Arab Spring

In this Friday Jan. 20, 2012, file photo, anti-Syrian regime protesters gather at a square as they hold an Arabic banner, center, reading, "Hey, the miserable, the tyrant, what else," during a demonstration at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria.

Protest projection: Part 1

Critical State

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive into why protests led to military interventions in Bahrain, Syria, Libya, and Yemen, and how those interventions played out.

Tunisian President Kais Saied delivers a speech during his visit to Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia

Some supporters of Tunisia’s president just want stability in the country, analyst says

Leaders
Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zied, known by his nickname Shawkan, gestures in a soundproof glass cage.

10 years after the Arab uprisings, Egypt at ‘lowest point’ for human rights

Human rights
Tunisian protesters demonstrate beneath a poster of Mohamed Bouazizi near the prime minister's office in Tunis, Tunisia, Jan. 28, 2011.

Fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi’s protest inspired the Arab uprisings. A decade later, his sister still mourns.

Global Politics
A crowd of people celebrate with flashes of red, black and green flags waving in the air.

A poem penned during Libya’s 2011 uprising continues to inspire hope

Conflict
A man walks with a crowd at night with the Egyptian flag behind him.

Bestselling Egyptian author says he’s being sued for ‘insulting’ the government

Global Politics

The bestselling author of “The Yacoubian Building” has faced bans, backlash and now, a lawsuit in his homeland of Egypt.

Arab Spring hopes dashed

Egypt’s Mubarak, a symbol of dashed hopes, goes free

Conflict

In six years, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak has gone from symbolizing the hubris of Middle East dictators swept away by the Arab Spring uprisings to an emblem of dashed hopes.

Marwah Maasarani and her husband Omar Awad watching Donald Trump's RNC speech in their New Jersey livingroom on Thursday.

Here’s what a Muslim couple in New Jersey made of Donald Trump’s RNC speech

Election 2016

A Muslim couple in Lodi, New Jersey, have been watching the Republican National Convention all week. Last night, they invited a reporter in to watch Trump give his acceptance speech.

A protester stands in front of a burning barricade during a demonstration in Cairo January 28, 2011.

Authors argue it’s too early to label the ‘Arab Spring’ a failure

Conflict

It’s been five years since the Arab Spring started, with hopes for tremendous change for residents of dictatorships throughout the region. Most of those protests failed, though two authors say it’s too soon to judge.

Riot police fires tear gas at protesters during clashes after a protest against the execution of prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities in village of Sitra south of Manama, Bahrain, January 5, 2016.

An American reporter speaks out about her detention in Bahrain

Justice

Reporter Anna Therese Day and her camera crew were held in Bahrain for 48 hours. They were released after a back and forth between the US and Bahrain government.