2019 Poetry & Short Story Contests | Boston Review

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Middle East

Politics

The Anti-Defamation League Is Not What It Seems

Under the guise of fighting hate speech, the ADL has a long history of wielding its moral authority to attack Arabs, blacks, and queers.

Emmaia Gelman

Politics

Two-State Head, One-State Heart

For a two-state solution to succeed, Israeli Jews must first forswear their righteous narrative of moral superiority.

Jeremy Pressman

War & Security

The U.S. Debt to Syria

With Assad preparing a major offensive on the last rebel stronghold, the United States must offer a path forward. 

Aslı U. Bâli, Aziz Rana

Politics

Erdogan’s Ottomania

In a bid to consolidate power, Erdoğan is reshaping Turkish politics in the image of the Ottoman past.

M. Hakan Yavuz

War & Security

Remember Syria?

As the Trump–Putin summit made clear, U.S. policy in Syria has always been about grand strategy—never about what would actually help the people on the ground.

Aslı U. Bâli, Aziz Rana

War & Security

A Kurdish Problem

Kurds—the largest stateless ethnic group in the world—can be found on all sides of an increasingly complex conflict that stretches across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.

Umar Farooq

Global Justice, War & Security

In Syria, Keeping the Faith

Democratic forces persist amid brutal regime violence and sectarian conflict.

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd

Politics, War & Security

Matters of Choice

The United States will lose the war for control of the Middle East.

Andrew J. Bacevich, Stephen Kinzer

Global Justice, War & Security

Syria after the Ceasefire

Negotiations may ease the humanitarian crisis—while strengthening Assad.

Stephen Zunes

Global Justice, Politics

How Refugees Can Save Europe

Europe must accept that post-nationalism, by nature, is porous at its borders.

Paul Linden-Retek

Global Justice, Politics

Turkey Descends into Authoritarianism

Fears of terrorism, and President Erdoğan’s rivalry with an exiled theologian, have become excuses for censorship and repression.

Umar Farooq

Science & Nature, War & Security

Weaponizing Syria’s Water

For anti-Assad rebels, a southern spring has become a kind of suicide bomb.

Alisa Reznick

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