Many who follow or work in international affairs would hesitate to call themselves “North Africanists.” But I bet you’d be surprised that you probably are. North Africa, also referred to as the Maghreb (which literally means “the west” in Arabic), has long been a crossroads between civilizations. From the extensive economic partnerships and deep […]
In this piece William Sweet maintains that Iran is pursuing both technological routes to an atomic bomb, on the model of the Manhattan Project and that the West is in a position to adopt tougher unilateral sanctions, under the UN flag.
Officials from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) have stated that they expect charges to be filed in the Hariri murder case between September and December of this year. Former Prime Minister Rafik Hairri was assassinated in 2005 by a massive explosion as his motorcade drove through the streets of Beirut. The STL was established […]
And who said the Palestinians aren’t partners for peace? Assuming the reporting is accurate and that the Palestinians are actually willing (and able) to follow through on their offer, a report in today’s Wall Street Journal suggests the Palestinian Authority is willing to give up double the land it offered in the past to former […]
Israel is set to lose its label as an emerging market and will officially become a developed market later this month. Israel has long been a leader in high-tech and military technologies, which is hard to fathom seeing that the country only began its major transformation over the last 60 years. Further, investors should still […]
I generally agree with Haaretz columnist and Tel Aviv University Prof. Carlo Strenger, who supports democracy and freedoms for all individuals in Israel and the Palestinian territories, often opting to prioritize these values above and beyond any political motives aimed toward the peace process. And, in this vain, I agree one hundred percent with Strenger’s […]
The announcement this morning that Iran will give up the bulk of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey has been met with quite a bit of fanfare. However, the deal is virtually irrelevant. This deal was put in place in an effort to curb sanctions and provide the impression that Iran wants to negotiate and make […]
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is scheduled to meet with President Obama in Washington on May 24th, and the two will have much to discuss. Hariri and Obama Lebanon’s and the United States have a long relationship loosely based on their common democracy and Christian influence. But the relationship between America and Lebanon is not […]
Alright. I admit it. I probably sound like Dick Cheney on the verge of the Iraq invasion with the amount of war foreshadowing that I’ve referenced repeatedly in recent posts. But, that won’t stop me. I write what I see. Both Iran and Israel are stocking their arsenals to prepare for a head-on collision, with […]
The Israeli economy has defied all odds. A mere 60 years ago, most Israelis were farmers, living on kibbutzim and cultivating the land, transforming swamps and deserts become a world leader in science, with high-tech booming and Israeli companies taking the lead on military technologies. Similarly, Israeli drug maker Teva has become a generic pharmaceutical […]
There’s quite a bit of information out there on Israel-related issues and its often hard to weed out the nonsense from the biased to the legitimate (and, many of this blog’s readers might label me in the former two categories). An assortment of news sites, ranging from the Jerusalem Post to Haaretz to Ma’an to […]
There is a big debate in Jewish/pro-Israel circles on whether being anti-Israel is inherently antisemitic. The basic argument is that no other country has its legitimacy questioned and every other ethnicity/religion has its own country. The concept of Mexico is not generally called illegitimate nor is the concept of New Zealand, albeit some fringe groups […]
Here is a brief look at the stories making headlines this week: Iraq vote winner asserts right to form government [AP] The leader of the top vote-getting coalition in Iraq’s inconclusive March 7 elections insisted his bloc still has the right to form the next government despite an alliance forged this week between two rival […]
Israel has managed to maintain a policy of nuclear ambiguity for decades, refusing to comment on whether it has a nuclear arsenal. It is widely believed that Israel has a couple hundred nuclear warheads, likely scattered throughout the country and ready to launch in the event Israel is threatened with annihilation. Granted, other countries — […]
The Scud missile scandal of two weeks ago has turned into the M600 scandal of today. Does Israel really believe these accusations? Is Syria really smuggling these weapons to Hizballah? And if so, what does it mean for the future of the Levant? While the prospect of Hizballah actually obtaining Scuds is discussed here, these […]