Written by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Baker Institute Fellow for Kuwait, Rice University The fact that Saudi Arabia entered a rapprochement deal with Iran and chose China to broker it came as a surprise to many international observers. The agreement, officially called the Joint Trilateral Statement, was signed in Beijing on March 11 and begins the […]
Written by Mona Tajali, Associate Professor of International Relations and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Agnes Scott College It’s been six months since the latest spark ignited mass protests in Iran — the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa (Jina) Amini in morality police custody after she was arrested for allegedly failing to wear her hijab […]
Written by Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies, University of Bradford Following political developments in the past fortnight, two state-level policy changes in the Middle East are likely to combine to have a substantial impact on regional stability. On March 10, in a deal brokered by China and signed in Beijing, Saudi Arabia and Iran […]
Written by Simon Mabon, Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University After more than four decades as seemingly implacable enemies on either side of a deep political-religious divide in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The deal, which was signed in Beijing, comes seven years after […]
Written by Afshin Shahi, Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Middle East Politics & International Relations at Keele University, Keele University The Iranian government has announced several arrests in connection with the reported poisoning of more than 7,000 schoolgirls in more than 100 schools around the country. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has condemned the poisonings, […]
Written by Simin Fadaee, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Manchester Forty-four years after Iranians rose up against their hated monarch in February 1979, a group of 20 organisations engaged in long-term social and economic struggles – including labour unions, teachers, women’s groups and youth and student movements – issued an ultimatum to the government […]
Written by Ahmet T. Kuru, Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University On Jan. 17, 2023, Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously voted to expand the country’s laws on blasphemy, which carries the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The new law now extends the punishment to those deemed to have insulted the prophet’s companions, […]
Written by Michael Humphries, Deputy Chair of Business Administration, Touro University It’s a case of déjà vu all over again on the debt ceiling debate. Republicans, who regained control of the House of Representatives in November 2022, are threatening to not allow an increase in the debt limit unless they get unspecified spending cuts in […]
Written by Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities, Australian National University Time and again, collaboration has proven to be a key driver of scientific and technological innovation. So it follows that some of the greatest advances have come from intellectual hubs set up for this very purpose. Today Silicon Valley is synonymous with this […]
Written by Evelyn Namakula Mayanja, Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Carleton University A photograph recently circulated on social media purportedly showing two Chinese professors in Shanghai standing between a squad of police officers and students protesting the government’s zero-COVID policies. That morning, when I met my class for the course I teach on political repression, a […]
Written by Whitney Shylee May, Ph.D. candidate in American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts Images of the protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Zhina Amini on Sept. 16, 2022, in Iran and reports of the government’s brutal crackdown have circulated widely on social media. This flow of […]
Written by Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong chose Human Rights Day to announce Magnitsky-style sanctions against 13 Russian and Iranian individuals and two entities, in response to egregious human rights abuses. Wong has described these sanctions as a means of holding human […]
Written by Negar Partow, Senior Lecturer in Security Studies, Massey University The ongoing protests in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country’s “Guidance Patrol” (or morality police) have made world headlines. But there is another form of protest that has received less mainstream attention in Western media. […]
Written by Ross Bennett-Cook, Visiting Lecturer, PhD, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster Russia has announced plans to begin direct flights to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, a state recognised only by Turkey. This will make Russia the only nation outside of Turkey to fly directly to the territory since it declared independence from the […]
Written by Amy Motlagh, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern/South Asian Studies, University of California, Davis In images of the uprising that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16, 2022, perhaps the most iconic ones, aside from that of Amini herself, are those of unveiled Iranian women photographed from behind, […]
Written by Noushin Nabavi, Research Associate, Public Policy, University of Victoria Iran has entered the second month of upheaval with an average of one child murder a day by the Basij, part of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), amid the crackdown against the “woman, life, freedom” movement. The protests began in September 2022 after 22-year-old […]