In the current Yemen Times, Hassan al-Haifi has a short editorial on the need for change in the Arab World. I link to it for a couple of reasons. One, basically, is that it is always interesting to read critical articles in the mainstream Arab press. We tend to think that no one is allowed […]
A friend who works in South Africa but who is a Zimbabwe native visited his family over the Christmas holidays. Before he left I asked if he would send me a report upon his return so readers here can get a sense of things from the perspective of someone who loves his country but laments […]
Unfortunately, Judge Amir Jawdat Naeib was assassinated in Baghdad on his way to work today. According to the linked BBC article, assassinations have gone down since the ‘surge’, but this is another example of how far Iraq is from true stability. Despite this, the Coalition has announced that over 60 militants have been killed in […]
A couple of stories that caught my eyes in the last couple of days: When observers of Africa want to point to a country that represents a success story, they often point to Botswana, by and large for good reasons. Stephanie Hanson of the Council on Foreign Relations investigates whether beneath the surface the picture is more complicated, especially […]
Thirty years ago this week the South African political philosopher Richard Turner was assassinated in his Durban home. South African History Online (SAHO) has put together a special feature on the anniversary of Turner's shooting. His daughter, the journalist Jann Turner, has included her own personal reflections of her father's life and death and what […]
The President is concluding the Israel/Palestinian portion of his Middle East trip, before moving on the Gulf to deal with Iran. Bush feels confident that there will be a Palestinian state and a peace treaty before he leaves office in slightly more than a year, saying “'there's going to be a signed peace treaty by […]
It appears that some observers are finally beginning to counteract the shallow, facile narrative that overtook the analysis of the events in Kenya over the last couple of weeks. Caroline Elkins’ piece in The Washington Post this past weekend provided a model of how a historical analysis of the current events in Kenya ought to […]
The posting has been light of light because of travel and a conference and the general need every so often to take a break. I will pick the pace back up soon. The Foreign Policy Association published my latest think piece last week, “South Africa's Magnificent Catastrophe,” in which I make some tentative (and merely suggestive) comparisons between […]
The Institute of War and Peace Reporting has a new series called Iraqi Women's Voices. The first one, also printed in the Middle East Times, is called “Life After the Islamic State,” about a woman whose Baghdad neighborhood, once secular and free of the Sunni-Shi’ite divide, fell under the sway of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. My […]
An editorial in today's Middle East Times nails it: And if indeed the president's concern is the Arab-Israeli dispute, then why the stops in four Gulf countries? Why the visits to Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia? It is interesting to note that those four countries share the same concerns over Iran's rising influence […]
Interested in knowing why Lebanon frequently has the difficulties it does? Pay attention to the last sentence excerpted here. From The Daily Star Iranian official to meet Assad to discuss Lebanon Saturday, January 05, 2008 ROME: Ali Larijani, member of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will visit Damascus […]
Clearly, not everything in the Middle East centers around terrorism, despite the impression one might get from the news or even at times this blog. However, it obviously is a very real phenomenon, and understanding it is key. In light of that, I’m linking today to a fairly new publication called Perspectives on Terrorism, the […]
Marc Lynch has an article in the Christian Science Monitor on US policy toward Iran vis a vis the Gulf States. The thesis is essentially that the Gulf States have shifted their policy toward Iran to one of pragmatic accomadation (though not friendship). Lynch writes: The states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are accommodating […]
The Yemen Times has a recent profile on Sheik al-Ahmar's son, a very relevant man following the recent death of his father, the second-most powerful person in Yemen. The author, Abdullah al-Faqeh, is a professor of politics at Sana’a University and very clearly a fan of young Hamid. In the last post on the al-Ahmar […]
The Gulf Research Center has published a series of articles Nuclearization of the Gulf, which can be downloaded for free as a .pdf file from their main page, or you can order a hard copy if you want something impressive on your bookshelf. Interesting and comprehensive site in and of itself, and the paper looks very […]