LSE Middle East Centre Blog
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LSE MEC builds on LSE's long engagement with the Middle East and provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the region. The LSE Middle East Centre aims to increase LSE capability to engage with countries in the Middle East.
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
5d ago
by Judith Suissa
In a powerful recent piece in the London Review of Books, ‘Versions of Denial’, Conor Gearty draws on the work of my late father, Stanley Cohen, to analyse the denial of Israel’s violent human rights abuses and war crimes in Gaza and their reframing as regrettable but necessary acts of self-defence, and considers how this denial is used to justify the ongoing Israeli bombardment.
Gearty’s focus is on the mechanisms by which the discourse of denial has been ‘flipped’ so that ‘the Palestinians and their supporters find themselves having to prove to the world that things that di ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
1w ago
by Andri Ottesen Kuwait, 1961. Source: Brett Jordan, Flickr.
Even though geographically different, Kuwait and Norway have many similarities in terms of their wealth accumulation, economy, and population. As of the end of 2022, Norway had a population of 5.5 million, whereas Kuwait had close to 4.3 million residents. Both nations are heavily reliant on oil production to generate wealth, with Kuwait ranking 10th and Norway 13th in terms of wealth derived from such production. Kuwait’s crude oil reserves account for 6.1% of the world’s reserves—the 6th highest in the world. Petroleum production a ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
2w ago
by Jenifer Vaughan
As the spectacle of operation ‘Shock and Awe’ unfolded, I was ensconced in CNN’s control room helping to orchestrate the flurry of live shots from reporters across the globe. Amidst the chaos, a palpable sense of anticipation permeated the room as a massive aerial assault began on Iraq. When would US and British troops expose Saddam’s arsenal of weapons?
It was a moment like many others that encapsulates the broader discourse surrounding the ignorance and complicity of many in the lead-up to the conflict, a subject that has been dissected at length since. Howeve ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
3w ago
by Tail Alkhudary Women chant campaign slogans at Iraqia rally. Photo: Omar Chatriwala, Flickr.
On a crisp winter day in Baghdad, I took a taxi to the political office of the Taqadom MP Wihda Al-Jumaili. The veteran politician has a street named after her in Dora, Southern Baghdad, where she meets with hundreds of constituents every day. Al-Jumaili’s celebrity is perhaps just one indication of how far women MPs have come in Iraq.
In fact, in the 2021 elections women MPs won 95 seats in parliament – the highest number to be achieved in Iraq to date and 14% more than their quota allocation. Howe ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
1M ago
by Alex Creamer Image Description – Abdulah Öcalan in his prison cell on İmralı Island (circa. 2001), Sakine Cansiz in Çanakkale prison, with portraits of Leyla Qasim and Mazlum Doğan 1990.No Response to International Human Rights Organisations
Hunger strikes have broken out amongst Kurdish prisoners across the Turkish prison system that are only due to end today, the 15 February 2024. Today’s date is symbolic for many Kurdish activists as it marks 25 years since PKK-leader Abdullah Öcalan was transferred to İmralı Type F High Security Prison on the 15th of February 1999.
International aw ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
2M ago
by Jenifer Vaughan
The fog of war, sowing confusion and restricting viable options, brings forth complex ethical quandaries when balancing the imperative to uphold moral and legal principles. Those in pursuit of noble endeavours can at times be compelled to navigate a fine line between altruism and involvement in grave acts of malfeasance.
For example, confronted with the dilemma of safeguarding lives during conflict, decision makers might have to grapple with the ethical predicaments of evacuating populations. While such actions may ostensibly align with the commendable goal of saving lives ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
2M ago
هاشم الحسيني و طيف الخضيري
Rudaw التصويت في الانتخابات في ديسمبر/كانون الثاني 2023. المصدر
يناقش هذا المقال الصعود المفاجئ لقوائم يرأسها المحافظون في خمس محافظات عراقية (البصرة، ذي قار، واسط، كربلاء ونينوى) كسبت فيها هذه القوائم أكثر من نصف المقاعد وأثر هذه النتائج على الخارطة السياسية للبلاد. فعند تولي السيد محمد شياع السوداني مهام الحكم في العراق، كانت من بين أولويات حكومته إجراء انتخابات محلية لاختيار أعضاء مجالس المحافظات. كان قد تم تجميد عمل هذه المجالس بعد الإحتجاجات التي شهدها البلاد في تشرين الثاني 2019 ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
3M ago
حيدر الشاكري و الفضل أحمد متظاهر معاق يحمل عكازين يواجه شرطة مكافحة الشغب خلال مظاهرات تشرين في بغداد، 2017. تصوير مصطفى نادر، Wiki CC.
رغم انتهاء الاحتجاجات التشرينية في 2021، فإن تأثيراتها السياسية لا تزال قائمة حتى الآن. أحد أبرز الظواهر في عراق بعد تشرين هو السعي المستمر للإطار التنسيقي الشيعي – الذي يشكل الحكومة الحالية- لتطوير استراتيجيات جديدة لمنع نشوب احتجاجات مماثلة قد تهدد النظام السياسي. فالأدوات التي استخدمتها السلطات خلال فترة الاحتجاجات، والتي تتمثل بشكل رئيسي بعمليات القتل والاختطاف والملاحقة للمتظاهرين والتي أسفرت عن مقتل أكثر من 800 عراقي وإصابة أكثر من 25000 ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
3M ago
by Hayder Al-Shakeri & Alfadhel Ahmad A handicapped protester with crutches faces the riot police during the Tishreen (October) Revolution in Baghdad, 2017. Photo by Mostafa Nader, Wiki CC
Despite the end of the Tishreen protests in 2021, their political reverberations continue to resonate today. One prominent feature of post-Tishreen Iraq is the persistent pursuit by the Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF) – which currently forms the government – of new strategies to prevent the emergence of similar protests that could threaten the political system. The authorities’ previous approach ..read more
LSE Middle East Centre Blog
3M ago
by Omran Omer Ali & Nazar Ameen Mohammed Soldiers from the Nineveh Plain Protection Unit patrol a mountainside at their training facility in Nineveh Province, 18 May 2016. The NPPU were formed during the fight against ISIL. Source: U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Sergio Rangel/RELEASED
On 9 December 2017, former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the Islamic State in Iraq. Although the Islamic State (IS) was territorially defeated six years ago, the impact of the atrocities committed by the terrorist organisation still reverberates today, and the communities ..read more