If it manages to overcome some rather formidable obstacles, Egypt’s much-touted “mega project of the century”—the Suez Canal Corridor Project (SCCP)—has the potential to transform the country into a world-class center for trade and industry. Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim explains the opportunities and challenges presented by this project.
Last May, the interim authority announced the state budget for the 2014 financial year; it included austerity measures that were sure to be painful for ordinary Egyptians, and the timing of the announcement suggests that the interim authority wanted to shield the new president from responsibility. And then President Sisi took it a step further. Mohamed Gad explains.
The enormous costs exacted on Palestinians in Gaza by Israel’s Operation Protective Edge have sparked a rocky rehabilitation of Egyptian attitudes toward Palestinians among Egypt’s political class and the public at large. Geoffrey Aronson explains why the Sisi government might want to reconsider its hardline approach to Gaza.
MEI's Kate Seelye describes the rich mosaic of communities inhabiting northern Iraq and the Nineveh Plain—some of them for thousands of years—and warns that some minorities may be known to future generations only through history books and the letters and diaries of one American missionary who had the good fortune to know the area in more peaceful times.
Egypt is bracing for the first anniversary of the police crackdown on protestors at Rabaa Adawiya and Nahda squares in Cairo. Khaled Dawood explains why the stalemate between the state and the Muslim Brotherhood is likely to continue.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won the presidential election in Turkey's first direct presidential election on Sunday. Gönül Tol looks at the challenges he faces in his bid to transform Turkey's parliamentary system.
Paul Salem examines President Obama's decision to step up US intervention against the Islamic State in Iraq, and what it implies for broader US policy in the region, in this Expert Q&A.
For the first time in Turkey's history, voters will cast ballots to select a president. Gönül Tol explains the significance of this election on the course of Turkish politics.
The presidential vacuum in Lebanon is likely to continue until an electable candidate is found who respects Hezbollah’s military autonomy and does not challenge its Syria policy. Lamia Estatie explains the geopolitical considerations on which Hezbollah’s Syria policy is based.
