The Arab Spring introduced us to the strength and determination of the many Arab women who took to the streets and the Internet to call for change in their governments and societies. Gone were the stereotypes of oppression and passivity. In their place were voices and faces of hope, courage and indomitable spirit, calling More »

The past week marked the second anniversary of the resignation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, an event that in many ways turned unrest in Tunisia from a purely national affair to what the media dubbed the Arab Spring. That Arab Spring was seen as a broad rising of the Arab masses against aging More »

The Middle East in 2012 was surprising, exhilarating, depressing, and endlessly fascinating.  Will it be the same in 2013?  Odds are, yes, but there is really no way of providing an accurate forecast.  If we’ve learned anything in the last few years, let’s try not to build scenarios – a favorite Washington, D.C., exercise.  More »

The conventional wisdom is that American presidents who win a second term are less bound by domestic electoral considerations that may impose constraints on their foreign policy. But in his second term, President Barack Obama is unlikely to take any bold initiatives in the Middle East. Indeed, he is far more likely not only More »

With President Barack Obama’s re-election, many people across the Middle East are contemplating what this region might expect from his second term. Over the next four years, Obama will likely continue the policy directions set in his first term: by completing the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, for example, and reaching out to global players like More »

As someone who writes and lectures about women and gender in Islam, I am often asked if women had any role in the making of the Islamic tradition. Happily, the answer is always yes. There were in fact many prominent women in the early history of Islam. At the top of the list would have More »

Human Rights Watch says it has new evidence indicating that forces opposed to Moammar Gadhafi beat and executed a large group of his supporters after the ousted leader’s capture and death last year. Gadhafi died October 20, 2011, after his convoy of supporters trying to flee the city of Sirte was hit by an airstrike and attacked by militia More »

- A top U.S. official takes responsibility for lack of security in Libya - More on allegations that Syria is using cluster bombs - Russia seeks to rebuild its influence in Iraq - New sanctions aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear More »

October 11, 2012, marks the United Nation’s first-ever observance of the International Day of the Girl Child. According to the U.N., selected as this year’s theme was “Ending Child Marriage.” Organizers say it was chosen because the practice is seen as a phenomenon that violates millions of girls’ rights, disrupts their education, jeopardizes their More »

On October 1st, 2012, women organizers launched a Facebook page, “The Uprising of Women in the Arab World,” to highlight the discrimination against them which they don’t feel comfortable – or safe – enough to protest in the streets.  In just ten days, the page has generated nearly 35,000 “likes” and conversation among more More »

The violence and protests which recently took place across the Middle East have largely been attributed to rage over the anti-Islamic film The Innocence of Muslims, but their impact on the transition and ongoing political power struggle between moderates and extremists may hold broader implications for Western policy. The embassy attacks in Libya and More »

In horror, I followed the events that led to the recent attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in Cairo, Benghazi, Tunis, Khartoum and other cities. Given the eruption of similar reactions in the past, I was not surprised over the attacks per se as I was over the ability of some Muslims to cause so More »

Violence and calls for calm continued throughout the region in response to the Internet video ridiculing Islam and the Prophet Muhammed. Muslim and Coptic leaders stood shoulder to shoulder urging peace between the religions. Services were held in Tripoli, Libya to remember Ambassador Stevens and the three other Americans killed in the most violent More »

Precisely eleven years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the question of U.S. relations with Islamic countries and communities is once again at the top of the foreign policy agenda. As violent anti-American protests rage around the world, the Obama administration has focused on safeguarding U.S. citizens and installations on one hand, and More »

Official titles can be burdensome for those who hold them. They can obscure a person’s humanity – a humanity that is often exposed more in death than it is in life. Those who personally knew U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, who was killed last week along with three other Americans in an attack More »

William Lawrence, Director of the North Africa Project for the International Crisis Group, spoke with VOA’s Carol Castiel on Thursday by phone from Tripoli. He shared his thoughts about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and the tragic death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, whom Lawrence knew and respected. In a wide-ranging conversation More »

The attacks on U.S. embassies and consulates in Yemen, Egypt and in Libya have hurt America’s relationship with the Islamic world, especially the attacks that led to the death of J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, and three others.  That’s the opinion of Nasser Weddady, the Director of Civil Rights Outreach with More »

- The mood in Libya is described as somber after an assault on the U.S. consulate kills 4 diplomats. - Anti-American demonstrations erupt in Iraq, Iran, Bangladesh, Yemen and Egypt. - An insider is perplexed by the breaching of the U.S. embassy compound in Yemen. - Experts debate what is needed for a no-fly Zone in Syria. - More »

In the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and anti-American protests in Cairo, Egypt, VOA correspondent Elizabeth Arrott and videographer Japhet Weeks spoke with Said Sadek, Professor of Political Sociology at American University in Cairo. They asked him to comment about the reported role in the violence of an More »