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Lebanon's parliamentary elections produced someheartening news for critics of the politicalestablishment, with protest candidates performing betterthan expected in Sunday's polls. Lebanon's powerbrokers will mull over whetherto retain Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionairecompromise candidate who leans toward Hezbollah withoutquite being a lockstep ally of the group. [Extracted from the article]

Iraq has blown past all the constitutional deadlines to form a government in the aftermath of its October 2021 parliamentary elections, the results of which initially threatened to upend Iraq's system of sectarian kleptocracy. Instead, seven months after the election, Iraq's government formation talks appear to have reached a stalemate, with the most likely outcome now being a government that reflects the exact same power-sharing consensus that has shaped every Iraqi government since 2005, election results notwithstanding. When he held power, Maliki was bent on centralizing state authority, and today Sadr has assembled the most credible coalition to date that unifies Iraqis from every major identity group behind a nationalist state-building project. [Extracted from the article]

The article reports that Iraqis will vote on October 10, 2021 for a new parliament at a time when the country faces uncertainties about host of crises, from the resurgence of the Islamic State terror group and the looting of the country's treasury by corrupt militias to the future of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. It mentions Iraqi courts issued arrest warrants for the conference organizers, including Wisam al-Hardin.

The article examines the tactical strains facing the Israel-Egypt ties. Topics discussed include the 2011 Tahir Square uprising in Cairo, Egypt and the ascendancy of retired Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi as the next president of Egypt after the May 26-27, 2014 elections. Also mentioned are the view that the relationship between Israel and Egypt revolving around a shared interest in managing rather than resolving the Palestinian question, and the political accountability within each state.

The article focuses on Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, presidential candidate in the Egyptian elections scheduled to take place on May 26-27, 2014. Topics include the coup that ousted former elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the need for economic reform and development in Egypt, and the importance of stopping jihadist uprising in the country.