Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has operated in Yemen since 2006, when it was called al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY). While al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been dubbed “al-Qaeda’s greatest direct threat to the United States” and is responsible for numerous attempted attacks on the U.S., the al-Qaeda branch has only expanded in the […]

The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, otherwise known as HERO, comes to a vote today during the city’s local elections. While the provisions of the bill itself are not solely focused on LGBT rights – but rather on categorical discrimination broadly – the protections it offers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity have […]

Seeking the highest office in the land, then-governor Ronald Reagan launched his candidacy for the Presidency by declaring that the United States of America “will become that shining city on a hill”, by “uphold(ing) the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality and, above all, responsible liberty.” Earlier this year Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of […]

Israel has experienced tremendous natural gas findings over the past 6 years, and there is currently debate over its future as an exporter, with an expressed desire by the government to export 40% of its offshore finds. While contracts have been signed with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, Israel has begun a campaign to encourage […]

BY BENJAMIN GILLIES It is not often Canadian federal politics makes international headlines, but youthful and charismatic Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau caused a minor global stir last week when he ousted Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s governing Conservatives. Likely, however, nobody was more surprised to wake up last Tuesday morning to a Liberal majority government […]

Ashes of Hama by Raphael Lefevre provides a chronological description of the progression of the Syrian Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood). The book discusses the establishment of the Brotherhood and its evolution in Syrian politics. Lefevre does a fascinating job analyzing the Muslim Brotherhood institutionally and organizationally, provoking the reader to move beyond stereotypes about the Syrian […]

BY DAVID PAYNE Packed seats, people standing wherever they could find space, and a rush towards the stage at the end to meet the event’s stars. That scene, characteristic of a pop star’s reception, unfolded on October 27th when NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and 100-Year Starship Principal Dr. Mae Jemison spoke at Harvard’s JFK Jr. […]

BY LAUREN LEATHERBY Last night, GOP presidential candidates took to the stage for the third Republican presidential debate of the 2016 election season. This debate was the first Republican debate since the Democratic candidates made their first appearance on the debate stage just over two weeks ago, on Oct. 13. Moderators and candidates in both […]

BY LUCY BOYD “That’s how we’ve been crafting our questions, so that Senator X will respond to what Governor Y said about him or a policy he proposed and try to encourage them to actually debate Lincoln-Douglas style as much as possible.” – Jake Tapper, moderator, before second GOP debate on September 16, 2015. The […]

Introduction Both French and post-independence Algerian rulers imposed a simplistic, narrow definition of identity on Algeria. These choices were dictated by ideologies associated with colonization and Pan-Arabism, marginalizing other key components of Algerian identity. In doing so, both the colonizer and the dictator were able to effectively maintain power in pitting cultural, linguistic, and ethnic […]

Time and again, experts have warned that oil and gas deposits will soon be depleted. Although the jury is still out on whose opinion regarding when this may happen will eventually prevail, the inevitability of this event is not in question. In any case, coal supplies will last humanity for centuries. It thus appears that […]

  On the morning of October 9th 2015, I woke up to the news that the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet won the Nobel Peace Prize. In a time when terrorism, political bickering and popular discontent were threatening the legacy of the Tunisian revolution, the Quartet stepped in and engineered a nationwide dialogue. It worked. Tunisia […]