• The main foreign preoccupation seems to be the potential threat to America of al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb and the other bands of Islamic jihadists, kidnappers, smugglers and bandits active in the Sahara

  • Militant Islamists fleeing northern Mali under pressure from French forces could undermine security in neighbouring countries from where some of the fighters are believed to hail. They could also attract the support of sympathetic militias in the region

  • The Middle East along with the larger Islamic world are the perfect demonstration of a 'world on fire'. When have we ever seen such widespread turmoil, destruction and death as we are witnessing right now?

  • The shooting death of an opposition politician has brought to a head simmering tensions in Tunisia and deep political and religious divisions. Tunisia, once heralded as a model for Arab democracy, is struggling for a way forward

  • Facing similar challenges, Libya and Tunisia have been establishing closer ties, trying to learn from each other. Libya’s leaders are watching nervously the turmoil in neighboring Tunisia, fearing it may foreshadow trouble for them too

  • The Algerian hostage situation and ensuing crisis -- one of the largest hostage seizures ever ended with the death of 80 people -- was both a human and political fiasco and its regional implications are still evolving

  • Recently, two completely different events demonstrated how sensitized Africans have become about Western attitudes and; American and European condescension towards toward them

  • When President Zine Ben Ali was deposed, a new era of modern Tunisian history -- one filled with hope and frustration -- unfolded

  • 'Responsibility to Protect' is a doctrine which aims to end impunity for the perpetrators of atrocities such as those being committed in Syria. Gareth Evans, explains why the UN is now powerless to stop the bloodshed, and offers ideas on restoring consensus

  • The Gaza conflict comes at an interesting time in Egyptian-Israeli relations. Cairo recently saw the Muslim Brotherhood candidate assume the Egyptian presidency, while in the past two years Israel has approved Egyptian military increases in the Sinai Peninsula

  • The deeper reason for the heated response to 'Innocence of Muslims' from the Muslim world is not so much Western rhetoric but Western policy

  • Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of 'Infidel,' the political ideology embedded in Islam that makes no room for any criticism of its foundational father and sacred texts

  • Shortly before the national elections, the Tunisian narrative shifted from the socio-economic crisis which fueled the revolt to religion

  • When Antonius Nashaat had to flee his house following a business feud between Muslims and Christians, he had little faith the police would intervene to stop the violence

  • Libya's first democratic election went comparatively smoothly. But it's what comes next that poses the greater challenge

  • Mohammed Morsi has been Egypt's president for less than a month, and already senior clerics in his country and around the Islamic world are loudly calling for the demolition of the pyramids

  • It is often said that the Arab Spring proves American support for Middle Eastern autocrats for more than half a century was wrong because the policy did not bring peace or stability. Nonsense

  • While the world has become more peaceful for the first time since 2009, the Middle East and North Africa has now surpassed sub-Saharan Africa as the least peaceful region on earth

  • Egypt's presidential election ought to be celebrated as a great success for the forces of democracy in Egypt and the Arab world

  • Morocco's democratic deficit, too often abetted by allies, has contributed to an unsustainable status quo both at home and in Western Sahara

  • We have seen Tuareg militants, previously employed by the regime of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, leave Libya with sizable stockpiles of weapons and returning to northern Mali, where they have successfully wrested control of the region away from the Malian government

  • Whatever may be the eventual outcome in Syria, there is no denying the fact that for all practical purposes the dream of establishing democracy and the rule of law and the institution of human rights in the Arab World is almost over

  • It was hoped that the Arab Spring would bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East and North Africa. However, continued unrest in Libya and Syria points to a potentially bleaker future for the region

  • Tunisia is straining, pulled on one side by violence in the streets and campuses and on the other by political paralysis in parliament

  • U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Cairo for a two-day visit that aims to give a hearty handshake to the new Islamist president and move to temper any radical moves by his government

  • If we truly believe in the value of democracy, the value of freedom, and the power of the people's voice, we will support Egypt and its new president

  • The presidential election in Egypt, won by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, challenges contemporary deniers and enablers who refuse to acknowledge the threat advancing Islamism poses to Israel and the West

  • Recent Algerian elections are not a sign that the Arab Spring is coming to Algeria

  • Are the changes in Tunisia deep and enduring, or simply cosmetic?

  • Planners in the Egyptian military want to boost the old defense-industrial complex by cultivating new smaller scale projects that partner the Egyptian armed forces with a diverse portfolio of second- and third-tier foreign defense manufacturers

  • Egyptian unrest is not Egypt's only problem as time runs out on financial issues

  • Hundreds of fans of rival teams clashed after a match in a stadium in Port Said, Egypt killing at least 73 people and wounding hundreds others

  • As the Cairo International Book Fair opens, a year of revolution has made its mark as a theme for writers and readers alike. Besides the usual cultural activities, a section this year is dedicated to the testimonies of the revolutionaries

  • Egyptians are voting for what is hoped to be the first freely elected parliament in decades. Although an encouraging development, these elections do not yet signal a new dawn in Egyptian politics

  • Journalist Joseph Mayton saw firsthand over 13 hours of detention in the new Egypt, a country where the military rules, the police and the torturers act as enforcers

  • For Egypt's women, who make up 52 percent the country's eligible voters, voting is less fair than they had hoped

  • Mistrust of Libya's interim administration is likely to deter tens of thousands of revolutionary fighters from complying with a massive new demobilization plan

  • Mohamud Mohamed Ali, 21, was a high-school student when he fled the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in June 2009, in fear of being forcibly recruited into Al-Shabaab. His dangerous journey ultimately took him to South Africa

  • Continuing unrest and xenophobia in Yemen have prompted an upsurge in the number of migrants and refugees returning to Somalia, with up to 6,000 reported to have travelled back across the Red Sea

  • Middle East analyst Bayless Parsley examines the impact violent clashes between Egyptian protesters and security forces will have on upcoming parliamentary elections and how Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces plans to respond

  • Demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir square against Egypt's interim military rulers have reportedly left at least 33 people dead and more than 1,500 injured since they began

  • Egyptians feel less safe from crime and worse off financially than before the revolution that toppled President Husni Mubarak, according to opinion polls as the country's transitional military government struggles to retain its legitimacy in the eyes of many Egyptians

  • Millions of Egyptians will head to the polls on November 28th in the first parliamentary vote after a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule

  • Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is finally rotting in the ground, ending the unsavory spectacle of his bloody corpse on public display in a refrigerated vegetable locker. A guy like him was lucky not to end up with his head on a stake

  • The last year or so has seen a significant change in piracy activities, which has led to considerable successes for these terrors of the high seas

  • For the Arab Spring it was Twitter; for the summer riots in London it was BlackBerry Messenger. The latest technology is helping to accelerate 'information cascades', where people make decisions based on what they see other people doing -- and getting away with

  • By showing us the possibility of democracy in revolution, the Mediterranean has ignited a revolution in democracy, one that is redefining the meaning of both terms

  • As Tunisians celebrated their first big step toward democracy, many feared it may be followed by another step back as the Islamic Ennahda Party is likely to emerge as the biggest vote getter, setting the stage for a possibly searing conflict over the role of religion in the nascent democracy

  • It took Ahmed Fawzi, a College of Islamic Studies graduate, only a few hours after seeing a man robbed and killed by a group of criminals to buy a gun

  • In the nine months since they assumed control, the generals ruling Egypt have managed to run up an abysmal human rights record as Husni Mubarak, whose toppling from power they had promised would usher in a new era of democracy and freedom

  • Economic and social grievances at heart of surge in violence in the Egyptian-ruled Sinai Peninsula

  • After decades of government malfeasance, Libya needs new political structures, a strong civil society, and an equitable economy

  • One dictator less is good, the mission has been accomplished and whatever else is happening in Libya is just mundane

  • The popular Arab Spring protests against tyrannical regimes originally brought hope for freedom and democracy in the region. However, even with marginal victories, like Qadhafi's death, the future of these countries remains extremely delicate and uncertain. Here's the latest update on the countries most affected by this year's Arab Spring uprisings

  • In all the speculation about why the late Libyan ruler was assassinated, it seems strange that media commentators would not at least speculate that it was because more than a few world governments and leaders would not want to have risked his shooting off his mouth in a trial

  • More than four decades after he seized power, and more than seven months after the civil war began that led to his ouster, Muammar al-Qaddafi is dead, forever removed from Libya's politics. Qaddafi's death alters but does not transform the situation in Libya

  • The death of Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi marks the end of an era, both for the nation and its once-booming oil industry

  • As rebel forces consolidated control of Tripoli in the last days of August, many pundits began speaking of a victory for the idea of humanitarian intervention. Yet even if the intervention does ultimately give birth to a stable and prosperous democracy, this outcome will not prove that intervention was the right choice in Libya

  • Foreign policy realists and other critics likened the Libyan operation to the disastrous engagements of the early 1990s, arguing that humanitarian intervention is the wrong way to respond to intrastate violence and civil war. To some extent, widespread skepticism is understandable: foreign interventions inevitably face steep challenges. Yet such skepticism is unwarranted

  • Since the start of the intervention in Libya, commentaries on the left have usually interpreted the action as Western imperialism. It was called an effort to seize control of Libya's enormous oil reserves, in the guise of humanitarian intervention

  • A Harvard scholar points to medieval conquests as the basis for modern autocracy in the Middle East

  • The Internet is enjoying explosive growth across the Middle East and North Africa, but that has made governments of the region more fearful than ever of the on-line community

  • The task of writing Egypt's new constitution will be in the sole hands of the Islamists after liberals and leftists said they were opting out of a process they say is destined to be dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists

  • More than a year into the Arab Spring, women get more of a voice in Tunisia, Libya, but Egypt seems to be marching backwards

  • The Arabs' exceptionalism was becoming not just a human disaster but a moral one. Then, a frustrated Tunisian fruit vendor summoned his fellows to a new history. The third Arab awakening came in the nick of time, and it may still usher in freedom

  • Across the Middle East and North Africa, honor killings are seemingly on the rise

  • The on-again, off-again bridge linking Egypt to Saudi Arabia via the Straits of Tiran has come back to life

  • Islamist movements were more successful than any other parties in the recent parliamentary elections in Egypt and Tunisia, prompting some observers to accuse them of 'stealing the revolutions'

  • Although many challenges lie ahead, Ennahda's victory in Tunisia shows that the country is starting to work like a real democracy

  • Unlike the death of Osama bin Laden, the demise of Moammar Gadhafi cannot be chalked up as an unquestioned achievement of President Obama as he seeks political arguments for re-election next year. By choice, the American role was secondary, even inelegently described as 'leading from behind'

  • It may be a good time to remind President Obama of oil's importance to economic security, and the role that wartime leadership and image play in getting your hands on it post-victory. He can't just quietly outsource and downplay war because it's icky, then call dibs on victory, as he has just done with Libya. Something has to give

  • Forgive me if I don't join in the euphoric Hallelujah Chorus celebrating the demise of Moammar Gadhafi. Oh, I'm happy he's dead, but ...

  • When you get a chance to have one less Gaddafi in the world, you should take it

  • After Muammar Gaddafi's demise, the future of Libya's relationship with the United States remains uncertain

  • Tyrants such as Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein seal their own fate

  • Libya may have to turn to Asian countries such as China and India for long term financial help as also for construction and white collar workers

  • The withdrawal from Iraq creates enormous strategic complexities rather than closure. While the complexities in Libya are real but hardly strategic, the two events share certain characteristics and are instructive

  • The death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is prompting reactions from inside the White House and outside its front gates as tourists and passersby share in expressing their opinions

  • Libyans are celebrating the death of their former leader Muammar Gaddafi. When news of the former dictator's capture spread and even before confirmation of his death, the joy of liberation from his 42-year iron rule was felt

  • One legacy of attacking Libya is the 20,000 surface-to-air missiles that have gone missing

  • Arab economies are as varied as the region's politics -- from poor Yemen, to much richer Libya, to the very wealthy gulf states, with countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and others being something of a median. Yet the performances of these economies are as critical to the long term success of the Arab Spring as the region's laws