Dear Readers: I am Reza Akhlaghi, presiding over the Iran page on FPA Blogs. Our Iran page is presently experiencing technical difficulties, so in the interim I have been invited to be a guest blogger here on the Middle East page “. So please stay tuned as my first piece here will be posted on […]
Israel’s changing demographics are always a touchy subject, with some Israeli politicians arguing that higher Arab birth-rates will result in Jews becoming a minority, while some researchers contend that Arab and Jewish birth rates are actually very similar. Regardless of whether the Jewish, Arab or other populations are on the rise, these people still need […]
Next month Egypt is to hold its parliamentary elections. In preparation the ruling party has taken to arresting opposition members. The Muslim Brotherhood members were jailed for hanging election posters. Government officials stated that the Brotherhood violated an election law that prescribed religious slogans on posters. As per numerous reports, the ruling party’s posters were […]
At a lecture at the Middle Ease Institute several weeks ago, Dr. Thomas O’Donnell described the modern relationship between the United States and Iran. He characterized the struggle between the two as a battle for the hegemony in the Middle East. America is still heavily reliant on petroleum and the Middle East is still the […]
Morocco is undertaking a bold step and a plan to fight corruption. The plan calls for all rich government officials to unveil their assets. And for the government to protect and provide for the workers of the newly established commission. The plan will also include new courses in the country’s schools on the fight against […]
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies just concluded a study on the Palestinian social media with participants in Gaza and the West Bank, including all who identified themselves as Palestinians in the forumsphere. The study was carried out to assess and gauge the Palestinian sentiment of the current state of affairs in the territories. The […]
President Barack Obama signed a proclamation today making Oct. 24 United Nations Day, but does that moniker then also make it anti-Israel day on Monday as well? The United Nations, in principle, is an exemplary organization that brings countries with often opposing priorities into the same forum where they can advocate ending world hunger, global […]
There are most certainly valid criticisms of Israel that have no roots in anti-Jewish sentiments. Unfortunately, many criticisms against Israel are simply veiled anti-Semitic remarks, and they are often times fairly direct. Israel was created in large part in response to the Holocaust, where anti-Semitism gripped Europe and led to the death of six million […]
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has, to say the least, been criticized fairly heavily in this blog, and I think it’s about to time to show the other side of this debate. Most recently, you likely remember dear reader, I said Lieberman is irrelevant and repeatedly circumvented by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. And that […]
The self-described whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, will release as many as 400,000 sensitive military documents on the U.S. mission in Iraq as early as next week.
South Sudan is embarking on a referendum on whether to stay a part of Sudan or declare independence from the Khartoum government. The big event is scheduled to take place on the 9th of January 2011. President Omar –Al Bashir says he “will not accept an alternative to unity”. The south and through various spokesmen […]
It should be no surprise that some Islam advocacy organizations in the United States have more critical views of Israel than, say, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Today the Anti-Defamation League — an organization that fights bigotry and often focuses on anti-Semitism — released a list of the top ten anti-Israel groups in the […]
The Iranian president is conducting a tour through Lebanon, in hopes of shoring up support for Iran, and likely as a show of “strength” to his western adversaries. What’s surprising here is Ahmadinejad was invited by the Lebanese prime minister who heads a “pro-western” coalition, knowing how much controversy this visit would spark. Ahmanidejad had […]
For all those interested, watch Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat during the briefing last week where he described his vision for the city, reforms over the last two years and his view that Israel’s capital must stay undivided. You can watch it here. Also, see my previous post for some analysis.
The following piece was written by David Levine, an armchair human rights activist focused on Iranian human rights issues. Mr. Levine, based in Santa Monica California, is a firm believer in the freedom of expression and fights for the right to the freedom of expression. Arrested almost 2 years ago, Hossein Derakhshan, a controversial Canadian- Iranian […]