Halfway around the world, Madison native Adam Fierman was able to find glimpses of home in Jordanian culture.
A current student of psychology and Arabic at Vassar College in New York, Fierman just returned from a two-month trip to Jordan, where he spent time immersing himself in Arabic – the language and the culture.

American intelligence analysts, like most U.S. observers, have often referred to the process unfolding in the Middle East as the “Arab Spring,” with its implicit message of democratic birth and freedom.

Why are Muslims so stubborn in nurturing ancient beliefs and rituals when they fly in the face of modern capitalist society? Secular critics dismiss Islam as a harmful, even dangerous anachronism. Why disrupt one’s busy day five times to pray...

The policies Clinton is defending (at least publicly; I bet privately she’s not so happy with the administration’s direction) could more accurately be described as the “lead from behind” doctrine rather than “smart power.”

...despite Turkey’s understanding that Assad must go, the country is unwilling to intervene militarily or use its soft power in regards to trade and the economy to pressure the Syrian regime.

The servers that house Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger don't have a political, social or legal agenda. Their job is simply to transmit what people post and deliver it to people who want to see it. But the same technologies can also be used to espouse unpopular causes or even rally people to anti-social, illegal or destructive acts.

Something big is happening in China, and it started soon after the onset of the “Arab Spring” demonstrations and regime changes: the most serious and widespread wave of repression since the Tiananmen Square crackdowns 22 years ago. The spread of protest from one Arab-Islamic country to its neighbors might have seemed predictable. Less so was the effect in China.

As Syrian forces reportedly begin a third day of their assault on the port of Latakia, newspapers in the region have expressed anger about Arab states' failure to respond to events in that country. Several commentators strongly criticise the "shameful Arab silence" towards the Syrian authorities, with one saying that it amounts to handing over the country to "anarchy."