I’ve written time after time about the irrelevancy of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman. Yet, he still manages to suprise, not with an artful mastery of politics to gain clout, but with providing yet another excuse to his colleagues to dismiss him. Let’s review Leiberman’s history. Instead of examining events years ago, how about just […]
Last April, amid the Scud missile kerfuffle, Blake Hounshell called Syria “The dumbest country in the Middle East” on the Foreign Policy magazine blog. (He didn’t even have the common decency to capitalize Dumbest and Country.) I’ll be curious to see if Blake repeats the claim after the Russian Foreign Minister confirmed this month that […]
The Israeli intelligence services and the IDF have suffered some set backs of late that many critics have suggested indicates Israeli clandestine operations are in a free fall. “What happened to the days where (future Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud) Barack snuck into PLO headquarters in drag to assassinate some of the world’s most […]
Iran has confirmed that 30,000 computers have been infected with the “Stuxnext” worm. The worm has affected the Bushehr nuclear facility. According to reports this sort of worm could only be created by a government sanctioned hacking effort. Of course the prime suspects are Israel, Europe and the U.S. What’s interesting is that the worm affected […]
One of the reasons I’m writing this blog is to try and give readers a better idea of what Syria is like. Sometimes that means things like discussions of foreign policy, my post on the IAEA for instance. Other times it means we talk about domestic issues like the banning of the Niqab. Well today […]
The Following piece was published in Tehran Bureau: www.tehranbureau.com by MEA CYRUS in London 25 SEPTEMBER, 2010 Taste for controversy increases president’s own risks. [ comment ] There is considerable confusion as to why President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said what he did in New York, clearly suggesting that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were a devious […]
France is facing few hard choices regarding its Muslim population. Yesterday, Five French nationals were kidnapped off the shores of Nigeria by Al-Qaeda wing in North Africa. The group claimed responsibility and expressed its clear intention of targeting France’s interest and French nationals. The group made no specific demands as of yet. This, while officials […]
The issue of Syrian cooperation with the IAEA has returned to the headlines as the UN General Assembly convenes this week. While Barak Obama’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian front, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s incendiary remarks have garnered the most attention, nuclear proliferation has also come to the fore with Syria right in the middle. In remarks […]
One of the themes that repeatedly pops up when trying to “figure out” Syria is the contrast between where Syria has been, and where it is going. You see this division everyday. Old, decrepit services fighting for space on the road with modern buses. Older, covered women sharing the sidewalks with girls in plunging neck […]
Last week, Prime Minister Hariri publicly dismissed his case against Syria in the assassination of his father. His opinion on the matter carries no formal weight, but for the people of Lebanon, Mr. Hariri’s actions are indeed significant. It was his father that was killed and if he can look past the issue in order […]
Jamal Mubarak, the eldest son of the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, is drawing political activists to the streets of Cairo. And they are not out for his support. Yesterday, adjacent to Abideen Palace, hundreds of Egyptians gathered to show their disapproval of what is looking to be preparatory statement by the ruling party of Hosni […]
To continue its freeze on settlement building, Israel is proposing a deal. Not with the Palestinians but rather with Americans. Israel is asking for the release of Jonathan Pollard, the convicted Israeli spy who received a life sentence in 1987 for turning presidential directives of the US policy towards Iran to Israel. A close aid […]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Israel, and it appears that she did not pass up an opportunity to speak to the Israeli people. However, she used that opportunity to both say nothing and reaffirm what everyone knows — Israelis would prefer Clinton over Obama, hands down. On the saying nothing, in an interview […]
As I return to Syria after a few weeks away I have been suddenly reminded of the many challenges to Internet access here. The slow-as-molasses connections speeds, the months long process to set up home accounts, and of course the censor’s prohibition of using certain sites. As I sit in my local internet cafe I […]
Hello All! I’m sure everyone has been losing sleep over a lack of Syria posts on the FPA wall lately. An evil and cowardly computer issue combined with international bus travel has conspired to keep yours truly away from posting. Well, allow me to put all of you at ease. As of now you can […]