FIFA, the international federation for world soccer, is poised to make a decision in a few days that will impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of young Muslim women -- whether or not to overturn the current ban on the hijab, or headscarf. Matters actually came to a head last summer, in June 2011, when the entire Iranian women's soccer team was prevented from playing in Olympic qualifying matches held in Jordan. The ouster of an entire national team, minutes before a key international match, led to a resurgent global debate on the relations between the hijab, sports, and international politics. Today, however, the winds of change seem to be blowing back in the other direction, as activists, athletes, and allies -- Muslim and non-Muslim -- appear to have met every FIFA objection and will arrive at the March 3 London meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) with a proposal to lift the ban and allow thousands of women an opportunity that is blocked under current rules.

Read on

A team of five United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors arrived in Tehran a day after Iran cut off oil exports to Britain and France. A spokesman from Iran's Oil Ministry, Ali Reza Nikad-Rahbar, said the move was part of punitive measures that will be employed against "hostile" European countries that have complied with sanctions. European countries make up about 18 percent of imports of Iranian crude oil, and have collectively agreed to an oil embargo set to begin in the summer. The trip for the team of U.N. inspectors has been the second in a month during efforts to revive talks that collapsed in Istanbul a year ago. They come at a time of heightened tensions over concerns that Iran's nuclear program, which the country maintains is for peaceful purposes, is instead aimed at nuclear weapons development. Last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an appearance on state television announcing progress in the program, increasing the amount of centrifuges and inserting nationally made fuel rods. Meanwhile, the United States has initiated escalating sanctions and not ruled out a military strike on Iran if concerns over the nuclear program are not allayed. Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said "In these negotiations we are looking for a way out of Iran's current nuclear issues so that both sides win."

Headlines  

• Iranian warships docked at a Syrian port reportedly for joint maritime training. Meanwhile, two judicial officials were assassinated in the northwestern province of Idlib.
• A suicide bomber killed 18 Iraqi police officers and recruits and injured 27 outside a Baghdad police academy.
• After having initially denied support, declining economic conditions have forced the Egyptian transitional government to accept an IMF loan.
• A bomb exploded at a polling station in Yemen's port city of Aden a day before presidential elections are slated to officially transfer power from Ali Abdullah Saleh to Vice President Hadi.
• There was low turnout for the February 20 movement's anniversary marking Morocco's uprising which spurred constitutional reform and advanced elections.

Arguments & Analysis

'Fighting to remain relevant? The PKK in 2012' (Franco Galdini, Open Democracy)

"As the revolutionary upheavals are set to continue well into 2012, the question of future alternatives emerging in the Kurdish mainstream, especially from the youth, becomes crucial. In other words, if both the traditional (armed) and new (political) axes of the struggle are increasingly perceived as either irrelevant or too weak, respectively, to enforce a change of policy by the Turkish state, the possibility of a Kurdish (youth-led) movement taking matters in their own hands on the recent example of several countries around the region becomes very real." 

'Muslim Brothers and Egypt's economy' (Mohamed El Dahshan, The Daily Star)

"How the Brotherhood's budget turns out depends on how parliamentary alliances coalesce. Existing tensions between liberal and Islamist parties will be replaced by common interests; the Brotherhood will find good allies in economic policy in smaller pro-market parties across the aisle. The end result will be a stumbling, learn-as-you-go pragmatic pro-market economic policy with a strong welfare component. Deregulation will slow. Relations with international donors won't change. In the end, the Brotherhood's economic policy may represent little change from the past two decades, as Egypt's economic policy maintained massive subsidization while conducting, or at least promising, pro-business reforms."

'Empty talk on Tahrir Square' (Tim Sebastian, New York Times)

"Parliament's unwillingness to confront the generals is understandable. After all, they still have higher than 80 percent approval ratings across the country -- and they're still making the key decisions. But it does mean that the new politicians' first days at school risk being defined by what they won't do, rather than what they will. A recent survey of the assembly's political parties, conducted by Amnesty International, found, for instance, a depressingly patchy response to the question of women's rights and very little appetite to campaign for female equality. More alarming, though, is the re-emergence of fear. Once again, I was told, Egyptians are starting to look over their shoulder to see who might be listening, to be careful what they say on the phone, to begin considering all over again who they can and cannot trust. "The intelligence services are extremely active," says a well-known commentator."

--Tom Kutsch & Mary Casey

Bahraini activists and security forces have clashed as protesters attempted to return to the site of Manama's Pearl Roundabout, on the anniversary of last year's pro-democracy demonstrations. Beginning on February 14, 2011, mainly Shiite activists camped on the symbolic monument for a month before a siege razed tents and destroyed the Pearl Roundabout. Security forces have fired tear gas and were reported to have used stun grenades and shotguns to disburse protesters, some of whom have reportedly retaliated with Molotov cocktails. The government has blamed Bahrain's lead Shiite group, Al Wefaq, for instigating violence as the government-approved rally turned into a riot as activists broke off in an attempt to reoccupy the Pearl Roundabout. Up to 3,000 people have been detained since last year's uprisings and have been subject to extreme sentences and unfair trials, according to activists. Additionally, over 4,000 people have lost their jobs after being accused of anti-government activity. The Bahraini opposition and human rights groups say little has changed despite government promises and are calling for democratic reform. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa addressed the country on the eve of the anniversary claiming a commitment to the "modernization process" and said he had pardoned 291 prisoners. However, none of those released included activists arrested in last year's revolt.

Headlines  

• Government attacks continued on multiple fronts across Syria as the U.N. Human Rights chief chastised the Security Council for failing to take steps to end the violence. 
• Indian and Georgian authorities are investigating yesterday's bombing and bombing attempt targeting Israeli diplomats for which Israel has blamed Iran and Hezbollah. 
• A man thought to be Iranian suffered severe injuries in an attempt to throw a bomb at police in Thailand's capital of Bangkok a month after the U.S. embassy warned of attacks.
• A Yemeni man was killed as he was planting a bomb in an election booth a week before scheduled polling for presidential elections aimed to officially replace Ali Abudullah Saleh.

Arguments & Analysis

'Yemen: Can AQAP mount an insurgency?' (Gabriel Koehler-Derrick, The Arabist)

"Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula has thus far proven successful in Yemen thanks to a cadre of leaders who have imposed unusual discipline on the group, balancing competing constituents while pursuing local, regional, and more recently international agendas.  However, the principles that help to explain AQAP's success as a small, leader-centric group will not predispose them for success in insurgency.  Disciplining a tightly bound group focused on terrorist attacks and assassinations is one thing; keeping a hodgepodge of "insurgents" in check and on message is another. A larger AQAP means a broader movement, one less under the direct control of the Yemeni leaders who have guided the organization for more than five years."

'One year later, Bahrain slow to reform' (Gregg Carlstrom, Al Jazeera English)

"King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa quickly announced a few changes. He enlisted the help of John Timoney, a former police chief in the United States, and John Yates, a former assistant commissioner with the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom. And he issued a royal decree barring the National Security Agency, responsible for dozens of unlawful detentions last year, from carrying out arrests. Yet residents of many Bahraini villages say the abuses have continued. Police continue to raid homes in the dead of night; one unit last week even fired a tear gas canister into the house of Ali Salman, the leader of Al Wefaq. Two people have died under mysterious circumstances in police custody over the past month. Opposition activists say they were tortured."

'The agony of Nabeel Rajab' (Karen Leigh, The Atlantic)

"Many Bahrainis follow his example of peaceful protest and cyber activism. Fearing a media blackout, they bombard foreign rights workers and journalists with Tweets and emails about the violence they say is being perpetrated almost daily in Shi'a neighborhoods like Sitra, the country's hotbed of revolution, and to protesters serving what they say are unjust sentences..."We don't get as much coverage as Syria or Libya, but with our limited resources we have done our best," Rajab says. Bahrainis are some of the most active Arab protesters on social media. In a sense, they provide much of their own coverage."

--Tom Kutsch & Mary Casey

Syria signs Arab League deal to allow observer mission

Syria signed an Arab League initiative which will allow outside Arab monitors and which aims to end the violent nine-month crackdown on protests. The agreement was signed after the Arab League accepted various conditions, most significantly agreeing to lift recently imposed sanctions. According to the deal, in addition to allowing for monitors, Syria must withdraw troops from towns and villages, free thousands of political prisoners, and begin an Arab League-mediated dialogue with the opposition. Russia, after proposing a peace initiative to the U.N. Security Council last week, asked Syria to sign the deal, according to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, who said, "Syria listened to the advice." Syria had resisted signing the Arab League's deal for weeks, making sure that it protected Syria's sovereignty, according to Muallem. He said that the country welcomes the observers, believing that their presence will vindicate the government's stance that protests have not been predominantly peaceful. He asserted, "There are many countries in the world who don't wish to admit the presence of terrorist armed groups in Syria," continuing, "They will come and see that they are present." An advance team of security, legal, and administrative observers will be sent into Syria within the next three days and will be followed by teams including human rights experts.

Headlines  

• An estimated 13 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the fourth day of clashes with security forces in Cairo, overshadowing the country's second round of elections.
• Beginning at dawn on Sunday, the last U.S. convoy including 110 vehicles and 500 troops departed from Iraq, officially ending the nearly nine-year war.
• Israel released 550 Palestinian prisoners in the second stage of the exchange with Hamas that returned Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
• Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has invested a $300 million "strategic stake" in Twitter
• The United Nations reported that nearly four million people in Yemen will suffer in 2012 as malnutrition rates hit levels comparable to Somalia.
• Read on

Egyptian-Americans let out a collective sigh of relief this week. After months of governmental handwringing, the Egyptian High Elections Commission finally confirmed that Egyptians abroad will be able to exercise their right to vote in upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. Egyptian expatriates were permitted to begin registering yesterday on the Commission's website. Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian-Americans have struggled to find their place in the new Egypt. But their participation in Egypt's first real elections will prove what they already knew -- that they too are Egyptians and they too will help chart Egypt's new course.

Like their fellow Egyptians in Tahrir Square, Egyptian-Americans rose up and demanded the fall of the regime on January 25. But unlike their compatriots in Tahrir, Egyptian-Americans also had to prove -- to others but more importantly to themselves -- that their demands were just as legitimate, that their voice was just as authentic.

Read on

After six months of ongoing peaceful protests, a fracturing of the armed forces, and ongoing violence in numerous parts of the country, Yemenis face increasingly dire conditions each day. And yet they keep showing up. While non-democratic (nay, anti-democratic) neighbors fitfully engage in mediation efforts while also giving refuge to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the U.S. continues to interpret the crisis through the lens of counterterrorism. Concerned about the risk of an emboldened al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the U.S. has offered tepid support for the aspirations of the country's majority, pinned its hopes on an atavistic autocrat, and opted to increase controversial drone attacks in some of the most unstable parts of the country. 

This strategy is mistaken. It presupposes a narrow understanding of U.S. interests centered on counterterrorism, which I and others have argued against elsewhere. But it also assumes that working against the revolutionary aspirations of millions of Yemenis is, in fact, the best way to counter the threat of AQAP. Supporting the development of a democratically-constituted Yemen and offering support to its leaders as they build legitimate state institutions makes more sense. This Friday, the Organizing Committee of the Revolution, which is advocating for Saleh's immediate transfer of powers and the formation of a transitional council, has issued a call for a march in pursuit of a "Civil State." Yemenis from across ideological, occupational, generational, and class lines will gather around the country to demand a state accountable to its rights-bearing citizens. It will be the twenty-fifth Friday on which they have done so, camped out in the squares for the weeks in between.

Read on

Historical dates often emerge by sheer coincidence. In 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad formulated an operational goal for his tenure: by 2011 he wanted to build institutions that would justify the proclamation of a Palestinian state. This would not just have symbolic value, as PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat's statement in 1988, but would carry practical implications. Fayyad's efforts have commanded international admiration. The West Bank is indeed run in a way that meets many criteria for successful statehood. As opposed to the past, funds are used responsibly and accounting standards are transparent. The security forces -- originally trained by U.S. Lieutenant General Keith Dayton -- are remarkably effective. Both the Palestinian population and the Israel Defense Forces rely on them more than ever. Hence, September 2011 began to crystallize as a realistic date for the founding of a Palestinian state.

Fayyad's 2011 deadline for the declaration of Palestinian statehood had acquired enormous importance, even though Fayyad never connected it to the bid for U.N. recognition. It has provided Palestinians with a political horizon and a strong motivation to try the route of peaceful resistance and reliance on the international community's support for the new state. The idea of turning to the U.N. for recognition of Palestine seems not to have been a long-term strategy; it emerged as an option faute de mieux, in the absence of negotiations, and without reasonable hope that Netanyahu has the will or the mandate for a meaningful Israeli compromise.

Read on

This week, in response to the highly publicized murder of a Jewish family in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, a group of 27 U.S. senators signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to press Palestinian leaders to end "incitement directed against Jews and Israel within the Palestinian media, mosques, and schools." According to the letter, the grisly killings in Itamar (for which no suspects, Palestinian or otherwise, have been identified), "is a sobering reminder that words matter, and that Palestinian incitement against Jews and Israel can lead to violence and terror."

As evidence for the allegation of pervasive anti-Jewish incitement in Palestinian society, the letter cites a recent, official ceremony honoring Delal Mughrabi, a perpetrator of the 1978 coastal road massacre in Israel, as well as a payment of financial compensation made by the Palestinian Authority to the family of a deceased terror suspect.

Such actions are deserving of condemnation. But if it is indeed the case that "words matter" -and if the elimination of violent and dehumanizing rhetoric is, as the letter says, "critical to establishing the conditions [for] a secure and lasting peace"-then what can explain the senators' silence on the veritable carnival of hate and racist incitement against Arabs and Palestinians that has lately engulfed Israeli society?

Read on

Since 1979 the United States has spent nearly $2 billion annually on aid to Egypt.  Approximately two-thirds has been spent on "foster[ing] a well-trained, modern Egyptian military," with the purpose of ensuring stability in the country and in the region.  The remainder of the aid has funded development and economic aid programs targeting civil society development, political party training, and educational exchanges, among other aims.  In light of the Egyptian people's ongoing and forceful demonstrations for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak and their calls for a free and democratic political order, the U.S. should shift its aid distribution so that development aid is on par with funding to the military.

President Obama has already called for political change in Egypt leading to more freedom, opportunity and justice for the Egyptian people.  In remarks on February 1, the President went so far as to press for an immediate and "orderly transition," leading to free and fair elections rooted in democratic principles. It is now time to begin putting in place the policies that support these words.

Read on