Discovering MENA and other thoughts

A key presidential election will take place in Iran this Friday 14 June. The last Presidential elections were held in 2009 and set themselves up as a turning point for democratic hopes all around the world, embodied by what many soon started calling the "Green Movement", in a country often dubbed "authoritarian" or even "dictatorial". Indeed, Iran’s elections have increasingly become more and more controlled by the regime since the 1997 vote, when Mohammad Khatami won over the Supreme Leader’s anointed candidate, a former parliamentary speaker. Likewise, in 2005, the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (the Revolutionary Guards) and the Basij (paramilitary volunteer militia to defend Khomeini´s intentions) are believed to have heavily intervened to ensure the incumbent President´s victory against former President and co-founding member of the Islamic Republic, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who, just as he has been doing nowadays, was then see...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is officially the first Iranian leader to visit Egypt in more than 30 years, since both countries broke diplomatic relations after Egypt entered into a key agreement with Israel that entailed the recognition of the Jewish state, a move the Iranian Revolution harshly protested against. Ahmadinejad, who was in the Arab capital in order to attend a Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, quickly embraced fellow Egyptian President Morsi upon arrival in Cairo, showing to what extent the thrust of closer relations between both countries was the actual aim of his visit. Both leaders also had the occasion to tackle the divisive Syrian issue both countries are heavily involved in, bluntly betting for an eventual round of negotiations that could lead to a pacific consensual solution. The mood of this meeting starkly contrasted with that of last year's summit, where Morsi blatantly chastised Iran regarding his stance towards the neighbouring civi...