Few things in life- first dates, certain church services- have of much ritualized pointlessness as the annual Arab Summit. It is a parade of forced smiles, empty promises, grand, boring speeches, and zero progress on any issues. The summit, controversialy held in Damascus, failed to make any headway on the most pressing issue in the […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-296515809464153035″ width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /] The video I’m posting is of the Iraq Town Hall that was put on by the Foreign Policy Association, last week in New York City. The panelists are Dr. Fred Kagan, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute specializing in defense issues and the US military. He is […]
According to several media reports, the battle of Basra is NOT going well. Just a few hours ago, militants blew up a crude oil pipeline. An act of retaliation, this is part of a tenacious fight that the Sadrists are putting up in the south of the country. The Iraqi and US forces have a […]
An article printed in the Jerusalem Post this past week provides an interesting overview of the rising popularity of victims' families filing lawsuits in Israeli courts against the Palestinian Authority since the start of the second intifadah. The Israeli government has openly admitted that it has not only the right, but the obligation, to protect […]
In Part One, I discussed the likelihood of the British contingent staying on in Basra past their pull-out dates because of continuing instability in the province and city. The big parties that are fighting for dominance are the Fadhila party (a smaller Shi’ite party), the Sadrists, and the followers of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council […]
What first caught my eye was an article in the UK Daily Mail yesterday (which I think is little more than a tabloid, but occasionally they have a gem or two) that said in its headline ‘Rocket attacks dent hopes of bringing British troops home from Basra‘. As readers of this blog know, we have […]
The New York Times has posted a searing piece that details the correspondence of dead soldiers. It is painful to read their emails, diary entries, and blog postings knowing that they are not coming home. Charlie Rose of the Huffington Post has conducted a series of interviews for the fifth anniversary of the invasion of […]
I'd like to express my appreciation to the Foreign Policy Association and Brian O'Neill for giving me the opportunity to take the reigns on the Middle East blog this week. This past week the Ramallah-based Mohammed Assadi of Reuters put together a nice piece that captures the frustration of ailing Fatah veterans, who are growing […]
Afshin Molavi has a shrewd New Republic piece on the Iranian elections, and the schism in the conservative branch. Despite reformists being largely banned from running, and the general assumption being that conservatives- or, as they call themselves, “Principalists”- consolidated their power, Molavi argues that a surprising number of seats went to a pragmatic branch […]
Not an interesting piece by me, of course. Let's not be ridiculous. FPA War Crimes blogger Daniel Graeber has an excellent piece in UPI on the long-term consequences of arming Sunni militants to fight al-Qaeda. He discusses why this is a short-sighted plan, and one possibly doomed to blow-back in even more violence and mayhem, […]
The New Republic has an essayby Zvika Kreiger about the construction boom in Mecca, including a luxury hotel right across from the Kaaba. This is controversial, largely because hundreds of holy sites are being destroyed. Over protests by groups like the Islamic Supreme Council of America and the Muslim Canadian Congress, Saudi authorities have authorized […]
Well, we’re five years in folks. There is a ton of press coverage, the tone varies from publication to publication. First off, I would like to bring your attention to the Washington Post's ‘Five Years in Iraq‘ section, which has interviews with people as wide ranging as an Iraq war protester, an infantry officer, and […]
Two attacks in Yemen today, onenear the US Embassy in Sana’a and another in the southern province of Abyan. As of right now, the Yemeni government doesn't see this as targeting the US Embassy, but rather as a “purely criminal incident”. To be sure, the mortars in Sana’a hit a school, some 500 meters from […]
This is from October, but it is still interesting. Congressional testimony about Iran, from Karim Sadjapour (.pdf file). The piece is nuanced and fair, with interesting reccomendations on how the US should deal with Iran, specifically how we can influence the people, rather than the government.
I suppose there could be a first time for anything. The European Union is joining the US in calling for pressure on Syria to be constructive in helping Lebanon get past its current, dangerous political crisis. Hezbollah does not agree. What Solana said is far from being objective. It is an echo of the United States‘ […]