On April 8, Egypt held elections for nearly 53,000 municipal representatives. Not surprisingly, participation was abysmal: Egypt’s ruling faction, the…
Year: 2008
Academic Researcher and Lecturer in Asian Studies Interview by Rita Ibrahim You have written a great deal about the connection…
[Bigger than the Vatican, awash in cash. How a shrine built a business empire and wields power.] (For an enlarged…
Is it time for the government to withdraw from the European convention on human rights? That’s the question posed by…
Amid rumors that the political furniture is being moved around in Damascus, perhaps the strangest thing is how Syria has…
A determined refrain heard among those thinking about or dealing with the Middle East is that the Gordian knot of…
When Syria’s foreign minister and one of its Lebanese marionettes both mention the Hariri tribunal in the space of two…
Osama bin Laden flew to London in 1986 to help negotiate the purchase of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles to be used…
The Catholic baptism of the well known journalist, Magdi Allam, Egyptian and non practising Muslim, has been criticised and despised…
Recently, we’ve heard Hizbullah’s secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, pick up on a theme dear to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.…
This weekend, the much-anticipated annual Arab Summit will convene in Damascus. The run-up to the twentieth summit — the first…
London: Mild, suave, sober, gentleman, soft-spoken, handsome and many other befitting descriptions for a man who is considered good in…
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s center-right party got a rebuke from French voters in recent local elections, with leftist parties narrowly beating…
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb – or AQIM – kidnapped two Austrian citizens in Tunisia on Feb. 22. The hostages…
(New York, March 24, 2008) – Syrian authorities should seek an independent investigation into the March 20 shootings by security…
** Fascinating letter by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem at the end of his “mission” and a sober view of…
Saudi Arabia is a land of predicament for Saudi women seeking opportunities but facing constraints. They are neither allowed to…
** (Photo: New PPP speaker of Parliament, Dr. Fehmida Mirza) ** In his historic play Julius Caesar Shakespeare uses Ides…
Detlev Mehlis did not say much that was new on Tuesday evening, when he was interviewed by May Chidiac on…
Vatican representatives and Muslim thinkers will meet in Rome next March to hammer out a few guidelines for dialogue between…
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has adopted a new charter that calls for a “jihad of peace” to…
Stratfor Global Intelligence Summary Syria’s ruling al-Assad family is experiencing an internal struggle, as the Feb. 12 assassination of top…
There is a passage in Samantha Power’s “A Problem from Hell,” her Pulitzer Prize And-the-Winner-Is-Them-Again -winning book on how the…
In recent weeks, a message has been coming out of Iran, one transmitted to Arab leaders and now through proliferating…
In the Middle East, it is widely believed that Syria is obstructing the election of a new Lebanese president. Amid…
The USS Cole has certainly created a ruckus in Lebanon, especially when no one has actually seen the ship. But…
When Hezbollah official Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated earlier this month in Damascus, the collateral damage was felt in academic departments,…
Every election in Pakistan brings out more about ISI’s perpetual role in the subversion of democracy at the behest of…
** ISLAMABAD: The main wheeler and dealer of the ISI during the 2002 elections, the then Maj-Gen Ehtesham Zamir, now…
RAWALPINDI—Retired Army Generals on Tuesday have asked President Pervez Musharraf to resign in the greatest national interest of the country,…
** Hezbollah: A Short History by Augustus Richard Norton Princeton University Press, 2007, 183. pp. This book begins with what…
In response to the February 12 assassination of chief of operations Imad Mughniyeh, Hizballah has ratcheted up its threats, warnings,…
Another round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is certainly likely, but I don’t consider it inevitable, particularly in the…
Rarely a day goes by without someone writing an article protesting against the incapacity of Lebanese politicians to come to…
** By Markus Becker New simulations carried out by European Union experts come to an alarming conclusion: Iran could have…
Syria has vowed to soon release the results of its inquiry into the assassination of Hizbullah official Imad Mughniyeh. However,…
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto laid her life so that the people of Pakistan could have a hope in a future–…
** (No Mush No: Ex-ISI head Hamid Gul at an anti-Musharraf rally in Islamabad, Jan 31) A bid is on…
For months, we’ve been hearing the presidential candidates promise American voters “change.” But as the US primaries move beyond their…
For those of us who had connections with Israeli intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal was a household name. For more years…
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Thomas Jefferson…
A UN expert on women’s rights said on Wednesday she had heard accounts of serious discrimination against women and abuses…
NEW YORK — When it comes to Islamic law, or Sharia, words certainly do come easy if you’re a man.…
** Amir Mir- Islam Abad Laith Al Libi, the Libyan al-Commander had been living in Pakistan for almost three years…
** An Excellent article published by Der Spiegel against what the author terms the “preventive capitulation” of the Western world.…
** Tel Quel, Moroccan magazine Translated by Dr. Roberto Barducci Is man, first of all, an individual, or is he…
You know that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner didn’t expect to be long for the Sarkozy administration when he decided…
CAIRO — After he scored a goal in a recent match against Sudan in the African Nations Cup, Egyptian soccer…