Catherine Shakdam

Catherine is a political analyst ​and reporter ​for MintPress focusing on​ the Middle East and the rise of ​radical movements. The Associate Director of the Beirut Center for Middle Eastern Studies, she has contributed her analyses to the Middle East Monitor, Foreign Policy Association, Your Middle East, IslamistGate, Majalla, ABNA, Open Democracy, International Policy Digest, Eurasia Review and many more.

What Ever Happened To Bush’s Greater Middle East Initiative?

A Bush-era strategy to eliminate terrorism at its root by spreading democracy, education and economic opportunities throughout the Middle East may have backfired horribly and created a space for radical groups like ISIS to flourish.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
George W. Bush

When the threat of terrorism landed on its doorstep in 2001, America grew anxious to devise a way not only to guarantee the safety of its nationals but also to ensure that its founding ideology, the axis which had kept its institutions alive, would be protected against all threats, whether at home or abroad. While former President George W. Bush

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Al Saud’s Repressive Monarchy Creates Traction For Saudi Revolution

Though Saudi Arabia hasn’t yet fallen victim to the Arab Spring, it may only be a matter of time, especially as the parallels between Iran under the Shah and present-day Saudi Arabia become alarmingly more apparent.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Abdullah

An absolute theocracy, Saudi Arabia has lived since its inception in September 1932 under the thumb of two very powerful forces: the House of Saud and the Wahhabi religious paradigm. Hejaz, which stretches along the western part of the Saudi kingdom, was fused with two formerly independent tribal-led sultanates -- Nejd in the west and Asir in the

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Crucifixion Sentence Of Political Dissident Sparks Backlash That Threatens Saudi Monarchy

Al Saud may not have realized the storm of criticism and furor it was inviting when a popular Shiite cleric was violently arrested, jailed and ultimately sentenced to death. As the political and religious leader withers in jail, dissent is simmering to a boil within Saudi borders.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
A Bahraini anti-government protester holds up a picture of jailed Saudi Sheik Nimr al-Nimr during clashes between police and protesters in Sanabis, Bahrain, a suburb of the capital Manama, Wednesday night, Oct. 15, 2014. The well-known Shiite cleric was executed January 2, 2016 in Saudi Arabia, sparking fears of renewed unrest from his supporters in the kingdom and neighboring Bahrain. Anti-government graffiti on the wall behind her reads, "We are steadfast and committed to our oath."

QATIF, Saudi Arabia --- The best kept secret of the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia’s dissidents have been kept under a tight lid by the House of Saud’s absolute theocratic rule. To the untrained eye, the kingdom seems like an oasis of political calm and stability amid the furious torrent which has been the Arab Spring. While 2011 saw the entire

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Bahrain’s Inconvenient Revolution: A Battle Between A King And A Family Of Freedom Fighters

“There is a pattern of economic interests, political allegiances and military parameters that come into play when it comes to Bahrain. We know that, but yet a people cannot be made to live in slavery because it is politically and economically convenient to foreign powers.”

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Bahrain

Dubbed “the inconvenient revolution” by those on the ground who have fought it, Bahrain’s democratic uprising remains very much a black dot on the Arab Spring map, a revolutionary movement which the media has gladly avoided due to the overlapping and conflicting political and moral interests it has laid bare. “We knew that Bahrain’s freedom

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Erdogan: The Man Pulling The Strings In A Middle Eastern Puppet Show

Turkey certainly didn’t invent ISIS, but the Turkish government under former Prime Minister, current President Erdogan has been stoking Islamic radicalism to further its own political goals — namely, the fall of Assad and the return of something reminiscent of the Ottomans.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
Recep Tayyip Erdogan

LONDON --- Speaking at Harvard University earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden set the tone for a heated and tenacious debate on the political, ideological and hegemonic interests of Middle Eastern powers within the context of the global war on terror. Pointing an angry finger at Turkey, among others, Biden said, “Our allies in the

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Analysis: The Fifth Caliph And ISIS: Looking To History To Understand The Present

Could ISIS be the carriers of black flags and people with “hearts of iron” Muslims were warned about centuries ago? History may provide more insight than the talking heads who seem bewildered by ISIS’ bloody campaign of terror.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam

LONDON --- The world continues to look on as the Middle East descends further into the abyss of war, ravaged by a terror seemingly animated only by blood and violence. Few seem able to comprehend what’s unfolding, but one political science professor says he’s found the the key to understanding the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and unlocking its

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ISIS Establishes Camps To Radicalize Children Of Iraq, Syria

By turning the youth of its enemies into the militant group’s future soldiers, ISIS is brainwashing a generation of Iraqis and Syrians in an attempt to ensure its own future.

Catherine Shakdam
By Catherine Shakdam
APTOPIX Mideast Iraq

CRAWLEY, West Sussex, U.K. --- As Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants have moved ahead with their expansion campaign across the greater Levant, with an eye increasingly turned toward Turkey, Jordan and southern Iraq, observers have warned that the group has developed an elaborate radicalization program which targets children. While ISIS

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