Will the technology disruption widen or close the skills gap in the Middle East and North Africa? (Maysa Jalbout, Samar Farah, Brookings)

The dominant narrative about Arab youth is deeply worrying. A generation of Syrians, Iraqis, Libyans, Sudanese, and Yemenis are without an education and are losing their futures to intractable conflict. Arab youth form the largest demographic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), but rather than being viewed as a gift to the region, they are seen as a liability. Yet few leaders have had the foresight to understand that remedying disfranchisement and uprooting extremism cannot be achieved without creating opportunity and seeding hope among these youth.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/03/25-technology-disruption-skills-gap-middle-east-north-africa-jalbout-farah

The Middle East And North Africa: A 30-Minute Whirlwind Tour (James M. Dorsey, Eurasia Review)

What the dramatic and bloody developments in the Middle East and North Africa demonstrate is that there are no free lunches. These developments are the product of short sighted policies of on the one hand major players in the international community – the United States, the former Soviet Union and currently Russia as well as Europe and China – and on the other hand of primarily dictatorial regimes or a minority of democratically elected governments like Israel who see merit in exploiting opportunity that allows them to avoid healing festering wounds.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/04032016-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-a-30-minute-whirlwind-tour-lecture/

(North Africa) Stato islamico in Nord Africa: rivalità e alleanze (AffarInternazionali)

http://www.affarinternazionali.it/articolo.asp?ID=3154