(Apologies for the delay in posting- have been out of town) A leader dies in a Muslim country, one in which chaos always seems a possible destiny, in a time of frail uncertainty, leaving the country in a new and vertiginous and dangerous world. This is case in Pakistan, with the unsolved murder of Benazir […]
An Oliver Guitta article in the Middle East Times from yesterday analyzes the ascent of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, particularly Algeria (Here is an earlier post about the Dec 11th Algiers bombings). Basically, the thrust of the article is that al-Qaeda is consolidating its influence in the region, and that “One of its primary goals is to […]
Interesting story on grafitti art on NPR this morning. In Bethlehem, Israel's security wall is being tagged by both international and local artists, in what can be seen as a display of defiance or, alternately, just an outlet for frustrated young people. You can listen to and read the story A British grafitti artist (I […]
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has released the first issue of The Sentinel, a scholarly look at terrorism around the world. A pdf copy of it can be downloaded here. Of particular interest is page 14, where Gregory Johnsen- late of this site- has a rigorous look at “Securing Yemen's Co-operation in the Second […]
Today brought the shocking and completely unexpected news that Vladimir Putin has agreed to become the Prime Minister of Russia when his term ends next year. That isn't the only news to come out of Russia today- though I know the reader may want to take a few seconds to recover from that twist- and […]
For the first time since the revolution of 1979, a sitting Iranian President has been invited to participate in the hajj. King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia has extended an invitation to the head of his regional rival, a gesture one could think is the triumph of religion over politics, but, in reality, is just the […]
Today's Asharq Al-aswat has an interesting and disturbing article about al-Qaeda shifting its base to the Gulf, or, more precisely, Yemen. It quotes an anonymous official saying he “believes that Yemen may replace Afghanistan as the incubator to breed, rally and train [terrorists]. In practice, Yemen could become the new Al Qaeda base- a label […]
Apologies for this blog being Lebanon-centric these last couple of days; however, when the testing ground of Arab ideologies teeters on the brink of its most intense political crisis in 17 years, it calls for many words. And there have been a lot of words regarding the assassination of Francois al-Hajj and its confusing implications. […]
Brig. Gen. François al-Hajj, who was on the track to succeed Michel Suleiman as Army chief of staff whenever he becomes president, was killed in a car bomb in Beirut today. Al-Hajj also led the battle against the Fatah al-Islam militant group in ferocious fighting last summer. Whether this was a revenge killing or somehow tied […]
Ad nauseam, ad infinitum. For the 8th time, the Lebanese parliament has postponed electing a president. The many factions had agreed on choosing Gen. Michel Suleiman to replace Emil Lahoud, but it has hit many, many snags. For one, the Lebanese constitution forbids high-ranking state employees from becoming President, so Suleiman will have to resign or the […]
At least 60 people have been killed as a result of two bombings in Algiers today- one near a government bulding and the other near United Nations offices. The government is sure that the GSPC is responsible (The GSPC, a splinter of the GIA group which waged the civil war in the 1990s, was known as […]
