Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and author of Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?, talks about the recent violence in Sinai and its effect on Egyptian politics.

 

Another massacre in Syria and more video showing horribly brutalized bodies. In the latest allegation, men were taken from a work bus and killed, execution style. The latest allegations suggests the same pattern as in the killings in Houla last week, actions taken by pro-government militia known as Shabiha. The United Nations Human Rights Commission is meeting in an emergency session to talk about the bloody events in Houla and now this latest atrocity.

Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, came to WNYC to talk about his new book Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?. While he was here, he answered the End of War question: Is war inevitable? 

Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and author of Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?, talks about the Egyptian presidential election and looks at Obama's foreign policy in the Middle East.

Fawaz Gerges gives a history of al-Qaeda, showing its emergence from the disintegrating local jihadist movements of the mid-1990s-not just the Afghan resistance of the 1980s. In The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda, he reveals that transnational jihad has attracted only a small minority within the Arab world and possesses no viable social and popular base. He also describes how the democratic revolutions that swept the Middle East in early 2011 show that al-Qaeda has no influence over Arabs' political life. Gerges argues that the West has become trapped in a "terrorism narrative," but that Al-Qaeda is no longer a serious threat.

Lawrence Wright, staff writer for the New Yorker and the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 and the director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics and author of The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda, Fawaz Gerges, discuss the battle against terrorism over the last decade.

As a brutal crackdown on protesters continues in Syria, the unrest in Yemen has slipped from the headlines. On today’s Backstory, Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, describes what’s happened in the drought-stricken, poor country over the last few weeks, including the formation of a national council by those opposed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"I think, I really fear, that the countdown to civil war in Yemen has just begun. It’s not just about protests in Yemen. You have some major defections by army generals in the last 24 hours. You have internal divisions within the ruling party of Pres. Ali Abdullah Saleh. Some elements from his own tribe are calling for him to step down. You have now a military standoff between special forces led by his son and the first division of the army of which the generals, some of his closest generals, have defected. You have turmoil engulfing most of the Yemen. You have a separatist movement in the South; you have a tribal insurgency in the North. But most important of all, I would argue, the new democratic revolt that has been sweeping the Arab world has reached Yemen with a vengeance."

Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics. For more of the interview, click here. 

The protests in Yemen and Bahrain have turned violent over the past week. Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, and Mustapha K. Al-Sayyid, professor of political science at The American University in Cairo and director of the Center for the Study of Developing Countries at Cairo University, describe the government reaction to the protests, how other governments in the region are reacting to the unrest, and where the protest movements go from here.

“In fact, many Egyptians believe that the security apparatus played a key role in fueling sectarian tensions because that played into its hands. And the reality – I’m not saying there were no tensions - but the scenes in the Liberation, the Tahrir, Square really show very clearly that Egyptians are finally getting to know one another and this is really one of the most important lessons of what has happened in Egypt.”

-- Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics. You can hear his whole conversation with Leonard about the many different roles of mosques in the protests in Egypt here.

Social media sites helped organize the protests in Egypt, but mosques have served many functions—from becoming makeshift hospitals to turning out large crowds of protesters each Friday. Fawaz Gerges, Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, describes the many roles that mosques have played during the protests across the region, from Egypt to Yemen to Jordan.

Fawaz Gerges, Director of the Middle East Centre and Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics  discusses the history of the Muslim Brotherhood and its relationship to the ongoing protests in Egypt.

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Fawaz Gerges, professor in Middle East and International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College and author of Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy and Azadeh Moaveni, journalist, essayist and author of Honeymoon in Tehran discuss the latest developments in Iran and the role young Tehranis are playing ...

Fawaz Gerges, professor in Middle East and International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College, and Endy Bayuni, chief editor of the Jakarta Post, comment on the Middle East and Muslim world's reactions to Obama's inaugural address.

Fawaz Gerges, professor in Middle East and International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College and the author of Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy, talks about how the election of Barack Obama affects the jihadist movement.

Lebanon’s new President, Michel Suleiman, has just taken office after a 6-month presidential void. We find out more about why President Suleiman has become a symbol of unity, and whether he can help heal the country's deep divisions. Dr. Fawaz Gerges is an author, Mideast scholar and ...

Fawaz Gerges, professor in Middle East and International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College and author of The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global, offers analysis of the Crocker and Petraeus testimony in yesterday's Congressional hearings. Michael Hirsh, senior editor at Newsweek's Washington Bureau, joins in to comment on Obama's ...

Fawaz Gerges, professor in International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College, and Thomas Omestad, senior writer at U.S. News & World Report, discuss the Bush administration's announcement of new sanctions against Iran.