A major consideration behind Congressional attempts to condition or reduce Egyptian military aid is the concern that Egypt is preparing for aggressive military action towards Israel. The late Tom Lantos led the initiative in Congress. He had this to say in June 2004 during a subcommittee meeting of the House Committee on International Relations: Cairo […]
Hizbullah's General Conference ended speculations regarding keeping its Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in his current position, following a Fatwa (religious decree) by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei allowing him to maintain his top post. The Kuwaiti daily al–Rai said that the conference is mulling naming senior Hizbullah commander Mustapha Shehadeh to succeed the late […]
On 11/5, Secretary Rice will start a four-day trip to Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine. I guess she's decided the term “lame duck” won't apply to her. Although, I know that I expect to hear about nothing but the presidential election over those four days; we’ll see whether that's the case for her.
Tasnaq is not the only Armenian party. However, I believe it is the most important one on the Lebanese political scene. MP Hagop Pakradounian strikes me as a different type of politician. “Our alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement in the upcoming elections is ultimate and we don't stab our ally in the back.Today thanks […]
A treasure from the archive of the Christian Science Monitor detailing women's efforts to persuade the Coalition Provisional Authority to include them. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA)'s Global Database of Quotas for Women. Trivia: Rwanda has the world's highest proportion of women in the elected legislature, at 48.8%.
… the female ones, anyway, and of course they are in favor. Iraq's Parliament right now is 25.5% female – the US House is 16.8% female, and the Senate 16%. Since the women as a group form a big enough bloc to disrupt the body's work if they make a collective decision to do so, […]
Arab News reports on the travails of the working Saudi woman: late night phone calls from one's boss, of course of a non-professional nature; childish behavior if one chooses to ignore those calls; ultimatums when one refuses to go on a date with one's boss. The Kingdom is considering passing a law that protects women […]
Yousif Khalaf, CEO of Ajman Bank, predicts that the financial woes of the present will increase demand for Islamic banking. Hence, the bank is focusing its expansion efforts within UAE.
Pete Ajemian, Middle East Media blogger for FPA, has a post up debriefing Nasrallah's denial of this connection.
This weekend Kuwait's government bailed out the country's second largest bank , Gulf Bank, guaranteeing all its deposits. (I’d be interested to know why this article from the Kuwait Times puts the word “losses” in scare quotes). Yesterday, Kuwaiti traders staged their second walk out of the past week (they walked out Thursday as well; […]
After a two years break the leaders of Future Movement and Hizballah met on Sunday. The press learned about the meeting on Monday. A joint statement said that both leaders stressed national unity, while reiterating their common position regarding peace as well as the need to take all necessary measures to prevent internal tensions and […]
Beqaa valley is renowned world wide. Not for touristic purposes mind you. Its for drugs and weapons smuggling. Months ago the government said that a large part of the poppy cultures were destroyed. A trip to the Beqaa will prove otherwise. I did not read any statistics on the country's drug issue, but talking with […]
(of which I am one), the LA Times has a backgrounder. Livni has a two week extension on her coalition-building deadline, so we’ll need to continue following the coalition negotiations until Nov. 3.
Mohammad Raheem embraces his daughter after a spate of violence outside their Baghdad home, courtesy of the NYT's Baghdad Bureau.
Umer Chapra, Saudi economist and winner of the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies, is quoted in the Arab News as saying that adopting the parameters of Islamic finance would protect the financial system from crises the nature of the current one in the future. Dr. Chapra was raised in Pakistan and received his […]