First Person
A War Reawakened
Amid the M23 insurgency in eastern Congo, New Lines went into rebel-controlled territory to see the effects of the fighting and heard from militants, displaced families and local leaders about the harsh realities of life in a war zone, the changing political situation and the influence of foreign countries.
A Scholar at Risk
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, was arrested by masked federal agents and is now in an ICE detention facility in Texas, where he provides short tutorials on Gandhi for his fellow prisoners. A Georgetown colleague reflects on a recent visit with him.
The Fragile Foundations of Arab-Kurdish Coexistence
A journey from Damascus into eastern Syria — along a busy smuggling route — shows that the desire for a united country remains strong, despite the efforts of factions and external actors to sow discord and fuel sectarian fears.
Massacres on the Syrian Coast
Firsthand accounts of the recent massacres on Syria’s coast reveal lingering sectarianism and a post-Assad regime that has not yet come to terms with its role as a government for all Syrians.
My Grandpa, the Fascist?
Leafing through an old family photo album led the author to a personal reckoning with Italy’s dark past in Libya — at a time when telling the often forgotten and sidelined story of the country’s fascist exploits abroad seems more urgent than ever.
The Weight of Gold: A Mandaean Journey Through Exile
Mandaeans follow ancient precepts of Gnosticism and worship John the Baptist. During Mesopotamia's golden era they settled along the banks of the Tigris, Euphrates and Karun rivers in what is now known as Iraq and Iran. Forced into exile by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, they are slowly disappearing.
The Limits of a Liberal Understanding of the State
Can liberalism understand — and counter — strongman politics? In the wake of Trump’s reelection, the Egyptian writer Mahmoud Hadhoud spoke to the American legal theorist Paul Kahn in search of lessons for the Arab world.