The Hague, AP—US President Barack Obama met on Tuesday with Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he continued his efforts to isolate Moscow over its incursion into Crimea. In a last-minute addition to his schedule, Obama sat do
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Arab uprisings, which were long in the making but caught everyone by surprise, are now in their fourth year. It remains as difficult today as it was four years ago to reach conclusions about developments that have brought both hope and despair to a region in crisis. For t
I believe we will see a change in the political landscape, and largely to the benefit of the “Couch party.” There have been attempts to rally the forces opposed to political Islam behind a single candidate in advance of the coming presidential elections, but this attempt has been weakened by differe
The current reality is that all Egyptian political forces are in a state of decline. We can excuse the Egyptian military for its interference in politics after Hosni Mubarak’s abdication, largely because popular opposition to political Islam was in a position of weakness at the time. The milit
Kiev, AP—Ukraine’s fledgling government ordered troops to retreat from Crimea on Monday, ending days of wavering as Western leaders tried to present a unified response to Russia’s increasingly firm control of the peninsula. Russian forces have been systematically seizing Ukrainian ships
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—A proposed additional 5 percent annual tax on higher income earners in Egypt has drawn criticism from a number of economic experts speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat. The plan, announced by newly appointed Minister of Finance Hani Kadry Dimian, imposes an extra 5 percent annual
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Over the last 10 years and up until the Gezi Park protests that erupted in Istanbul last May, Turkey’s democratic and mostly secular political system was hailed by many as a model for other Muslim-majority nations across the Middle East. Much of the credit has gone to the lea
Kuala Lumpur, Reuters—The Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared over two weeks ago crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday. New satellite analysis from Britain had shown that Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, was last seen in the middle of the Indian
Kuwait, Reuters—Lebanon’s foreign minister called on Arab countries on Monday to support the Lebanese army to counter fallout from the Syrian conflict, which he said threatened to tear the country apart. Around 1 million Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon, a displacement that has strained pu
Bangkok, Retuers—Anti-government demonstrators in Thailand resumed street protests on Monday after lying low for weeks, piling pressure on increasingly beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is expected to face impeachment within days. Her opponents were emboldened by a Constitutional C
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—A quarter of all Saudis who traveled to Syria to take part in the fighting have since returned home, a spokesman for the Kingdom’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday. Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said during a press conference that 25 percent of Saudi fighters in Syria had
Cairo, AP—A court on Monday sentenced 529 supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi to death after convicting them on charges including the murder of a policeman, the attempted killing of two others and an attack on a police station, in what was one of Egypt’s largest mass trials in deca
Sydney and Perth, Reuters—A Chinese military aircraft searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner spotted several “suspicious” floating objects on Monday in remote seas off Australia, raising hopes wreckage of the plane may soon be found. The latest sighting followed reports by
Arsal, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Syrian town of Yabroud, located on the slopes of the Qalamoun mountains, was in the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons. The town finally fell to a joint Syrian Army–Hezbollah offensive earlier this month, part of a campaign by the Syrian government to drive
Water wars, many warn, could be around the corner. After the removal of former President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt has inherited a huge problem: Addis Ababa decided to divert the course of the Blue Nile late May, as part of its project to generate electricity through the construction of the Renaissance D
In the past year, Turkey has been shaken by anti-government rallies in which six protestors were killed—an unusual spike in violence in a society that is otherwise increasingly non-violent. Five of these fatalities occurred during the Gezi rallies of June 2013. On March 11th, Berkin Elvan, a 1
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Former Arab League chief and Egypt’s former foreign minister, Amr Moussa, said on Saturday that an announcement on the official launch of Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s presidential campaign was only days away. Moussa told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The decision by Fi
Brussells, Reuters—NATO’s top military commander said on Sunday that Russia had built up a large force on Ukraine’s eastern border and he was worried Moscow may be eying Moldova’s mainly Russian-speaking separatist Transdniestria region after annexing Crimea. NATO’s Supreme A
Frankfurt, Reuters—Abu-Dhabi-based Etihad Airways will raise its stake in ailing German airline Air Berlin, which will delist, from 30 percent to 49.9 percent, a German weekly reported, possibly as a prelude to combining it with Alitalia. Citing company sources, WirtschaftsWoche magazine said a grou
Istanbul, AP—Turkish fighter jets shot down a Syrian warplane on Sunday after it violated the country’s airspace, Turkey’s prime minister said, in a move likely to ramp up tensions between two countries already deeply at odds over Syria’s civil war. A spokesman for Syria’s mi
