Foreign Policy Blogs

Middle East & North Africa

Mentally disabled and homeless people…the new battleground between AQ and coalition forces.

Iraqi security officials have been ordered to round up homeless people, beggars, and vagrants in effort at preventive counter terrorism. This is a result of the suicide bombings several weeks ago which were supposedly carried out by two women with Down's Syndrome, but recent statements made by US and Iraqi forces indicate that this was […]

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The US and Iran

Vali Nasr, one of the world's leading experts on Shi’ism, and Ray Takeyh, author of the excellent Hidden Iran, have co-authored a piece in the latest Foreign Affairs about the dangers of Washington's Iran containment strategy.   This is a grand strategy, which basically involves rallying all the Sunni Arab states against the growing Persian threat, […]

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A Few Meaningless Reflections on The Middle East, Prompted By, Of All Things, A Lunar Eclipse

So there is going to be a total eclipse of the moon tonight, which is pretty cool, even if you are not into astronomy.    Light bending around the earth coats the moon in an dark red glow; we bathe it with our shadow- just one of the bizarre tricks the universe can play on us. […]

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Mabrouk to Egypt

The Egyptian National soccer team has won the Africa Cup of Nations, beating Cameroon 1-0 in the finals in Ghana.   Cameroon captured the continent during its stirring 2004 World Cup run (your humble writer watched the game in a bar in Tanzania, and the crowd was going nuts), but now Egypt has won.  It is […]

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The Death of Imad Mugnieh

Imad Mugnieh, mastermind of the 1983 attacks on American soldiers in Beirut, as well as a host of other Hezbollah atrocities, died when his car exploded last week- surely the closest he has ever had the chance to see one of his own hallmarks.    The immediate suspects were, of course, Israel and the US.    I […]

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Pullout pause…and an internal Iraqi breakthrough (of a sort).

The pause in troops that has been touted by General Petraeus and Secretary Gates as necessary to judge and consolidate security gains from the surge has been universally panned by Democrats. The reasoning behind the ‘pause’ (Pause: it's pop culture's new 'surge’, I can just feel it) is that “We have momentum, and we must […]

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Revolution hits 29

Revolution hits 29

The revolution which swept away a dynasty and altered political Islam for the rest of our lives turned 29 today, marked by celebrations in the Iranian capital of Tehran. (Ahmadinejad speaks in front of a giant mural. ABACA via Middle East Times) During the celebrations, Ahmadinejad struck what will inevitably be called “a defiant note.” […]

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Israel and Syria

Seymour Hersh has an in-depth look at the Israeli attack of Syria last year, which some claim was an attack on some kind of nuclear facility.  Hersh is always worth a read.    Here is a teaser. Sometime after midnight on September 6, 2007, at least four low-flying Israeli Air Force fighters crossed into Syrian airspace […]

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More allegations of abuse against the US military

US soldiers have killed three members of a family in Tikrit, after US officials said that the troops were fired on before entering the house. However, The New York Times is reporting that an AP correspondent quoted a relative as alleging that the US soldiers kicked open the door of the house and began firing […]

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Yemen, And More Yemen

Jamestown has two new pieces on Yemen out today, one by one of America's foremost experts on terrorism, and another by the sharpest young Yemeni scholar out there. The latter, by Gregory Johnsen, analyzes al-Qaeda's new strategy in their attacks. Over the past six months, al-Qaeda in Yemen's strategy has become increasingly clear. It aims […]

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Nine civilians accidentally killed in Iraq by US forces

Nine civilians accidentally killed in Iraq by US forces

The big story out of Iraq this weekend was the admission by the United States that it had killed nine civilians accidentally in an airstrike targeting Al-Qaeda forces in Iskanadariya. The Guardian's piece is quite descriptive, saying that an Iraqi officer described the victims as Sunni members of the Al-Ghrir tribe. What's interesting is the […]

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Violence rages as rockets are aimed at British base

64 people were killed and over 100 more were wounded when what are believed to be two female suicide bombers detonated their payloads on Friday morning. The first was in a market in central Baghdad, which killed 46 people and wounded 82, and the second detonated in a market in southeastern Baghdad with 18 killed […]

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Kirkuk

Of all of Iraq's myriad impossible situations, Kirkuk has America tied into perhaps its tightest Gordian Knot.   The Institute for War and Peace Reporting has a good little summary of the mutual frustration between Kurdistan and whatever passes as Iraq's central government.  The Kurdish Alliance, the second-largest political bloc in the country, holds 53 of Baghdad […]

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'the situation in Mosul is worse than imagined by far' (Iraqi Defense Minister)

Monday greeted the reports of five US troops killed in Mosul as a result of a roadside bomb, or IED. For a comprehensive definition of what an IED is, click here for the Globalsecurity.org's explanation (click here for an Iraq specific explanation). The ‘pre-offensive’ is gearing up in Mosul, after Prime Minister Maliki announced the […]

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Iraqi Parliament makes temporary flag change

Iraqi Parliament makes temporary flag change

In a small but symbolic step forward today, the Iraqi parliament approved a change to the Iraqi national flag, removing the stars the represented Saddam Hussein's Ba’ath Party. This is a temporary change and a new flag design will be brokered in a years’ time. I think at this point, the Iraq people need much, […]

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