person:sarah birke

L’organisation de l’État islamique, de l’autre côté du miroir (2) - Peter Harling, Sarah Birke
►http://orientxxi.info/magazine/l-organisation-de-l-etat-islamique,0848

Suite de l’analyse dont nous avons publié hier la première partie. Au cœur de ce théâtre de l’absurde, l’OEI occupe la scène principale et capte toute notre attention, comme si elle était le problème primordial à résoudre et non un sous-produit de tous les autres problèmes non résolus. Confessionnalisme, fracture entre laïques et islamistes, rivalité stratégique entre l’Iran et l’Arabie saoudite et barbarie d’une version nihiliste de l’islam (une culture morbide implicitement définie comme sunnite, bien que (...)

L’organisation de l’État islamique, de l’autre côté du miroir (1) par Peter Harling et Sarah Birke | @orientxxi, 23/03/2015
▻http://orientxxi.info/magazine/l-organisation-de-l-etat-islamique,0846

http://orientxxi.info/IMG/arton846.jpg?1427058258

L’extension de l’organisation de l’État islamique a provoqué la création d’une coalition hétéroclite de forces qui prétendent vouloir lutter contre elle. En réalité, de l’Iran à l’Arabie saoudite, des États-Unis au régime irakien, chacun défend ses propres intérêts et contribue ainsi à renforcer le « califat ». « Avec des ennemis comme eux, l’OEI n’a pas besoin d’amis », analysent Peter Harling et Sarah Birke, dans une longue réflexion sur les évolutions de la région dont nous publierons demain la seconde partie.

#OEI

The Arab world into the unknown — The Arabist

▻http://arabist.net/blog/2014/1/14/the-arab-world-into-the-unknown

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/4f334481cb12c1acadc57623/5177e444e4b0244b5f673736/52d4ec01e4b00e7652d86a49/1390112908338/shutterstock_146415905.jpg?format=1000w

Our friends Peter Harling and Sarah Birke contributed the following piece, a reflection on the state of the Arab world after a confounding 2013 that saw, for many, the dissipation of the enthusiasm of the 2011 uprisings. Harling is Senior MENA advisor at the International Crisis Group; Birke is a Middle East Correspondent for The Economist.

Two and a half years ago, Arab countries were abuzz with interesting conversations. Rich and poor, old and young, villager and urbanite, Islamist and secular all had their own take on the bewildering turmoil of the uprisings they were caught up in. They tended to be aware of the risks, hopeful that change was both inevitable and ultimately beneficial, and proud that the region could awaken and, after centuries of foreign interference, set its own agenda. Opinions were also invariably sophisticated, with people speaking profoundly about societies they thought they knew and had started to reassess.

The Islamic State through the looking-glass — The Arabist
►http://arabist.net/blog/2015/3/3/the-islamic-state-through-the-looking-glass

The long essay below was contributed by friends of the blog Peter Harling and Sarah Birke. A previous essay from a year ago can be read here.
They will say, “Our eyes have been deceived. We have been bewitched.”
Surat al-Hijr (15:15)

One of the particularities of the movement calling itself the Islamic State is its investment in the phantasmagorical. It has an instinctive understanding of the value of taking its struggle to the realm of the imagination as the best way to compensate for its real-world limits. Even as it faces setbacks on the battlefield, it has made forays into our collective psyche, where its brutality and taste for gory spectacle is a force multiplier. Perhaps more than merely evil, the Islamic State is diabolical: like the Satan of scripture, it is a creature that is many things to many people, enjoys a disconcerting allure, and ultimately tricks us in to believing that we are doing the right thing when we are actually destroying ourselves.

The Syrian Heartbreak | Middle East Research and Information Project
by Peter Harling , Sarah Birke

►http://www.merip.org/mero/mero041613

There was a distinctive sense of national pride in Syria. It flowed from the confidence of a civilization dating back to the times of the earliest alphabets and visible in the country’s wealth of archaeological sites, including some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It came from the depth of local culture. It stemmed from the music of Syrian Arabic, the elegance of Syrian manners, the finesse of Syrian cuisine and the sincerity of Syrian hospitality. It proceeded from modern geopolitics, too, as Damascus carved out for itself a role bigger and bolder than its scarce resources should have allowed. In particular, and despite tremendous pressure, Damascus stood firm on the Palestinian cause, which Syrians feel more strongly about than anyone, perhaps, except the Palestinians. The regime may have been a conveniently quiescent foe for Israel, but Syria was, on the map of the Arab world, the only state still “resisting.”