought Egyptian police in Cairo and Alexandria on Friday on the second anniversary of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak and brought the election of an Islamist president who protesters accuse of riding roughshod over the new democracy. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

The Arabs Between Turbulent Revolutions and Stable Tyranny

by Dr. Hamad Al-Majid | Feb 19, 2013 | Opinion

God fights against oppression and tyranny but they still remain, despite their enduring connotations of hardship, corruption, injustice, tragedy, and brutality. Like alcohol, oppression and tyranny are primarily a great source of sin, but that is not to say they have...