Middle East Notes and Comment

Middle East Notes and Comment offers analysis of key trends, debates, and developments in the region and their implications. See past issues of Middle East Notes and Comment HERE.

Related: Mezze: Assorted Stories from the Middle East​, a part of Middle East Notes and Comment, highlights under-discussed social, economic, and political trends and in the region. 

• July 2022
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Middle East Transition We Need To Talk About
  • Mezze: Honey, I Froze the Kids
• June 2022
  • Full Newsletter
  • Rethinking Saudi Arabia
  • Mezze: Syrians Need Not Apply
• May 2022
  • Full Newsletter
  • Middle East Indifference to Ukraine is a Warning
  • Mezze: Locals be Damned
• April 2022
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Ukraine War Isn't a Sprint
  • Mezze: Lebanon's Brewing Crisis
• March 2022
  • Full Newsletter
  • Who Needs Oil When You Have Land?
  • Mezze: Dental Freelancers
• February 2022
  • Full Newsletter
  • When Our Middle East Friends Talk, They Talk About Hedging
  • Mezze: Algeria's Poorly Oiled Machine
• January 2022
  • Full Newsletter
  • Getting the Pandemic Completely Wrong
  • Mezze: Morocco's Sand Mafias
• December 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • Doing Less Is Not Enough
  • Mezze: Love At the Ballot Box
• November 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • The End of History in the Middle East
  • Mezze: An Olive's Odyssey
• October 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Puzzle of U.S.-Saudi Ties
  • Mezze: Camel Corruption Crackdown
• September 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • China Headaches for Iran Deal
  • Mezze: High-Tech Hajj
• July 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • A New Revolution in the Middle East
  • Mezze: Abu Dhabi Goes Green for Greens
• June 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • Toward Sustainable States
  • Mezze: Balancing Priorities
• May 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • Three Political Crises Drove the Gaza Violence
  • Mezze: Spending to Save
• April 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • Covid-19 Splits the Middle East
  • Mezze: Junked Food
• March 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • Focus on Influence, Not Power, in the Middle East
  • Mezze: Chopped Liver is No Free Lunch
• February 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Smart Way Out of the Middle East
  • Mezze: Borders Without Doctors
• January 2021
  • Full Newsletter
  • Iran Will Still Be a Slog
  • Mezze: Morocco’s Mixed Harvest
• December 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Enemies—and Partners—Will Get a Vote in the Middle East
  • Mezze: Help Wanted
• November 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Covid-19 Hasn’t Crushed the Middle East … Yet
  • Mezze: Influence Peddlers
• October 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Pivoting to Asia Doesn’t Get You Out of the Middle East
  • Mezze: A Hard Pill to Swallow
• September 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Significance of the Israel-UAE Deal
  • Mezze: Perils of the Sea
• August 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Why the U.S. and its Allies Should Keep Lebanon from Blowing Apart
• July 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Covid-19, the Iranians, and Us
  • Mezze: Dying for Power
• June 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Egypt's Sisi Risks a Quagmire in Libya — and That's not in the US's Best Interest
  • Mezze: Baby Boom or Bust
• May 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Assad Attempts to Weaponize Covid-19 in Syria
  • Cross-Border Aid, Covid-19, and U.S. Decisions in Syria
• April 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Middle East’s Challenges Aren’t Just Combatting the Virus
  • Mezze: Home Grown
• March 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • Add Coronavirus to Other Crises, and the Middle East Faces a Catastophe
  • Mezze: The New Housewives of Egypt
• February 2020
  • Full Newsletter 
  • The U.S. Should Get Ready for Syria’s Return from War
  • Mezze: The DNA of Moroccan Society
• January 2020
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Killing of Quds Force Commander Qasim Suleimani
  • Mezze: Cyber-Sheikh
• December 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Ties that Bind: Family, Tribe, Nation, and the Rise of Arab Individualism
  • Mezze: Santa Claus is Coming to Tehran
• November 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Fighting but Not Winning
  • Mezze: Ba'athist Blues
• October 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Lebanon's Government Collapses
  • Mezze: Egypt's Guinea Pig
• September 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • On Iran, Trump Needs Help.
  • Mezze: Delivering the Goods
• July/August 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Beyond Tunisia’s Niqab Ban
  • Mezze: Cut from Whole Cloth
• June 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Widening the Aperture with Saudi Arabia
  • Mezze: Secondhand in Demand
• May 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • China’s Middle East Model
  • Mezze: Bad Love
• April 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • A New Arab Spring?
  • Mezze: Iraq’s Explosive Plague
• March 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Rubble, Refugees, and Syria's Periphery
  • Mezze: Dodging a Bullet
• February 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Punishing Iran Is Not a Strategy
  • Mezze: Moral Test
• January 2019
  • Full Newsletter
  • Friends Like These: Pompeo recasts ties in Cairo
  • Mezze: Fool's Gold?
• December 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • Maghreb Migration: Ready or Not
  • Mezze: Santa Claus Is Coming to Tehran
• November 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • Strangling Dissent
  • Mezze: Taking the Heat
• October 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • A Strategy for Syria: Redefining Success
  • Mezze: Cosmic Intervention
• September 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • In Search of an Iran Strategy
  • Mezze: Rapping Against Radicalism
• July/August 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Inflection Point: The Middle East’s Rulers Are Facing Crisis and Playing for Keeps
  • Mezze: Soul Singers: Modernizing Shi`ite Eulogists
• June 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • Help Wanted: Multilateralism in the Eastern Mediterranean
  • Mezze: You've Got Mail. And More.
• May 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Enemy Gets a Vote
  • Mezze: Women’s Work
• April 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • Yemen Matters
  • Mezze: Learning Curve: Morocco Debates How to Integrate Young Migrants
• March 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • Remembering Versus Imagining: The UAE Reshapes Relations Between State and Citizens
  • Mezze: Bringing Back Babel: Language Barriers in Iraqi Kurdistan
• February 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • The Yemen Model: The Future of U.S. Middle East Policy
  • Mezze: Killer Congestion: E-Bikes and Emergency Response in Israel
• January 2018
  • Full Newsletter
  • A Strategy for Syria: Tillerson Must Look for Leverage
  • Mezze: Set in Stone: Tunisia's Monument Controversy
• December 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Muscle Bound
  • Blessed Bling
• November 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Benign Neglect
  • Mezze
• October 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Allies and Influence
  • Mezze: Egypt's Killer Cuisine: The Public Health Toll of Rising Food Prices
• September 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Power and Strategy
  • Mezze: From Beijing to Jerusalem: Tourism and Israeli-Chinese Ties
• July/August 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Russia, the United States, and the Middle East
  • Mezze
• June 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Far from Doha
  • Mezze
• May 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Trump of Arabia
  • Mezze: Moonstruck: The Politics of Ramadan
• April 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Bombs, Bullets, and Leverage
  • Mezze: Beauty Therapy: Cosmetic Surgery in Syria and Lebanon
• March 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Commentary
  • Mezze: A Grave Dilemma: Syria's Illegal Grave Trade
• February 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Half-Measures in Syria
  • Mezze: Pipe Dreams: Female Plumbers in the Middle East
• January 2017
  • Full Newsletter
  • Politics and Patriotism
  • Mezze: No Milk, No Honey: Veganism in Israel and the West Bank

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