http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/matthew-gray/ Matthew Gray is Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum Senior Lecturer & Graduate Coursework Adviser at the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies (The Middle East & Central Asia), at the Australian National University. en Copyright 2013 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bin-ladens-death-some-questions-answered-while-others-remain/ The ‘world’s most wanted man’, Osama bin Laden is dead. For all the latest news, see www.news.com.au. For an analysis of what it means, here is what Matthew Gray, ANU expert in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, had to say. This is a symbolic victory, and there’s considerable satisfaction for those who wanted revenge. I’m not sure it’ll have that much operational or strategic impact on Al Qaeda, though. Osama was not, as far as I can tell, doing much direct operational work or strategic stuff beyond setting vague directions as to where the Al Qaeda ‘brand name’ might go from here – Al Qaeda is now a set of like-minded groups in different parts of the world. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Matthew Gray) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bin-ladens-death-some-questions-answered-while-others-remain/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bin-ladens-death-some-questions-answered-while-others-remain/#item5743 Mon, 02 May 2011 04:00:08 +0000 Matthew Gray | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-expect-the-middle-east-to-fall-like-dominos/ First it was Tunisia’s leader, then Egypt’s. Now the protests in the Middle East seem to have spread to riots in Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and elsewhere, including to the point where the Libyan leader, Mu’amar Qadhafi, is close to being overthrown. But how valid is the ‘domino theory’ of popular protest? Are we seeing the start of a region-wide collapse of leaders and regimes? Probably not. One or two more leaders might go: Qadhafi is truly in trouble, as is Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. However real revolutions are rare, and for good reasons. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Matthew Gray) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-expect-the-middle-east-to-fall-like-dominos/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-expect-the-middle-east-to-fall-like-dominos/#item5199 Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:30:57 +0000 Matthew Gray | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-army-will-ultimately-triumph-in-egypt/ Many people assume that the events in Egypt over the last 18 days are a simple case of ‘people power’ seeking to remove a drained, corrupt, unpopular president, who is desperately clinging to power. Certainly the renewed vigour and importance of the Arab ‘street’, and the power of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia, have been important. But what is really happening is a three-way tussle over the future political and economic structure of Egypt. The protesters in Tahrir Square – and now across many cities and large towns in Egypt – and Mubarak, are indeed two protagonists, and the most visible ones. In one sense, the protesters have already defeated Mubarak: he has agreed to step aside in September after elections for a successor, and to the extent that the protesters were trying to get rid of the president, they have (almost certainly) succeeded. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Matthew Gray) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-army-will-ultimately-triumph-in-egypt/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-army-will-ultimately-triumph-in-egypt/#item5110 Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:30:35 +0000 Matthew Gray | Author bios | The Punch