Analyses
After surpassing 90 percent approval in the first round of the presidential elections on October 6, incumbent Tunisian leader Kais Saied faces his new term in a political, social, and economic climate vastly different from that of 2019. We discussed this shift with writer and essayist Hatem Nafty, whose latest work, Notre ami Kaïs Saïed. Essai sur la démocrature tunisienne (Our Friend Kais Saied: An Essay on the Tunisian Dictatorship), was presented in late September.
  • Hussein Ibish 20 October 2023
    Hamas obviously thinks that if it wants to take over the Palestinian movement, it needs another sustained insurgency against Israeli occupation. Hamas is hoping to lure the Israeli military back into the interior of Gaza for the urban combat that favors insurgent groups. Hamas hopes a sustained insurgency can eventually result in a steady drip of killed and captured Israeli conscripts, allowing Hamas to claim that it alone is actively fighting for Palestine. What this means is that in trying to fulfill the pledge to “eliminate Hamas,” Israel could well deliver everything Hamas is counting on.
  • Fabio Turco 20 October 2023
    Poland has undergone a significant political shift, as populist-driven governance yields to a democratic left majority. Mass protests, catalyzed by a controversial abortion law change, played a crucial role in this transformation, igniting participation among young voters. The election’s outcome also signifies Poland’s choice to reconcile with the European Union, bringing challenges like restoring the rule of law and securing vital EU funds. Cohesion among the diverse opposition is crucial to sustaining change. While Poland embarks on this new path, neighboring Slovakia witnesses a populist resurgence with Robert Fico’s victory, raising concerns about foreign policy and immigration.
  • Siegmund Ginzberg 19 October 2023
    Why does Hamas deliberately flaunt the horrors it perpetrates? To demonstrate Israel’s lack of preparation and Hamas’s own military prowess? To spread terror? To disorient, to humiliate, to foster a sense of paralysis and powerlessness? To say: look, we can get you when and how we want? Or perhaps to say: yes, we are the beasts you say we are, come and avenge yourselves, come and get us in Gaza?
  • Claudia De Martino 18 October 2023
    On October 7, a major coordinated military operation by Hamas resulted in terrorist attacks in Israel marking a significant escalation in the Israeli-Arab conflict, with a higher casualty count than previous conflicts. The Israeli establishment was caught off guard due to internal divisions and a lack of military readiness. Hamas’s objectives included challenging the IDF’s invincibility, garnering international support for the Palestinian cause, and disrupting normalization efforts between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The conflict is now on the verge of a land incursion by Israel to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, potentially drawing regional players into the fray.
  • Michael Freedman 17 October 2023
    In response to 9/11, the US attacked Afghanistan, and afterwards Iraq. Both these campaigns ultimately failed, suggesting important limitations to deterrence, counterterrorism, and the difficulties of state building. If this was Israel’s 9/11 moment, it can try to avoid post 9/11 mistakes by acknowledging the limitations of deterrence, military force, and more forcefully pursue political solutions.  
  • Marina Forti 13 October 2023
    The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Iranian activist Narges Mohammedi, 51, “for her fight against the oppression of women in the country and her struggle to promote human rights and freedom for all.” Mohammedi, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence for “spreading anti-state propaganda” in Tehran’s Evin prison, has campaigned for women’s rights and against the use of the death penalty. Over the lenght of her career, the Iranian regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.
  • Arghawan Farsi 12 October 2023
    One year has passed since a young Kurdish woman named Jina Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian morality police in Tehran on September 16th, 2022. Her death sparked a revolutionary movement of Iranian women and men demanding “Woman, Life, Freedom.” It is a challenge to grasp and formulate everything that has happened in this past year, as the revolutionary movement has amplified a variety of voices, showing the will of individuals living in Iran to create change, though not yet successful, it has already come at a great cost.
  • Claudia De Martino 10 October 2023
    Public schools are going through tough times almost everywhere in Europe: the start of the new school year in September 2023 saw a series of major strikes in the UK, Wales, Ireland, Estonia, Lithuania, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Serbia, and even Germany, once considered a haven for education. If in the UK, school strikes for better pay and working conditions were partially addressed by the government’s promise to increase teachers’ pay by at least 6.5 percent in cash terms in the upcoming 2023/24 academic year, in Germany, consistent protests rocked what is usually considered one of the most rewarding environments for teachers in terms of wages and pay leave.
  • Renzo Guolo 10 October 2023
    Hamas’ truly unprecedented attack on Israel has multiple objectives. The first, most obvious and dramatically tangible in its casualty count and penetration capacity, is to dispel the myth of an unassailable “enemy.” Its second, and closely related goal, is to permanently undermine the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) leadership, now condemned to a delegitimizing immobility by its internal and external choices. Their third aim and certainly not their least, is to sabotage the understanding between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the true seal of the Abrahamic Accords, announced as imminent by Netanyahu.
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