World 60

EU-Tunisia: Why the Dutch were compelled to strike a deal with an autocrat

On July 16, the European Commission signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with Tunisia, granting the country millions of euros to prevent migrants and refugees from crossing the Mediterranean to seek shelter in Europe. But why did the Dutch prime minister play a pioneering role in the conclusion of the Tunisia deal, if only a small proportion of the migrants along this route travel on to the Netherlands? This analysis examines how the Dutch anti-migration policy became self-evident.

Egyptian authorities must stop harassing Lina Attalah

Lina Attalah, Mada Masr’s editor in chief, was arrested on Sunday May 17, 2020, outside the Tora Prison complex in Cairo. Law enforcement officials informed her colleagues that she will be held overnight and will appear before the prosecutor tomorrow morning. Attalah was arrested while she was interviewing Laila Soueif, the mother of imprisoned activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who had been on a hunger strike for 35 days. She was released on bail later in the evening.

Interview: Tunisian physicist Nour Raouafi, on NASA’s mission to reach the Sun

Over the past month, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has been breaking space records left and right. On October 29, PSP became the closest and fastest human-made object orbiting the Sun, while October 31 marked its first solar « encounter ». In light of these events, Nawaat speaks with the Project Scientist of the NASA mission to reach our solar system’s star, the Sun. Nour Raouafi, Tunisian solar physicist at John Hopkins University Applied Sciences Lab which built the PSP spacecraft, describes the early phase of this seven-year journey into the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, and also talks about his own trajectory to working on this stellar mission.

American aid: In spite of Trump’s cuts, Congress bets on Tunisia’s “success”

How much will US Congress carve out for Tunisia in 2018? The jury is still out, and even though the fiscal year began October 1, Washington has yet to approve the new budget, including foreign funding amounts. An article* published earlier this month on The Hill urges senators to remember Tunisia while finalizing the budget for the coming year. « Tunisia is an American ‘soft power’ success story—let’s keep it that way », the author writes, arguing that with US foreign assistance « there is reason to believe that the rule of law and democratic institutions will prevail », whereas cuts in funding to the country would represent « a serious mistake ».

Tunisia in German Media

Parliamentary elections, presidential elections, the forming of a new government – Tunisia’s young democracy has covered many milestones within the last months. What picture of Tunisia has been conveyed in German media during this important period in history? The following is an overview of how German journalists portray the political situation in Tunisia at the moment and which aspects catch their interest.

The Year 2013 in Review: Year One of a New Era of Epic Mediocrity

Nothing about 2013 is readily decipherable, except that it was a gross rumination and regurgitation of 2012′s morbid futility and chaotic randomness. The year 2013 did not leave for the Arabs, especially in the countries of popular revolts, any margin for lack of understanding. It has explained and elaborated on, and in some cases did provide a full exegesis of, what was announced or implied by 2012.

The Imrali Promise and the New Middle East Plan

From all appearances, nothing short of the cornerstone for a regional Middle East civil war was laid on Imrali, a Turkish island in the southern region of the Sea of Marmara. Those who do not understand how to read history always fall behind. And those who are not acquainted with Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish leader and the message he sent out to his people on March 21, are not in a position to comprehend the depth and the enormity of the threat directed toward the Arab world and Middle East in general that this communication represents.

Tunisia : Hilary Clinton in Tunis, again…

“Youth rising, aspirations and expectations”, is the name of the conference held on February 25, 2012, by Hilary Clinton, the secretary of United States in “Ezzahra Castle” in Sid Bousaid. Her visit to Tunisia is the second one in a less than a year. After a long boring checking out for security reason, we ended up in a small and crowded room waiting for Lady Clinton who came late.