ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES — The end of summer marks the start of the academic year, and I am ecstatic to go back to school. But this time, I will be in graduate school pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy at the USC Price School of Public Policy. I figured…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – What’s the big deal about Dr Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump’s embattled nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs? It’s obvious, if the allegations are true. They include: creating a hostile work environment. Drinking excessively on the job. Prescribing and dispensing medications inappropriately, to his own staff,…
SHIRI FISHMAN WRITES – The United States has been witnessing an epidemic of sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood and elsewhere. In October, movie producer and Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein was fired by his own company amid sexual assault claims from numerous women. Similar accusations were subsequently leveled at gay actor…
SHIRI FISHMAN WRITES – Since 2015, Israel has been using a new system known as Preventative Policing, in an effort to suppress terrorism. This system uses algorithms and data analysis to predict if, where, and when crimes may occur, specifically by Palestinians. Israel uses this program to monitor Facebook and…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES – More than 100 days of diplomatic crisis have taken their toll on Qatar. While fighting has yet to break out, proxy shots have most certainly been fired in the press and on the airwaves between Qatar and the quartet of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES –Turns out, if there’s one place that U.S. President Donald Trump can count on for a warm welcome, it’s Saudi Arabia. As unlikely as that seemed at the height of last year’s presidential election, the Middle Eastern kingdom welcomed Trump with open arms on his recent visit.…
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES- Good fences, it’s said, make for good neighbors. But what about walls? After a recent spate of terrorist attacks across Pakistan, the country’s army said it believes building a wall along the Afghan border could be good for both nations’ security. On March 31, at least 22…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES – October in a U.S. election year often unveils some scandal. This year is no different, except the scandals have gotten weirder and this time Qatar is in on the mischief. According to emails leaked by Wikileaks, in 2012 Qatari representatives sought a 5-minute meeting with Bill…
America has used so-named drones against enemies abroad (real or misidentified) far more extensively than it has thought through the complex implications of such usage. Now come a mid-course thought-correction, as it were, in the form of a nearly 400-page book that takes on the ethical, political and international law…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES – Here we go again – another dilemma of foreign journalists arrested for trying to report on migrant workers. This time, police arrest Danish journalist Niels Borchert Holm and his crew who planned to film a documentary about the country’s preparations for the 2022 World Cup. Police…
PEYTON CROSS WRITES – With its attractive cityscapes and strong economy, Saudi Arabia can give the impression of being an advanced desert nation. Then it announces plans to crucify and behead a young political dissident, and the world goes, Hmmmm. Priya Joshi of the International Business Times reports that on September 7,…
ALESSANDRA DALY JOHNSON WRITES – A new social media war has begun. On July 8, the United States and United Arab Emirates announced the launch of an information warfare center to combat the ‘slick’ social media presence of the Islamic State (known also as IS or Daesh). In a press…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES- This year, two pan-Arab television channels were launched with the aspirations of providing an independent media platform. Al-Arab launched in Bahrain on February 1. Its owner, Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, promised that he could run the channel without any political interference and set up the…
TRISTAN WILLENBURG WRITES– Western ideas clash yet again with Middle Eastern realities. Saudi Arabia will no longer issue or renew the visas of Swedish nationals and has withdrawn its ambassador from Stockholm in response to the comments of a senior Swedish official. An arms deal between the two countries has also fallen apart over the…
ALEX DALY JOHNSON WRITES – The United Arab Emirate’s 2nd annual Bengali film festival, Abhijaan (“Expedition” in English), ran from February 5 to 7 last week. West Bengal of India has had a film industry dating back to the early 1890s, and many critically acclaimed films have originated in ‘Tollywood,’…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES- Watch out, boys! Emirati first female pilot, Major Miriam al-Mansouri, led an air raid against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) last week, a slap in the face for jihadists who believe women should be submissive to men. The 35-year-old fighter pilot proved her skills were on…
