So Secretary Rice just completed a tour of North Africa, hitting Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. For obvious reasons her meetings with Muammar Qaddafi of Libya received a great deal of attention; click here for a little State Department commentary on Libya's role in the international community since its diplomatic relations with the US […]
As the election is almost upon us, this is the best time to become more informed about the issues. My goal with this post is to display the facts, and let you judge for yourself. The only thing that I will tell you to do is register and VOTE (if you didn't know, many states […]
In the beginning the motive was clear. The majority had to become a minority by killing, not by elections. At that time the country had no president and the assassination trend was meant to stop the majority from electing a president by 65 votes out of 128, which is the 50 + 1 formula. However, […]
The minimum wage was raised. Finally a piece of good news although at the prices they have here its far from being decent. Maybe some should slow down the corruption and use the money for the people. What an awkward idea, no? President Suleiman invited all camps [realistically there are more than two] to attend […]
This NYT article sheds a little light on why in the world OPEC would cut production when oil prices are still over $100 a barrel. (The price of a barrel was $104 at close of NYMEX today).
Kalima, an initiative of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, announced its intention to make 8 new titles available, including John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Restored. Kalima aspires to make 100 new great works of other languages available in Arabic each year; their ambition is to rectify the current rate of translation […]
Policymakers and opinionmakers in Washington and the Middle East would do well to pay careful attention to today's article in the New York Times about Egyptians and other Arabs not believing claims by the United States that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the attacks of September 11. Some reasoning goes like this: – A […]
Mona Eltahawy has interviewed a series of Muslim Republicans and summarized their struggles this election cycle. In sum, it's not a good scene; one doctor described it thus: "I am truly having an identity crisis as a Muslim Republican. I really don't want to abandon the party, but I really feel the party has abandoned […]
Hillary's message has reached Saudi Arabia – the Human Rights Commission there has just added a women's and children's division.
Haifaa al Mansour gave an interview to Al Jazeera English's program One on One this week. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/IPu8TF7ANMQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] There is a brief article at Al Jazeera on the interview; you can watch the second part of the interview on YouTube as well. Al Mansour is a female Saudi filmmaker, which is […]
The spotlight remains on Tripoli this weekend, especially in light of Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri's three-day visit, during which he has met representatives from the city. Hariri's efforts to create a climate that will foster reconciliation come after he had earlier warned that Syria “is trying to return to Lebanon through Tripoli.” Talks […]
Anyone who has spent time in the Middle East has probably taken note of the abundance of conspiracy theories in circulation. Most Americans I know dismiss these theories as, well, crazy. Which makes it even more unfortunate when one of them turns out to be true. Iraqi officials respond to the news that the White […]
The Economist's Briefing this week is on Islamic finance. I’ll confess to being less than expert on economics and just link. Click here for the briefing on current successes and struggles in the field; click here for the summary of Islamic finance's history. Those interested in reading further on Islamic finance can check out Forbes.com's […]
The NYT has a piece on the disillusionment of Palestinians with the 2-state solution dream. It has, after all, been 15 years since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, and it can't be comforting to know that Olmert, Abbas, and Bush are hard at work – their combined approval rating probably hovers somewhere around […]
The pool of possible successors to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak became smaller today with the death of former minister of defense Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala. The Associated Press is reporting that Abu Ghazala died late Saturday at age 78 (President Mubarak is 80). Field Marshal Abu Ghazala would not have been a real contender for the […]