March 2011

Ben Ali was only the second ruler the Tunisians had known in 53 years of independence from France. The word Tunisia is derived from Tunis, known to the Ancient Greeks as Tynes, the capital city of modern-day Tunisia. The name Tunis can be attributed to different origins. It may be associated with the Phoenician goddess Tanith, or to the Berber …

An interview with Dr. Farooq Hasnat, a scholar and an expert on ME affairs Uprising is not a usual thing to happen in the Middle East. People of this region have been seldom seen coming out on the streets to protest against the government or any institution. Egypt saw this happening. In the span of only 18 days the power …

History bears witness to the fact that in case of most of the revolutions, those poor and middle class people, who made these revolutions possible by their sweat and blood, were marginalized and the revolutions were highjacked by some other opportunists and power seekers. By the time Nelson Mandela finally came out of prison, after more than a quarter of …

Could it be that the uprising in Tunisia is the harbinger of an alternative for other Arab countries? It is extremely difficult to write about an ongoing event such as the Tunisian uprising (now called a revolution) since struggles of these kind tear asunder the certainties of the past and split open a future pregnant with several possibilities. While it …

Diplomatic immunity is not meant to benefit individuals personally; it is meant to ensure that foreign officials can do their jobs. As if we did not have enough problems at hand, here we are sunk in yet another self-made crisis over a former US special forces soldier ‘on contract’ with Department of Defence sent on a ‘special mission’ to Pakistan …