Sam Cult

Despite the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in countries such as Egypt and Yemen, where the movement has entrenched grassroots of affiliates and supporters, the Turkish “Justice and Development” Party - AK succeeded to win 51.79% of the votes, during the presidential elections held on 10 August 2014. This was the first presidential elections during which the people, rathe...

As 2013 is heading towards folding its few remaining pages, some of our struggles and armed disputes will persist facing any looming comprehensive resolution and will mostly prevail during the first half of 2014 to the least. Residents of the Levantine are getting more and more indulged in the daily casual politics' talks. A morning coffee by the sidewalk of a bistro, a noon club-sandwich by the ...

It is an awkward trilogy by virtue: one friendship was entrenched after a deadly animosity and another love affair was dumped following a sinful treason though it is apparently recovering well. Between the Caesar, the Ayatollah and the King, the Middle East risks not to subdue the challenges ahead.

"America's complete Israel support against the Arabs makes it difficult ...

Following the killing - which was interpreted as death - of previous president, Muammar Al-Gaddafi, putting an end to his 42-year authoritarian ruling, Libya immersed into a swamp of multiple quasi official - as well as completely unofficial - armed groups pockmarking the role of a government already eschewed from imposing its sovereignty.

Areas such as Zintan, Misrata, Benghazi ...

After an Indonesian rendezvous with his Russian counterpart, US Secretary of State, John Kerry avowed that the process of stripping Syria of its chemical weapons "has begun in record time", expressed "appreciative" tone for Moscow's initiative - and of course cooperation, and felt obliged to give "credit to the Assad regime, frankly"! After all, the US administration had always welcomed "a good beginning"...

The relationship between Washington and its main veto-holders' opponents - Moscow and Beijing - at the United Nations Security Council is quiet hallucinating. Putting it straight and simple, post USSR Russia and the "C" of the BRICS - meaning China - had long stood in support of the Ayatollah and Alawite regimes respectively in Iran and Syria against the West's so-called democratisati...

Trying to catch up with the oscillating stances of Washington and Moscow, on "to strike" and "not to strike" Syria, the strategy game "Risk" crossed my mind late last night. During the raging civil war days in Lebanon, we used to gather in a basement situated on a parallel street, choose our favourite colours, and start organising the ranks of our soldiers. The game consumed too much time an...

Before the advent of the "Arab Spring" season, the authoritarian governments of the Arab sphere were reputed for being merciless - sometimes, horribly inhuman - on matters related to the security of the state and the preservation of the regime. In some contexts, where tribal influence constituted a dominant factor, governments did broker clandestine deals granting specific sheikhs exceptional privileges. However, such con...

On 31 August, 2013, US President, Barack Obama, was expected to present a historic speech from his garden at the White House. As a senior Syrian opposition figure told Al-Jazeerah on that date, "Presidents of USA do not make abrupt public speeches unless they do have something urgent to say". In fact, this could be the most straightforward answer to portray the actual paradox, which continue to pockma...