Do Egyptians Know or Care who Bassem Youssef is?
What are the chances that an average Egyptian watches Bassem Youssef’s show? Considering digital-television penetration in Egypt is less than 58%, slim to none. Bassem Youssef’s arrest has garnered international media atten...
The Forgotten Half of Cyprus
During the past few weeks of financial turmoil, the small Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been in the spotlight of the international media. But what few reporters seem to remember is that this is an island divided in two. Th...
WATCH: My escape from North Korea
As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee thought her country was “the best on the planet.” It wasn’t until the famine of the 90s that she began to wonder. She escaped the country at 14 to begin a life in hid...
EU Accounts: Are the Eurosceptics Right?
One of the arguments most used by eurosceptics is the fact that the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has refused to sign off the European Union’s accounts for the 18th year in a row. That does sound like a pretty devastating ...
Girls Are Told Not to Leave Kyrgyzstan
A Kyrgyz MP has proposed a new draft decree that would ban girls under 23 years of age from leaving the country without parental consent. Yrgal Kadyralieva calls the decree she is pushing through the parliament ‘SapargulR...
Time for Business-Executive Politics in the MENA Region
For decades Arab politics has been an easy ride for the well-established circles that governed states and countries in the MENA region. Whether it is by virtue of blood as in monarchies, money as in oligarchies or simply heavil...
