The Khashoggi case has put a magnifying glass on the instability of relations among Middle East countries and especially on the turbulent relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Turkey is in no position to take head on the Saudi kingdom regarding the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi; at the same time Erdogan cannot ignore such an overpublicized incident. Khashoggi may be the opportunity Erdogan was looking for in order to re-approach Saudi Arabia and the US, and establish Turkey as a strong middle power in the region. Only time will show if the rapprochement will be considered as a prudent diplomatic move by Erdogan.

Follow this link for our book review of Alison Pargeter, Return to the Shadows: The Muslim Brotherhood and An-Nahda since the Arab Spring (Saqi Books, 2016).

A lot of ink has been spilt on the role of political Islam in post-Arab Spring politics. In the beginning, there was an assumption of an almost teleological nature whereby the democratic renaissance of the region would at a minimum bring the forces of political Islam to the fore. There was even the potential for it to be rendered the single most important socio-political actor in part of the region. While the first premise has certainly proved true, Alison Pargeter’s book is a detailed, eloquent attempt at explaining the second: political Islam’s inability to ensconce itself in power, once in its antechamber.

In most of Egypt, the revolution that broke out on January 25th, 2011, took the form of non-violent protest but in Sinai, which has historically been more turbulent and unstable, the rebellion became a full-blown military insurgency. Since the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi on the 3rdof July, 2013, the situation in the Sinai Peninsula has become even more critical. The tense relations between the Egyptian army and Gaza, the declared war of the Generals against the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jihadists, and the necessity of the Egyptian government’s compliance with the peace treaty of 1979 with Israel, all serve as factors to make things more complicated in times when the spirit of uprising is apparent all over the region.