Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman addressed The Washington Institute’s Special Policy Forum on July…
Year: 2008
There is growing concern in Israel and the United States that Hizbullah intends to alter the status quo in Lebanon…
(Photo: Dalila before and after 7 years in prison) For once, we are hoping Syrian public opinion is wrong! For,…
In February 2008, a four-member Washington Institute delegation visited the Kurdish Regional Government(KRG) in northern Iraq on a fact-finding mission.…
By Farah al-Sweel RIYADH (Reuters) – When Saudi Arabia’s Olympic team appears in Beijing next month, it will be conspicuous…
At the strong urging of the Bush administration, Israel has pulled back from threatening to bomb Iran’s nuclear enrichment program…
Walid Moallem came to Beirut on Monday, proving that absence doesn’t necessarily increase a sense of longing. In his short…
Since the 6th of July, Marco Pannella – Member of the European Parliament and President of the Nonviolent Radical Party…
This week, Lebanon’s new national unity government is slated to announce its ministerial statement (bayan waziri), the policy document that…
( New York , July 22, 2008) – The Syrian government should order an independent investigation into the deadly shooting…
last Saturday, exactly one week before Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is due in Paris to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy…
So, Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, is now saying that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 is dead. It’s not…
The boundaries of the war in Yemen are expanding beyond the northern Saada governorate. Bombing is audible from the nation’s…
Hizballah has much to celebrate. With the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon last week, it is now…
The recent decision taken by a French court in Lille, to annul the marriage of a young couple because the…
It is easy to dismiss the National Christian Gathering established last week as largely an assemblage of pro-Syrian politicians, has-beens,…
Rioting at a prison near Syria’s capital killed at least nine inmates Saturday, according to a human rights activist in…
From an article in Al-Hayat last Monday, citing a European diplomatic source, we learn that France asked Syria to intervene…
A Libyan well known lawyer, Mr. Daw al Mansoury was kidnapped by « masked thugs » in Tripoli, Libya, at…
How would Arab Christians, Muslims (Sunnis, Shias, Druze, Alawites, etc) and Jews respond to a similar survey if it were…
No one likes to take a prediction back, but last week I wrote that Michel Aoun would be unable to…
SANA, Yemen PRESIDENT Ali Abdullah Saleh’s face is everywhere in Yemen. He stares out from billboards, shop windows and living…
There is a scene in the film “Apocalypse Now” where two characters, Captain Willard and Colonel Kurtz, are talking. Kurtz…
If there is one thing that has characterized commentary on the Middle East in the United States in recent years,…
I salute the decision of the Turkish constitutional Court to ban the turban from Universities. The turban is not anymore…
The May 25 election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as Lebanon’s twelfth president was a central element of the Qatari-brokered compromise…
The most worrying development in the coming months in Lebanon may be only partly visible today: a concerted effort by…
Developments in Lebanon are being viewed with great concern in Israel. In the aftermath of Hizbullah’s recent military and ostensible…
Dear Teacher Over the last few days’ things have taken a turn for the worse, this has caused immense pain…
Listening to the speeches of President Michel Suleiman and Hizbullah’s Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah earlier this week, it is becoming apparent…
Last May, a fax arrived at the London office of the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al Awsat from a shadowy figure…
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Jane Novak, a 46-year-old stay-at-home mother of two in New Jersey, has never been to Yemen. She…
** From DEMOCRATIYA Unholy Terror: Bosnia, al-Qa’ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad by John R. Schindler Zenith Press, 2008,…
(New York, May 21, 2008) – The Saudi Interior Ministry should immediately and unconditionally release Matrook al-Faleh, one of Saudi…
Whatever else is said about the agreement between Lebanon’s leaders reached in Qatar on Wednesday, it will likely transform the…
On May 21, after five days of mediation, Qatari officials announced a compromise solution to the Lebanese crisis between the…
Since taking over as director of Military Intelligence (MI) in January 2006,Major General Amos Yadlin has not given an interview.…
Nothing less than a titanic clash between two logics is at play in Beirut, and in the larger Middle East.…
President Bush returns to the Middle East this week for the second time in 2008. Initially planned to mark Israel’s…
This week, the democratically elected, pro-Western Lebanese government took the bold and unprecedented decision to confront Hizballah. Since its election…
Once we accept that this week’s alleged labor unrest was only the latest phase in Hizbullah’s war against the Lebanese…
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A former Iranian president has said that exporting violence to other countries…
On April 25, a second round of voting will determine the remaining eighty-eight seats of the Iranian Majlis. The first…
It was a mixed week for the head of the Democratic Gathering, Walid Jumblatt. His call for an all-party dialogue…
I have always been fascinated by the language of politicians. They have a special ability to talk without saying anything,…
Let’s thank Michel Aoun for informing us that the shooting of two Phalangist sympathizers in Zahleh on Sunday by a…
Senator Barack Obama has gotten much heat for suggesting that when people lose faith in Washington, they “end up voting…
Much ado has been made of the Israeli security fence isolating the West Bank. When it is completed in 2010,…