Middle East/North African News & Analysis

If You Want to Support Israel, Call Out Its Apartheid in the West Bank
Siding with Israel when it is clearly wrong does not make you a friend, it makes you an enabler, and a former Israeli Mossad chief might just be able to shift the conversation further in the direction it needs to ...

EXCLUSIVE: First Round Turkey Election Voting Data Suggest Systemic Opposition Voter Suppression
Rejected ballot and voter turnout data favoring Erdogan over Kilicdaroglu collectively suggest foul play By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook) May 28, 2023; see related ongoing Twitter thread and related articles by Brian from May 13 The Importance ...

My Turkish Election Results Dataset Raises Troubling Questions and Should Be of Interest
Still wondering how I yet again beat every major outlet on a big story... By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook) May 18, 2023; see related ongoing Twitter thread and related articles by Brian from May 13 The Importance of The Effort ...

The Importance of The Effort to Eject Erdoğan Goes Far Beyond Turkey
Tomorrow’s Turkish election carries regional and even global ramifications By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook) May 13, 2023; see directly related May 10 article by Brian graciously published by The UnPopulist: Turkey's Best Shot for Defeating its Illiberal ...

The West’s Humanitarian Response to Ukraine Should Inspire Repetition, Not Envy
What a brief comparison between today’s aid work in Ukraine and efforts during Iraq’s Battle of Mosul against ISIS can teach us (Russian/Русский перевод coming soon) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), August 9, 2022 People offer rooms ...

On Christianity, Ancient Rome, History, and Memory: A Christmas Season Reflection
A review of The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World (by Catherine Nixey, Mariner Books, 2017 hc/2019 pb, 358 pages) By Brian E. Frydenborg, December 26, 2021 (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) The New York Times SILVER SPRING—As ...

9/11, Afghanistan, and the “War on Terror”: The Long View (& the Tragic One)
Osama bin Laden’s plan was clearly to get to the U.S. to overreact and play into his hands; long after his death, his plan succeeded beyond his imagination not because of him, but because of America’s choices and behavior. Yet ...

Wading into Israel and Palestine Quicksand, Biden Offers a Diplomacy 101 Class for All
Biden pretty much nailed it with his efforts to achieve a cease-fire, but his critics miss the big picture and do not understand how diplomacy works By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) May 27, 2021; also published May ...

Death, Stupidity; Rinse, Repeat: What Is New, What Is Old in Latest Israeli-Palestinian Tragedy
A sick twist in the current cycle of violence stems from the natural outcomes of the repeated past cycles of fighting and perpetuation of the extremist behavior and policies causing them By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) May ...

The Iran Natanz Attack Sorta Happened in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (and in a way instructive for us all!)
Two Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes with surprising resonance for the Middle East and the conflict involving Iran, Israel, and America provide solid lessons on conflict and diplomacy By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) April 15, 2021; ...

Why the Coronavirus Pandemic and America’s Disastrous Response Will Inspire Future Use of Bioweapons
Excerpt 3 of 5, adapted to stand alone, from a May 26, 2020 SPECIAL REPORT on coronavirus By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) 1-A Brief, Non-Comprehensive Survey of Bioweapons, Biowarfare, and Bioterrorism History in Light of the Coronavirus Pandemic 2-America’s History ...

America’s History of Failure in Unconventional and Asymmetric Warfare Is Instructive for Our War with the Coronavirus
Excerpt 2 of 5, adapted to stand alone, from a May 26, 2020 SPECIAL REPORT on coronavirus By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) 1-A Brief, Non-Comprehensive Survey of Bioweapons, Biowarfare, and Bioterrorism History in Light of the Coronavirus Pandemic 3-Why the ...