Trending
Opinion: Peace in Yemen appears to be more distant
9 February 2024
Latest
Latest
- Georgia plans new international airport in Tbilisi to boost capacity and tourism
- The carbon footprint created in the first 60 days of the war in Gaza alone surpassed the annual emissions of 20 small countries, according to a recent study
- EU and US make a generous financial pledge to Armenia as they affirm their support for its sovereignty, democracy, territorial integrity, and socio-economic resilience
- Blinken and Von der Leyen speak to Aliyev ahead of their meeting with Pashinyan
- Opinion: Pashinyan-Blinken-von der Leyen Meeting Stirs Tensions in the South Caucasus
- 4 April is International Landmine Awareness Day
Filter archive
Trending
Analysis: an overview of the war economy in Yemen
15 August 2023
For many Yemenis, the continuous years of war have created a country without any clear destination. The country is grappling with overall economic collapse and millions are in need of emergency aid. In a country where major decisions are taken by external rather than local actors, weakness in the economy provided a ripe opportunity for actors to gain leverage and benefit from creating a war economy.
Trending
Yemen’s complex war: caught between religious ideology and geopolitical conflict
1 March 2023
The Yemen crisis has become one of the most complex crises in our modern era. It is a crisis in which various circumstances and causes combine in a highly contradictory way. To elaborate, the Yemen crisis is a civil war due to internal fighting caused by the Houthi rebellion against the state and is fuelled by societal division on several levels. Accompanying this local crisis is an absence of any true and authentic political affiliation or political engagement despite the existence of a legal basis that allows political participation and freedom in Yemen. This article attempts to describe both local and international factors shaping the conflict, elaborate on the actors involved and their motives, explain the disastrous effects of the crisis, and put forward several possible scenarios for the future.
Trending
Analysis: Origins of the Houthi supremacist ideology
23 August 2022
One of the several, often overlooked, challenges facing Yemen is the supremacist and divisive ideological basis of the Houthi movement. The movement’s ideology has rebellion and violence at its core, a recipe that can perpetuate crises within a society. In this analysis for commonspace.eu, Noman Ahmed and Mahmoud Shamsan shed light on the ideological fault lines that fuel the current conflict in Yemen, highlighting the nature of this ideology, which suggests that Ahl al-Bayt — descendants from the family of the Islamic Prophet — are, by divine decree, considered to be more deserving of the right to greater political and religious rule than other socio-political components. The analysis then looks into the background of the Houthis and argues that the ideology is a catalyst for conflict rather than peaceful political competition, and that so long as the Houthi political goal of Hashemite dominance remains unrealised, Houthi desire for conflict will not recede.
Trending
Opinion: The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a life-changing moment for many of us
7 March 2022
"Looking at the current situation in Ukraine, there is no room for myself and other young people from the Middle East to think positively anymore about the Russian state and regime", writes Noman Ahmad in this op-ed. "As a young man from the Middle East, and much as I dislike foreign interventionism, I do not want the Ukrainians to suffer from what many people in the Middle East faced for the past twenty some years, and I also hope that people in the region stop admiring Russia unjustifiably."
Trending
Opinion: It is too early to call the Libya peace process a success
17 May 2021
Exhausted by a decade of conflict, Libyans have moved surprisingly fast to implement a peace deal that some thought impossible only a few months ago. Deep-rooted internal divisions, greed among leaders, and the shadow of external patrons, may yet frustrate the quest for peace.
Trending
Opinion: Resolving the crisis of legitimacy in Yemen is essential for any peace process to succeed
9 February 2021
The State’s lack of legitimacy in Yemen over many decades created a vacuum which has been exploited by key socio-political groups that felt marginalised, resulting in the erosion of the country’s sovereignty. In this op-ed Noman Ahmed argues that addressing this issue is key for any future peace process to succeed.
Trending
Opinion: Yemen's grim reality
12 January 2021
Despite the recent expressions of unity within the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) following the al Ula summit, a unified approach towards Yemen appears unlikely. Continued external interference will exacerbate the political stalemate and add to the suffering of the Yemeni people, argue Mahmoud Shamsan and Noman Ahmed in this op-ed.
Trending
Commentary: GCC leaders will meet this week to seek a unified approach to tackle many challenges ahead
4 January 2021
Leaders from the six nation Gulf Co-operation Council meet in Saudi Arabia this week. After months of discussions the rift between Qatar and other GCC members appears to have been healed, opening the prospect for a unified approach to the challenges ahead.