by Joseph Braude Over the past year, the government of the United Arab Emirates has arrested more than 94 alleged Muslim Brotherhood activists on charges of plotting to topple the state. Prosecutors say the group has engaged in money laundering, underground recruitment and brainwashing of young members, and that it established a military wing for a campaign of terrorism against the country. Alongside its domestic crackdown, the UAE government also engaged in an international war of words with the Brotherhood. Emirati foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan called it “an organization that encroaches on the sovereignty and integrity of nations.” Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the police chief of the emirate of Dubai, called the Brotherhood a “grave danger to Gulf security” and claimed that the movement plans to “seize power in all the Gulf states by 2016.” Then, on July 2, the Abu Dhabi court convicted 69 of the suspects and sentenced them to prison. Many voices in the West reacted to the UAE’s campaign with skepticism and concern. Following the initial Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude As a child at home in the United States, I used to listen to broadcasts from faraway places via short wave radio, the transmission typically uneven and full of static. Today those distant voices come in clear as a bell, via streaming audio on any smartphone. Late the other night I was surfing Arabic radio stations, from Baghdad to Algiers, and by chance heard two women speaking the language impeccably — but with a peculiar accent. “Dear listeners,” one of them said, “how did you spend your day?” “Every new day gives us new hopes and aspirations,” said the other. I listened awhile, and eventually heard a haunting oriental melody and a man’s voice say, “From the Korean capital Seoul, we meet again over the airwaves — coming together in love, in goodness, and in hope.” It turned out to be the Arabic service of the South Korean government’s “Korean Broadcasting System.” Top-of-the-hour news detailed the country’s military preparations to face its saber-rattling neighbor to the north, and a visit to Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude – Sunday night for me is always Moroccan radio night. From a home office in Brooklyn surrounded by echo-absorbing foam, I write a commentary in Arabic about the week in Arab politics and then read it into a microphone. Next, I upload the sound file to a studio in Casablanca, where a producer adds the theme song, and it airs the following day to an audience of 1.75 million under the title Risalat New York—“Letter from New York.” My show has the distinction of being the only radio program hosted by a Jew on Arab airwaves that doesn’t originate in Israel. But more than three years after the broadcast debuted, my Muslim audience now finds it ordinary, rather than aberrant, to hear a Jewish voice opine on Arab affairs in their mother tongue. In numerous Arab countries, such a situation would be revolutionary—but in Morocco, where the leadership has proactively nurtured Muslim-Jewish understanding for years, it’s merely one step forward among many. Given that the listenership has begun Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude – Americans need to learn more about Islamic history — but like any historical tradition from a faraway time and place, it can be a little inaccessible. As a student of the subject, I’ve given some thought to how to bridge this gap. The saga of Islamic civilization is in many ways a universal story of good versus evil, the cycle of life, and the foibles of human nature. And so it isn’t too big a stretch to connect that saga to some of the great stories and best-loved movies Americans know and love. That’s the premise of this week’s episode of Eye on Arabia. It’s a two-episode documentary, co-produced with Public Radio International’s Afropop Worldwide. With the help of Don Vito Corleone, R2D2, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, it tells the story of two slave rebellions that transformed the history of the Middle East and North Africa and crystallized the Sunni-Shi’ite divide in Islam. Co-narrating the documentary with me is Georges Collinet, the great broadcaster Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude Naomi Sakr, Transformations in Egyptian Journalism (I.B. Tauris, 2013), should be required reading for American public diplomacy specialists who want to engage Egyptians through the media. Bilingual Sakr, a media policy professor at the University of Westminster and director of its CAMRI Arab Media Centre, draws on new research and decades’ experience tracking Arab media trends to offer a readout on how Egyptian journalists and their employers have been struggling and coping yet also innovating since the 2011 revolution. For those who believe that part of America’s public diplomacy strategy in Egypt should involve supporting indigenous media that share American values, Sakr’s book provides guidance on whom to engage and what types of support they need most.  Independently minded journalists and bloggers achieved notoriety in Egypt as early as 2005, Sakr writes, in the wake of Egypt’s rigged parliamentary elections. With the onset of revolution six years later, these voices tried to take advantage of the collapse of dictatorship to launch no-holds-barred media ventures, largely online, some Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude The death of up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians in the final years of Ottoman rule has been officially recognized as a “genocide” by 11 of the 27 EU member states. A strong movement to persuade the United States government to do the same, led by the Armenian National Committee of America and other lobbying groups, has gained traction in recent years. Meanwhile, the present-day government of Armenia has intensified its anti-Ankara agenda: Beyond demanding that the Turkish government recognize Armenian genocide, some of the country’s politicians have begun to demand that Ankara surrender parts of eastern Turkey which Armenians regard as historically theirs. In the United States, the campaign for Armenian genocide recognition has at times driven a wedge between Washington and Ankara. Notably in March 2010, the Congressional House Committee on Foreign Relations’ Resolution 252, characterizing Ottoman actions against Armenians as genocide, nearly led to a downgrading of relations between the two countries. The bill was defeated in Congress — in part, for American fears Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude – Since recent confirmations that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against civilians in the outskirts of Damascus, Western attention to the Arab world has been overwhelmingly focused on Syria, and whether or how the United States and its European allies should intervene. In this context, Libya has been largely absent from the political discussion — except as a rhetorical device to warn against intervening in Syria: In the United States, dozens of media commentaries and policy speeches present Libya as a case in point for why the United States should not intervene in Syria. One typical editorial declares, “Libya should remind the US administration and Congress of the limits, and risks, of military intervention.” A Washington Post analysis notes, “Lessons from Iraq and Libya loom large as diplomats ponder Syrian weapons probe.” In the United Kingdom, as well, The Telegraph’s defense editor, Con Couglin, cites a grim United Nations report on the situation in Libya and writes, “We must take care not to turn Syria Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude – The lifeline Russia and Syria threw to Obama is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the possibility of a peaceful handover of chemical weapons by Assad amounts to a potential “noble exit” for Obama which would enable him to claim to the American people that he had successfully deterred Assad without firing a single bullet or shedding a drop of blood. But it also makes congressional approval for a war resolution even less likely, and in doing so, causes Obama to be beholden to Assad and powerless to stop him in the event Assad reneges on a commitment to hand over his weapons. Even if a deal were reached with Assad, it would not  serve the Administration’s stated purpose of deterring future chemical weapons use by other leaders. Under the terms proposed by Russia, Assad would not face punitive consequences for the chemical weapons attacks which he already perpetrated. من خلال عرض كيري لمتابعة بيانه مع مبادرة جديدة، فقد ألقي كل من روسيا و سوريا ببراعة Continue Reading…

by Joseph Braude – I’ve just begun working on my third book project, which focuses on Arabic media — an area I know about both as a longtime consumer and as a professional participant. Little coverage of the shifting landscape of Arabic broadcasting and publishing is available in English, and most discussions of the subject have been limited to the problems of anti-Semitism and incitement to violence. The larger story of Arabic media matters too: On the one hand, it’s the story of journalists plying their trade under crushing pressure and death threats, and creative talent spoofing militants and provoking introspection through comedy, soap operas, and music. On the other hand, it’s a case study in strategic communications of utmost importance to Western policymakers: Arabic media is the main platform by which local and foreign political elements influence the public to advance their agendas—and though the US has invested billions in media projects to reach Arab populations, the result has been negligible. In an engaging style, the book will spotlight Continue Reading…

Among grant-making organizations in the US that support the welfare of farmers and mountain dwellers in the Maghreb is a group called the “High Atlas Foundation,” which plants trees and supports agricultural projects throughout Morocco. Last night I had the opportunity to attend its annual celebration of Moroccan cinema, held in New York, and tell the story of the organization via my weekly broadcast on the Moroccan radio network MED Radio. Here’s a link for more information.