Socially conservative Muslims see a "disconnect with some parts of the Democratic political platform" but unlike their Catholic and Evangelical counterparts, "feel little imperative to use government to promote those value":

• What Binds Muslims to the Democratic Party? (Religion News Services)

The Ottoman Empire ended in 1922 with Kamal Attaturk's secular rule in Turkey. The new Ottomanism symbolizes everything "from justice, power, and pluralism to Islamic primacy and Turkey’s own campaign to make the country ‘great again’”:

• Erdogan’s Ottomania (Boston Review)

The government raised no "concerns about the permits during the actual construction process" but now wants the building torn down because minarets and domes do not have a "Chinese style":

• Thousands of Muslims Gather in China to Protest Mosque Demolition (NPR)

Rather than realize the dream of democracy and human rights after the fall of Mubarak, the country is again heading to absolute autocracy for an uncertain period of time:

• Egypt’s Path from Autocracy to Revolution—and Back Again (The Economist)

To free themselves from dependency on Israel for electricity, individual Palestinians "have taken it on themselves to install solar panels, trailing cables down the side of buildings to keep fans whirring or to power televisions and other appliances":

• Palestinians Look to Solar in Hopes of Addressing Energy Crisis (Haaretz)

The Saudi-led airstrike that killed many innocent people including children demonstrates the disastrous consequences of its brutal attempt to dominate the region:

• Yemen War: Saudi-led Air Strike on Bus Kills 29 Children (BBC)

Iraq begins to follow US sanction policy on Iran, while Turkey resists; and China, which imports 7% of its total crude oil imports from Iran, will also take over development of the Iranian portion of the largest gas deposit on earth from France ...

• Iran's Economic Worries Mount as Iraq Applies New US Sanctions (VoA)
• Iran Sanctions May See US-Turkey Ties Get a Lot Worse (MEI)
• China Says Its Business And Energy Ties with Iran Don’t Harm Other Countries (South China Morning Post)
• U.S.-Iran Sanctions Give China Lead in World's Top Gas Field (Bloomberg)

... and most "Arabs believe that Israel and the US present a far greater threat to Arab security than Iran":

• Trump's 'Arab NATO' Plan to Counter Iran is Doomed to Fail (Aljazeera)

Human Rights Watch warns that "to combat corruption at every level ... requires an independent judiciary that ensures due process rights for all those accused":

• Death Penalty Not the Answer to Iran's Economic Woes, HRW Says (RFE / Radio Liberty)