Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
History in the making; as written by the youth
By Anas Altikriti It might be a cliché and often an elaborate exaggeration to term a particular event “historic.” However, few can doubt that along with the Civil Rights movements, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the revolutions that have swept through the Arab world are no less …
A post-Arab Spring strategy
By Volker Perthes BERLIN: More than a year into the Arab revolts, their outcomes remain highly uncertain. But some initial lessons for international politics — and for Western, particularly European, foreign policy — merit serious consideration. Almost everyone was surprised by the revolts, although the political and socioeconomic causal factors were well known. As is …
Senegal’s resilient democracy
By Alfred Stepan and Etienne Smith DAKAR: Many commentators doubted whether democracy in Senegal, a country whose population is 95 percent Muslim, would survive its most recent presidential election, in which the incumbent, Abdoulaye Wade, sought a controversial (and only semi-legal) third term. But Senegal’s long-established democracy not only survived; it emerged strengthened. Why? First …
On the brink: Can non-violence bring Syria back?
By Michael Nagler and Stephanie Van Hook PETALUMA, California: When the Arab Spring was initiated by Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in Tunisia, it ignited longings for freedom throughout the region; more than that, it took hold of the creative imaginations of non-violent activists and millions of dissatisfied individuals around the world. Has this hope ground to …
How much should sex matter?
By Agata Sagan and Peter Singer WARSAW/MELBOURNE: Jenna Talackova reached the finals of Miss Universe Canada last month, before being disqualified because she was not a “natural born” female. The tall, beautiful blonde told the media that she had considered herself a female since she was four years old, had begun hormone treatment at 14, …
The problem of priorities
By Bjørn Lomborg COPENHAGEN: This decade has seen remarkable progress against humanity’s greatest challenges. Consider the declaration of victory over polio in India, which seemed impossible 10 years ago. January marked one year since the country’s last reported case. Or look at the strides made against malaria: over the past decade, the number of cases …
Being Abu Ismail
By Marie-Jeanne Berger CAIRO: Hazem Abu Ismail was there, in downtown Cairo on Friday April 6. Protests were held on this day over concerns that two of his family members held different citizenships, causing Abu Ismail’s presidential candidacy nomination to be rescinded. After Friday prayers, supporters of the presidential hopeful flocked to Tahrir to fight …
Fed policy and inflation fisk
By Martin Feldstein CAMBRIDGE: During the past four years, the United States Federal Reserve has added enormous liquidity to the US commercial banking system, and thus to the American economy. Many observers worry that this liquidity will lead in the future to a rapid increase in the volume of bank credit, causing a brisk rise …
Egypt’s self-counter-revolution
By Khalil al-Anani DURHAM: When I left Egypt two weeks before the revolution, Egyptians were not allowed to discuss three issues publicly: politics, religion and sex. However, after two weeks in post-Jan. 25 Cairo, I realized that these taboos have become obsolete. A sense of unfettered freedom is inescapable, albeit in a chaotic pattern. Apart from …
Hail the politics of exclusion
By Rania Al Malky CAIRO: Is it too late to salvage what’s left of Egypt’s so-called revolution? Is it too late to go back to the drawing board? Judging by the People’s Assembly’s decision to amendment political participation Law 73 of 1956, it’s not. But there’s a catch. The PA can decide all it wants, …
Women heralding the winds of change in Pakistan
By Farahnaz Zahidi Moazzam KARACHI, Pakistan: From a country where terrorism, extremism, inner strife and polarization continue to eat at its roots, good news is reaching out globally from a perhaps unexpected source — its women. Pakistani women are fighting for more than just the empowerment of women. They are taking center-stage in Pakistan’s fight against …
Eurozone Chutzpah and the IMF
By Simon Tilford LONDON: Eurozone policymakers and politicians are in no doubt: they have done their part to support the currency union’s struggling members by increasing the size of its rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Now it is time for the rest of the world — that is, the International Monetary Fund — …
The Arab Spring: Youth, freedom and the tools of technology
By Megan Martin Wielding mobile phones and computers, the young activists across the Middle East have altered the way the world approaches popular mobilization, social networks and Internet freedom. The Internet can be a transformational force for societies and individuals, allowing for organization on a mass scale and the free flow of information. However, we …
Indonesian youth in the post-1998 era of democratization
By Michelle Miller May 1998 was a terrible and magical moment in the history of Indonesia’s youth movement. It was a time of deep social trauma and the start of the transformation of young Indonesians into agents of democratic change after more than three decades of living under repressive authoritarian rule. The political moment began on …
Cyber war and peace
By Joseph S. Nye CAMBRIDGE: Two years ago, a piece of faulty computer code infected Iran’s nuclear program and destroyed many of the centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Some observers declared this apparent sabotage to be the harbinger of a new form of warfare, and United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has warned Americans …
Golden rules for the Eurozone
By Harold James LONDON: The European Monetary Union, as many of its critics maintain, looks a lot like the pre-1913 gold standard, which imposed fixed exchange rates on extremely diverse economies. But is that resemblance as bad as it sounds, or as the euro’s critics insist? The appeal of the historic gold standard lay in an …
Mosque growth study good news for Americans
By the Reverend Chloe Breyer NEW YORK, New York: You don’t have to be Muslim to find good news in a recent study on mosque growth in the United States. Co-sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Hartford Institute on Religion, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), and Council on American Islamic …
Will the tragedy in Toulouse unite France?
By Rabbi François Garai GENEVA, Switzerland: The assassination of French Muslim and Christian military personnel and French Jewish civilians two weeks ago in Toulouse and Montauban has rocked France. Yet beyond the fears that this act has stirred among both French Jews and their Muslim compatriots, the desire for co-existence prevails. Many of us European …
Why ‘pro-Israel, pro-peace’ J Street still matters
By Moriel Rothman JERUSALEM: Recently, the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” American organization J Street held its third annual conference in Washington, DC. Many on the American Jewish left have been increasingly critical of J Street, either for shifting to the right, or for failing to bring about any meaningful developments in terms of Israeli-Palestinian peace. Some of …
Disarmament wars
By Jonathan Schell NEW YORK: On April 13, Iran is scheduled to meet with representatives of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — plus Germany (the so-called “P5+1”) in an effort to decide the fate of Iran’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, North Korea …
Reconciliation the path to Egypt peace
By Philip Whitfield CAIRO: Rattled, the Muslim Brothers packed parliament to amend a law that would ban former regime figures from running after Omar Suleiman threw his hat into the ring. That’ll get tossed into the courts, unlikely to see the light of day again. Suleiman is the Brothers’ nemesis. The intelligence chief rose to become …
Challenges and opportunities
By Yoram Meital Developments in the Sinai Peninsula during the past year clearly reflect dramatic changes in Egypt and highlight the delicate situation at the Israeli-Gazan-Egyptian border junction. Egypt is passing through a transition stage characterized by political power struggles, unprecedented deterioration in domestic security and a worsening economic plight. Most of the forces operating …
An India-Pakistan thaw?
By Shashi Tharoor NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan are enjoying one of the better periods in their turbulent relationship. Recent months have witnessed no terrorist incidents, no escalating rhetoric, and no diplomatic flashpoints. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari just made a successful, if brief, personal visit to India (mainly to visit a famous shrine, but with …
Decolonizing the franc zone
By Sanou Mbaye DAKAR: France is wrestling with a burden of debts and public deficits that led Standard & Poor’s recently to downgrade its credit rating. Even as the risk of recession looms, the country has been forced to implement a drastic austerity program. But France’s woes are also being felt far beyond its borders, sparking …
Israeli historian: Israel needs borders for its own good
By Ben Lynfield JERUSALEM: With international attention distracted by Iran and Syria, Israel’s fateful entanglement in the West Bank hardly gets a mention in the news these days. Over the years, much has been written about the now 45-year-old Occupation’s deleterious effect on Palestinians. But in a significant new book, The Unmaking of Israel, launched recently …
Sinai spring? Not really
By Normand St. Pierre The Sinai Peninsula is beautiful, blessed by wonderful beaches, high-reaching mountains, a desert that changes color with the moving sun, and natural resources aplenty. It is also a land on which warriors have moved back and forth, leaving behind all manner of munitions and mines. Enjoying the beauty and enduring the conflicts …
The internationalization of Tahrir Square
By Karim Kasim In the last week of July, the United Nations held its High Level Meeting on Youth as part of the closing of the International Year of Youth 2011 in the General Assembly. This year was definitely a historic year that witnessed the massive mobilization and leadership of youth in the Arab world. The …
Obama’s blunder at the bank
By Jagdish Bhagwati NEW YORK: The selection of a successor to Robert Zoellick as President of the World Bank was supposed to initiate a new era of open meritocratic competition, breaking the traditional hold that the United States has had on the job. Indeed, Zoellick’s own appointment was widely regarded as “illegitimate” from that perspective. But …
Abdul Sattar Edhi: a beacon of hope in Pakistan
By Zeeshan Suhail ISLAMABAD: At the request of the Prime Minister, the government of Pakistan submitted an official nomination to the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Committee for a Pakistani humanitarian, Abdul Sattar Edhi, late last year. This is encouraging news, considering the political and economic instability which Pakistan continues to face. With such challenges, it’s important …
Tahrir tumbles and tumbrels
By Philip Whitfield CAIRO: It appears the Salafi Sheikh Hazem Abu Ismail’s mother did obtain American nationality on October 25, 2006 putting paid to his presidential bid. Doesn’t the Egyptian Administrative Court’s ruling on Saturday doom the Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat Al-Shater too? The judges overturned Field Marshal Tantawi’s restoration of Ayman Nour’s full political rights. Al-Shater …