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Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and founder of the AHA Foundation. She served as a member of the Dutch Parliament from 2003 to 2006.
She was born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1969. As a young child, she was subjected to female genital mutilation. As she grew up...
Caliphate Redivivus? Why a Careful Look at the 7th Century Can Predict How the New Caliphate Will End
When modern Muslims invoke the Khilāfa, the Caliphate as their ideal of governance for the Ummah, the planetary community of all Muslims, and indeed for all humans once converted or killed if stubbornly pagan, they do not refer to the famous caliphates of history from the splendiferous Umayyad, to the longer-lasting Abbasid extinguished by the Mongols in 1258, the Egypt-based and tolerant Fatimid in between, or the Ottoman that lingered till 1924, let alone the extant Ahmadiyya Caliphate that most condemn as heretical.
Hagia Sophia Becomes A Mosque Once Again
On Friday, July 24, Hagia Sophia was reopened as a mosque, after about a century as a museum. About 1,000 people attended Friday prayers there. The date, July 24, was not chosen at random, but marks a significant moment in military history.
Another Step Forward for Iraq
Forgive Vice President Joe Biden the audacity of claiming last month on CNN's "Larry King Live" that Iraq is destined to be "one of the great achievements of this administration." . . .
Authoritarianism in Pakistan
The historical roots of dysfunctional politics
When the Strongman Falters
The Arab revolts show why some autocrats hang on forever while others get swept away. By Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith.
Simplifying U.S. Strategy Amidst The Middle East’s Maelstrom
Anybody who follows foreign affairs and social media has likely seen some version of a chart entitled “A Guide to the Middle East Relationships.” The graphic shows a hopelessly tangled web of arrows illustrating the often contradictory strategic associations in the region, i.e. the United States and Iran support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war while fighting on the same side in Iraq against the Islamic State (ISIS); Turkey opposes Bashar Assad’s regime yet attacks the Kurdish militias fighting his army; Saudi Arabia and Qatar both support Syria’s Sunni rebels yet hold diametrically opposing views on Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood, et cetera.
Is a Deal within Reach?
When it comes to Mideast peace talks, this time the optimists may have a case. By Robert Zelnick.
Straying Away From Strength In Numbers
“God is on the side of the big battalions.” The historical record is opaque about whether it was Napoleon, Turenne, Voltaire, or indeed any identifiable Frenchman who made that statement, but, in this age of supposedly post-industrial warfare, He has apparently changed His mind. Equipped with an iPhone and GPS-guided munitions, God has broken the phalanx, emptied the battlefield, and super-empowered the individual. Mass—particularly the large military formations of the modern era: infantry divisions and corps, aircraft carrier battle groups, tactical air wings—has gone out of style.
True Barbarians
Henrik Bering on Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean by Adrian Tinniswood
An Unpredictable Wind
The causes, the players, and the likely consequences of the Arab eruptions. A conversation with Hoover fellows Peter Berkowitz, Victor Davis Hanson, and Peter Robinson.
Is Started with the Shah
Hoover fellow Abbas Milani on the rebellions in the Muslim world—and the monarch who set them off. An interview with Charlie Rose.
The Mufti and the Holocaust
John Rosenthal on Der Mufti von Jerusalem und die Nationalsozialisten by Klaus Gensicke
The Myth of the Invincible Terrorist
Vulnerabilities of an elusive enemy
Strategika: What Can Past Wars Teach Us?
In an online venture, Hoover-led experts apply military history to current crises.