Islamic Affairs Analyst 

Islamic Affairs Risk Watch
Algeria Upcoming parliamentary election Fears of a low turnout in Algeria's upcoming parliamentary election have prompted a concerted push by the authorities to encourage ...
27-Apr-2012
Will Turkey start a new Syria conflict?
Turkey has been at the forefront of international efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria and has taken an increasingly hostile stance against its one-time...
25-Apr-2012
UN clutches at Syrian straws
More than a year after the start of the uprising in Syria, which has so far claimed more than 9,000 lives, the regional and international...
24-Apr-2012
Brotherhood tries to steer Egypt's future
Despite Islamism's inconsistent association with the Egyptian uprising that began on 25 January 2011 and forced former president Hosni Mubarak from power less than a...
20-Apr-2012
Indonesia's Islamic vigilantes
On 11 February, hundreds of ethnic Dayak from Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, descended on Tjilik Riwut Airport to block the arrival of four senior leaders of...
19-Apr-2012
Katatni's power positioning in Egypt
Mohamed Saad al-Katatni was born in the city of Girga in the governorate of Upper Egypt in March 1952. His future as a parliamentary leader...
17-Apr-2012
Islamic World Risk Watch
Afghanistan / Qatar / United States Taliban cancels peace talks Efforts by the United States to lay the groundwork for a troop withdrawal ...
23-Mar-2012
Lebanon weathers the Syrian storm
Despite Syria's violent uprising, Lebanon remains relatively calm and its political class, although deeply divided, has so far managed to limit the most detrimental effects...
22-Mar-2012
Pakistan's Islamists practice politics
When the Pakistan government closed the land supply route for convoys heading into Afghanistan with supplies for the Western troops there in November 2011, the...
22-Mar-2012
*Boko Haram moves closer to AQIM
Since the beginning of the uprisings still taking place across the Middle East and North Africa, there have been numerous groups in parts of the...
22-Mar-2012
Lebanon fears jihadist spillover from Syria
In early March, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) broke up a Salafist-jihadist cell that was allegedly planning to carry out attacks against military targets. Two...
22-Mar-2012
*Kazakhstan assumes central role
The Republic of Kazakhstan has become the leading country with a majority Muslim population to emerge from the wreckage of the Soviet Union. During its...
22-Mar-2012
Islamic World Risk Watch
Afghanistan Anger over Koran burnings An apology by senior United States officials did not prevent widespread unrest in response to the burning of ...
24-Feb-2012
Inside the Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) was created in July 2011 and operates throughout Syria, although it has a particularly strong presence in the Homs, Idlib...
24-Feb-2012
Yemen's new leader faces rocky road
Abdurabu Mansour Hadi, who served as vice-president for 18 years under outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh, was the sole candidate for the country's presidential election...
23-Feb-2012
State of mind: Qatar's rise in the Arab world
Qatar, the Persian Gulf State located on the eastern flank of Saudi Arabia, does not initially appear to be a keystone in the politics of...
23-Feb-2012
The battle over stateless jihad
The master narrative of the Al-Qaeda movement contains a call to violent jihad to defend Muslims and Islam against ideological and military aggression. This ...
22-Feb-2012
*Arab Spring heats up Kurdish issue
The four Middle Eastern states with significant Kurdish communities - Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria - before the 1990s had a unique security relationship in...
21-Feb-2012
Islamic World Risk Watch
Afghanistan / Qatar / Pakistan Taliban plans Qatar office The Taliban on 3 January announced its willingness to open a representative office in ...
27-Jan-2012
Iraq's future: reasons to be fearful
On the surface, the departure of the last US combat troops on 18 December 2011 changed little in Iraq. The country's political leaders have continued...
27-Jan-2012
*Shabab under pressure in Somalia
Civil war in Somalia has lasted for more than two decades. The country has come a long way in that time but the situation on...
27-Jan-2012
Prisoner campaign divides UK Islamists
Babar Ahmed, a 37-year-old UK national, has been in detention in the UK since 2003. He was arrested by London's Metropolitan Police following an extradition...
26-Jan-2012
Syria's splintered opposition
The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) was created in September 2011, yet so far its members have been unable to put an end to their...
23-Jan-2012
Islamic Affairs Risk Watch - 16 December 2011
Afghanistan Security transition continues The second phase of security transition in Afghanistan was confirmed by the Afghan government on 27 November 2011. As ...
16-Dec-2011
Pakistan and US ties in the balance
In the days leading up to the United States military vacating the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on 11 December 2011, a senior...
16-Dec-2011
Al-Nahda eyes the prize in Tunisia
Hamadi Jebali, secretary-general of the Islamist al-Nahda party, was appointed Tunisia's new prime minister on 14 December by President Moncef Marzouki. Given al-Nahda's commanding ...
15-Dec-2011
Stepping into Awlaqi's shoes
The death of Yemeni-American extremist preacher Anwar al-Awlaqi in September 2011 has deprived the Western, English-speaking Islamist landscape of one of its most influential figureheads....
15-Dec-2011
Marching towards democracy
The history of the Middle East shows that armed forces in the region have played critical roles in politics, society and large-scale processes of state...
14-Dec-2011
Turkey and Iran's relations go cold
Tensions between Turkey and Iran are increasing and the main arena looks to be Iraq. With the remaining United States combat forces set to leave...
09-Dec-2011
Islamic Affairs Risk Watch
Afghanistan Taliban 'phoning in' orders General John R Allen, commander of the United States-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), has claimed that mid-level Taliban ...
25-Nov-2011
Coptics face challenges in Egypt
The jubilation arising from the revolution that ousted then president Hosni Mubarak in February has quickly diminished as a collective sense of impatience has emerged...
25-Nov-2011
Tense Egypt prepares for landmark elections
Nine months after Hosni Mubarak was forced from power, a consensus is emerging among Egyptians and international observers that the events following the popular uprising...
25-Nov-2011
Salafism back in Balkan spotlight
On Friday 28 October, a lone gunman stalked the US embassy in Sarajevo, the capital of the troubled Balkan state of Bosnia-Herzegovina, firing randomly at...
24-Nov-2011
The legacy of Anwar al-Awlaqi
Anwar al-Awlaqi, the US-born Yemeni Islamist extremist preacher, was killed in late September in what Yemeni authorities said was a US air strike. According...
21-Nov-2011
Iran and Pakistan form delicate ties
Within weeks of the 2 May killing of Osama Bin Laden, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had paid two high-profile visits to Iran, the second...
09-Nov-2011