Author Archives: Mehrunisa

About Mehrunisa

Mehrunisa Qayyum is the founder of PITAPOLICY Consulting & Blog. PITAPOLICY Blog is listed on Muftah.Org. As @PITAPOLICY she tweets about politics, interests, technology and analysis in the "pita-consuming" region and contributes to the Huffington Post Blog, A Better People, and Triple Pundit. Regarding international affairs and trade issues, she worked at the United States’ Government Accountability Office for four years. Prior to that, she earned her MPP and Certificate in Contemporary Arab Studies from Georgetown University and a BA in both Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Public Policy from the University of Chicago. Her recent writing experiences include analytical pieces on civil society, transparency & governance, human rights, political economy of Syria, and social media forums' impact. She enjoys watching the Colbert Report in her free time.

Conflict Resolution: #Iran Breaks Deadlock

Dear Pitaconsumers, Step one in the deadlock with Iran broke last night around 9PM EST as Iran’s Chief Negotiator, Javed Zarif, shared an historic tweet: @JZarif “We have reached and agreement.”   #Iran #Irantalks”. World powers by way of the … Continue reading

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Filed under Analysis, Interests, Politics, Technology

Middle East Institute Annual Conference: Managing Transition, Containing Conflict but #NODrones

“You can’t have peace in #Syria without #Iran in negotiations.”~Mohsen Milani Middle East Institute 67th Annual Conference: Managing Transition, Containing Conflict From November 14th to 15th, the Middle East Institute held its 67th annual conference.  To kick off the MEI … Continue reading

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Filed under Analysis, Interests, PIDE (Policy, International Development & Economics), Politics, Technology, Uncategorized

Colbert Interviews Trita Parsi, Iran Negotiations Expert: Reroll the Dice

PITAConsumers–you know how much PITAPOLICY is a fan of The Colbert Report!  Last night, we couldn’t help but “ruminate” and share thoughts on the book mentioned in Parsi’s interview: “A Single Roll of the Dice”. (Note how ruminate probably comes from … Continue reading

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Filed under Analysis, Interests, Politics

Live-Blogging #MENASocialGood – Complete! #Funtabulous

Since 2011, PITAPOLICY Consulting & Blog has been a Creative Partner for Al-Mubadarah by contributing interview blogs exploring development issues in the Arab world as well as partnering for social media action.  PITAPOLICY Consulting & Blog is pleased to be … Continue reading

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Filed under Analysis, Interests, Technology

How Will Investing in MENA Technology Fuel Philanthropy? #MENASocialGood

   Originally published on November 4th, Huffington Post Section of Social Entrepreneurship in Partnership with Schwab Foundation What will tackle the biggest social, health or economic problems in each country? Philanthropic missions? Innovative technology? Or a version of Bill Gates … Continue reading

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Filed under Technology

When the Government Fears the Satirists You Have Change #Egypt

When the people fear the government you have tyranny….when the government fears the people you have liberty. -Thomas Jefferson So does Egypt have tyranny or liberty?  Or maybe in Egypt’s case: When the satirists fear the government you have tragedy…when … Continue reading

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Filed under Politics

“I’m not an employee…I’m a Political Activist.”~Deputy PM for Economic Affairs #Syria #QadriJamil #Defection

We’ve counted 403 news stories about Bashar Al Assad’s sack of his senior official, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Qadri Jamil, yesterday.  This came after Jamil met with American official in Geneva. Jamil is a Russian educated economist.  Lately, … Continue reading

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Filed under Analysis, PIDE (Policy, International Development & Economics)

Gini Out of the Bottle: How Dangerous Is Wealth Inequality to Democracy?

  The “Gini is out of the bottle” as we grossly joked last week.  (We couldn’t help but insert a pun about the Gini Coefficient.)  Gini Coefficient measures the level of wealth distribution…the higher the number, the higher the inequality … Continue reading

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Filed under Analysis, Politics

National Council on US-Arab Relations Conference: Strengths, Weaknesses, & Opportunities #NavigatingUSArabRelations

“Sticks are becoming more lethalized whereas our carrots (soft power) less tasty-possibly rotting.”~Sharpe From Tuesday October 22nd to October 23rd, the National Council on U.S. – Arab Relations held its annual conference.  This year’s title theme: “Strengths, Weaknesses, & Opportunities”.  … Continue reading

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Filed under Analysis, Interests, PIDE (Policy, International Development & Economics), Politics, Technology

Live-Blogging MENA Women in the Reformist Process: A Retrospective @TheWilsonCenter

MENA Women in the Reformist Process: A Retrospective @TheWilsonCenter Right after the largest religious holiday in Saudi Arabia, a Blogger was detained in Saudi Arabia for defying the female driving ban.   Note, if we want women to be heads … Continue reading

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Filed under Interests, PIDE (Policy, International Development & Economics), Politics