Turkey tops the list of countries to watch in the Middle East. Surprising shifts in domestic and foreign Turkish policy will have an important influence on the web of complex developments in the entire…
Some of the global pressure points in 2017. Below is the analysis of each country, grouped by region.
The Conversation
Russia has managed to regain, at least in part, its role as a powerful interlocutor in the Middle East, which it lost after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Members of the youth wing of the National Front, Malaysia’s ruling coalition, hold placards during a protest at the North Korea embassy following the murder of Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur.
Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters
Data since 1950s show Americans have always been wary of refugees. A public opinion expert explains current attitudes toward Syrian refugees and what it means for building consensus on policy.
A constitutional scholar considers the legal arguments that could undo Trump’s executive order barring travel by residents of seven Muslim majority countries.
Syrian children remove rubble Aleppo, Syria.
AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
The 60,000 people currently stuck in Greece will probably have to stay there. The EU should help them integrate.
Pro-Donald Trump bots worked to sway public opinion in the US election by secretly taking over pro-Hillary Clinton hashtags and spreading fake news stories.
Reuters/Lucas Jackson
Bots have not just been used in the US, but also in Australia, the UK, Germany, Syria and China. To what extent – and how – are they affecting political discourse?
Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Conversation/Reuters
Despite the cataclysmic risks of the Cold War, times have never been as dangerous as these since 1945. Freedom and the rule of law are both under threat.
Life is in limbo for Syrian refugees in Jordan.
Jamal Nasrallah/EPA
With the many interconnected conflicts within Syria continuing, and with routes to safety increasingly blocked, what can Syria’s 4.8m refugees expect in this ‘new’ year?
It’s become a popular meme: 2016 was the worst year ever. We’ll be lucky if it was.
Flag-wrapped coffin of late Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is carried to a plane during a ceremony at Esenboga airport in Ankara.
Umit Bektas/Reuters
The images we have seen of Aleppo could play an important role in future discourses about the responsibility to protect.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu offer flowers in memory of slain Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov.
Maxim Shemetov/Pool photo via AP
Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University