Suchergebnisse

Dust storms are widespread in the Middle East and their gen eral distribution is known from climatic data from ground mete orological stations. However, the Total Ozone Mapping Spec trometer (TOMS) enables a more perfect picture to be gained for those many areas where meteorological data are sparse. TOMS analysis permits the seasonal pattern of dust storm activ ity, the spatial pattern of dust storm activity and the passage of major dust events to be plotted. The summer months are the time of greatest dust storm activity, and the borderland between Oman and Saudi Arabia seems to have the greatest level of dust activity in the area. From time to time major dust-producing sys tems cross from the northern Sahara and from the Red Sea region into Arabia. For reasons that are not clear, the Kuwait-southern Iraq area does not appear to be such a significant dust source region as the meteorological data would suggest.

Since the 1990s, 'popular art' is the name given by contemporary Egyptian and Middle Eastern artists when they refer to 'anti-elitist' artistic practices inspired by popular esthetics and which are taking root in pop art and in daily life in representations. Kitsch is the most emblematic form of it. Entering the realm of art in the early 20th century, it was adopted by many Middle Eastern artists despite being the focus of esthetic and ethical criticism. The aim of the artists was to produce a visual escalation that carried ambivalence and a wavering sense of meaning. The representation of cultural identity was thus given to ostentation, introducing distance and nuance through which the artists could assert their belonging, provide an answer to the orders of the local and international markets, and inject an element of irony. Similarly, many of the subjects diverted a popular esthetic, creating a dramatizing tension through contrast between the apparent frivolity and gravity contained within. It was also a matter of subverting the hierarchy of artistic values — not to assert the relativism thereof, but to rather further disrupt the social order. With the upheaval of the Arab Spring in 2011, revolutionary art, and particularly urban art, exploded, reinforced and amplified the democratic intention of popular art in Egypt, relayed by the Internet to both a local and international audience, resulting in a coexistence of the political and artistic avant-garde. The public dialogue between the graffiti artists and people in the street fueled the libertarian ambition of some, before waning revolutionary enthusiasm and the return to military power in 2014 caused its decline. ; Art populaire, art contemporain et pratiques politiques au Moyen-Orient : entre orientalisme et Révolution égyptienne, 2000-2014À partir des années 1990, l'art populaire, ainsi dénommé par les artistes contemporains d'Égypte et du Moyen-Orient, désigne une pratique antiélitiste qui détourne les esthétiques populaires, s'ancre dans le pop art et ...

Résumé Les premiers mois de 2011 ont vu s'étendre des révolutions en Afrique du Nord et au Moyen-Orient, dans des régions autrefois connues pour leur stagnation politique. Avec ces soulèvements défiant des régimes autoritaires dans tous les coins du monde arabe, les acteurs extérieurs disposant d'intérêts stratégiques et de sécurité vitaux dans la région eurent à adapter leurs stratégies de politique étrangère en quelques semaines. Cet article présente les hypothèses, normes et intérêts à l'origine des révisions des politiques des États-Unis et de l'Union européenne, ainsi que des grands États occidentaux cherchant traditionnellement à jouer un rôle dans la région. En outre, cet article examine la rupture des derniers rounds de négociations directes dans le processus de paix au Moyen-Orient, à la lumière des « documents Palestine » comme derniers développements susceptible d'affecter les politiques de Washington et Bruxelles dans la région. En se fondant sur ces deux cas, cet essai analyse l'impact des récentes interventions occidentales dans le monde arabe, et s'interroge sur la pertinence des politiques américaines et européennes face à aux dynamiques politiques d'une partie du monde stratégiquement importante.