I sensed something was slightly unreal about the Jordanian capital Amman when I was there on Monday. The distorted reality, I quickly discovered, reflected the presence in town of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose Middle East diplomatic efforts increasingly look like a self-deceiving world of mirrors and make-believe. As she intensified the elusive …
More than ever, insofar as Saudi Arabia is concerned, a serious Palestinian-Israeli settlement process is a regional necessity and not a luxury that can be postponed to an indefinite future. The Saudis have lobbied hard for their own peace proposal, which was adopted by the Arab League in 2002, to top the agenda again in …
Ever since I was 12 years old, I have led the life of an exiled Iraqi. My parents decided not to reside under Saddam Hussein’s government and sought further opportunities for freedom of expression, particularly after my father had been jailed simply because he voiced his opinion of the failed system that we Iraqis endured.. …
As my fingers were flipping through today’s papers, my eyes were craned to the pictures the articles embraced. The photo of the man grieving in front of his burned book store summarized the whole article. I looked into his eyes. They were as red as the blood flowing in Baghdad. They were sad and miserable. …
Barely half a year into his premiership, Japan’s Shinzo Abe is provoking anger across Asia and mixed feelings in his country’s key ally, the United States. But will the Bush administration use its influence to nudge Abe away from inflammatory behavior? Abe’s predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, was a mold-breaking leader, reviving Japan’s economy, reforming the postal …
From 2002 until late 2005, with international concern about Iran’s nuclear file at a record high, the reaction in Arab states to Iran’s activities might best be described as a resounding silence. As the international community grappled with the implications of the emerging threat and the means to convince Iran to back down, Arab states …
Iran’s government has been sending strong and persistent signals to its people that autonomous political activism will not be tolerated. As a result, any political action in the public sphere, especially in the streets, has become highly risky, and those venturing to participate in events unwelcome by the government have been asking for trouble. The …
As a species, human beings have a major self-control problem. We humans are now so aggressively fishing, hunting, logging, and growing crops in all parts of the world that we are literally chasing other species off the planet. Our intense desire to take all that we can from nature leaves precious little for other forms …
The recent visit to Moscow of Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. There he aligned Russia with the Arab consensus supporting the Saudi-mediated Mecca Agreement between the Palestinian factions, called for the lifting of sanctions against the new Palestinian unity government, discussed energy …
Last week I spoke to a group of former militants in the Khan Younes refugee camp in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Many assured me that it was only a matter of time before Al-Qaeda arrived in Palestine. The atmosphere in Palestinian areas is charged with anger and frustration, thanks to the political …
A much larger TB drug resistance problem exists than researchers previously thought. New global data on TB, published this week by the World Health Organization (WHO), highlight serious weaknesses in many national TB programs, increasing the potential for widespread TB drug resistance. How did we reach this precarious state? Ask a WHO expert that question …
CAIRO: In light of Egypt’s history of executively-focused constitutional amendments, President Mubarak’s current efforts at reform are another step in a long process of making a constitutional democracy into an autocracy. Though some amendments include seemingly democratic provisions, such as the 1980 establishment of the Supreme Press Council, the overall effect of Egyptian amendments has …
The advent of a Palestinian unity government once again clouds the issue of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and contacts. In reality, in considering the potential role of Hamas in preventing negotiations there are two categories of such talks to be discussed. According to the Oslo accords, any and all peace talks or even conflict-management negotiations between Israel …
Morocco observers were building up 2007 as a date with destiny for the still-fledgling democracy of King Mohammed VI. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for next September. Yet some question marks persist. Many recall that the 2002 legislative elections were in their day touted as the country’s first “free and fair ballot event. That didn’t happen. …
At a time when lack of leadership bounds, the Jordanian monarch delivered what could be easily described as the speech of his lifetime. Speaking to a joint meeting of the US Congress and to the American people, he laid down so eloquently, forcefully and above all convincingly the moral case for a much stronger American …
A quick evaluation of nuclear capabilities in the Middle East makes it clear that the region is hosting one major military nuclear state, Israel, and one major nuclear-ready state: Iran. However, the list will be inconclusive if we do not consider that in the course of the past 40 years a longer list of states …
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is crossing a modest threshold in her efforts to mediate in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: She is signaling her willingness to meet with some members of the Hamas-backed “national unity government,” even though the Israelis have publicly opposed such a move. Rice doesn’t do anything impulsively, least of all jump …
Not long ago, an American political analyst compared France’s loss of influence in Europe following its “No vote in the 2005 referendum on the EU constitutional treaty with France’s surrender in 1940. A provocative analogy, but is it apt? The collapse in 1940 revealed the fragility of France’s democracy and its loss of confidence in …
The only two major terrorist operations for which Khaled Sheikh Mohammed claimed no credit in his recently released testimony before the Military Tribunal at Guantanamo Bay were the August 7, 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the October 12, 2000 attack against the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of …
The fourth anniversary of the American-led war on Iraq this week has generated considerable analysis of the prospects for Iraqi stability, security and well-being. Most of what we read and hear is unsatisfying, because it examines the last four years in Iraq, and sees the country mainly through the lens of America’s presence and priorities. …
The last summer war between Israel and Hezbollah exposed the Jewish State’s capabilities to defend itself against short-range rockets. To deal with the emergent situation, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently approved the development of a new anti-missile system named ‘Iron-Dome.’ The system however is a technological response to a threat that is largely embedded …
Almost two weeks ago, the European Union declared that it had practically saved the planet. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso claimed that Europe would lead the way on climate change, and the EU promised to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 20 percent below 1990-levels by 2020. Of course, with the EU already having promised an …
From Libya to Egypt to fuel-strapped Jordan, Arab countries have signaled their desire to develop nuclear power, even amid a concerted attempt by the United States to tighten the noose around Iran lest it join the nuclear club. These new players are entering a nuclear race in an unstable zone, dominated by two regional powers, …
Palestinians have been hoping that Hamas and Fatah will live up to their announced agreement that the government of national unity formed last week would not concern itself with negotiations with Israel, which were supposed to remain the purview of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his capacity as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization …
Almost two weeks ago, the European Union declared that it had practically saved the planet. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso claimed that Europe would lead the way on climate change, and the EU promised to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 20 percent below 1990-levels by 2020. Of course, with the EU already having promised an …
From Libya to Egypt to fuel-strapped Jordan, Arab countries have signaled their desire to develop nuclear power, even amid a concerted attempt by the United States to tighten the noose around Iran lest it join the nuclear club. These new players are entering a nuclear race in an unstable zone, dominated by two regional powers, …
Palestinians have been hoping that Hamas and Fatah will live up to their announced agreement that the government of national unity formed last week would not concern itself with negotiations with Israel, which were supposed to remain the purview of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his capacity as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization …
An enduring image of Gen. John Abizaid is of him bounding from an armored Humvee in one of Baghdad’s toughest neighborhoods last summer and conversing with shopkeepers and imams who were dumbfounded to encounter a four-star general chatting with them in Arabic. Abizaid, who retires Friday as commander of US Central Command, brought something special …
Mark this third week of March 2007 as potentially a historic moment of clarity on one of the most important political questions in the contemporary Arab world: How will the troubled, turbulent Middle East make the transition from dictatorship and autocracy to more democratic, accountable systems of government, while Islamist movements are the most popular …
After an absence of more than three years from Damascus, the European Union High Representative Javier Solana met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this week. Curiously, he did so on March 14, two years after almost 1 million Lebanese assembled in Beirut to protest the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the …
