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Shutdowns for Leftists
Throughout the shutdown, American media have repeatedly reminded us that there have been seventeen prior to this one. The suggestion is that shutdowns aren’t that big of a deal. The fact is that every...
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Before the Law
Somalia is a security problem. Without a doubt. For its neighbors, and for the international community, whose vessels frequently find themselves preyed upon by pirates working from its shores. Press a...
View ArticleThe One-State Burden
In the American Prospect today, Gershom Gorenberg raises the key argument against a one-state solution: that nationalism is too strong on both the Jewish and Palestinian side for them to reasonably...
View ArticlePost-Sykes Picot, Revisited
Check out Paragh Khanna‘s new article, on the end of the nation-state. He makes a familiar argument: globalization has unleashed a devolution in state authority that will ultimately usher in new forms...
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Pimping the Persian Gulf
There’s an extremely passionate debate circulating in Middle Eastern studies circles about an article by Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi. A noted analyst, al-Qassemi argues that Gulf cities have seized the...
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The Last Good War
It has a triumphalist feel about it. Put Wagner on the stereo, call up the image, and you’re in an episode from Apocalypse Now. Well, not really. But you get the idea. Artillery rockets, fired by...
View ArticleMarlboro Man in Yemen
I’ve been living in Yemen for two weeks now. One of the reasons I have had difficulties adjusting to life here is because I’ve been trying to quit smoking. Few tasks are as hard in the Middle East....
View ArticleYemenis in Conflict
I took a photo while the soldiers weren’t looking, and posted it on Facebook. I saw something that looked familiar, as a Pakistani. It was on 26th of September Street in Sana’a. A truck with a machine...
View ArticleExpat Sex
I don’t “get” sex. And I’ve never liked talking to Americans about it. I never quite realized it until I talked to expatriates about sex out here in Sana’a. Expats have a habit of dominating every...
View ArticleDrones and Gender
According to a Pew poll released in July, the United States is only one of three surveyed nations where majorities approve of President Obama’s drone strikes. It’s joined by Israel, likely due to the...
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Explosions in Sana’a
I hit the snooze button on my alarm clock. It’s the day of my mid-term, and I am still exhausted from filling out graduate school applications. My eyes shoot open as a massive explosion slashes through...
View ArticleDeath in Yemen
Media outlets are abuzz this week about the stabbing of a Japanese diplomat during an attempted kidnapping on Hada’a Street, in Sana’a. Tellingly, they leave out the information that is needed to put...
View ArticleMy Expat Christmas
People mistake my bitterness this time of year for hating Christmas. Actually, I’m fine with it. I just hate how it gets observed. And I especially hate being around American expats, in Yemen, on...
View ArticleDemystifying Death
Anyone who travels to Pakistan, or Yemen, for long periods, is confronted with violence. Death is everywhere. One of the ways I have come to terms with it is through re-watching relevant films, in...
View ArticleExpelled from Yemen
It has been four days since I was forced to leave Yemen. Last Thursday, the president of Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies, gave me a choice: face interrogation, arrest and, potential...
View ArticleRobert Gates’ War
The Washington Post has published an excerpt from Robert M. Gates’ memoirs, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War. It’s a much needed glimpse into the wartime thinking of the Obama Administration,...
View ArticleFallujah Hysteria
There is a great deal of hysteria about al-Qaida militants taking over Fallujah. Is the organization resurgent in Iraq, or is the allegation unfounded? According to The Guardian’s Ross Caputi, the...
View ArticleSmelling the Rain in Germany
It’s raining in Neukölln as I’m writing this. As far as I know, smell activates memories. The scent of rain activates my own from a childhood vacation in Khyber-Pakthunkhwa. I find it soothing to think...
View ArticleChoke Play
I tightened the noose around my neck and threw its tail over the rafters. I felt the rope dig into my flesh as my body was dragged upwards.My surroundings quietly began to fade, and a gentle ringing...
View ArticleZimmerman Boxing
The announcement of a celebrity boxing match between George Zimmerman, and rap-star DMX, has generated quite a lot of anger. The Nation‘s Mychal Denzel Smith does not mince words about how disgusted it...
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