“I never expected anything like it was the comment of one Pakistani Muslim attending the World Conference on Dialogue organized by the Muslim World League and hosted by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. He could have been speaking for most of the participants at what proved to be quite an extraordinary experience. …

The problem that authoritarian regimes have with democracy is not only that it may undermine the foundations of authoritarianism and tyranny and reveal the false legitimacy on which such regimes rely to survive, but also in the redistribution of roles and power on an equal basis where there is no place for security forces, corruption …

For two weeks, it looked like the regime in Iran had finally gotten the message that, if it continues to pursue its nuclear program, serious military confrontation is likely to result. Indeed, there were interesting – and previously unheard of – statements and signals from Teheran that suggested an increased willingness to start negotiating about …

The G-8 Summit in Japan earlier this month was a painful demonstration of the pitiful state of global cooperation. The world is in deepening crisis. Food prices are soaring. Oil prices are at historic highs. The leading economies are entering a recession. Climate change negotiations are going around in circles. Aid to the poorest countries …

Shebaa Farms is a sliver of land located in the border area between Israel, Lebanon and Syria. It can play an important role, much larger than its size. An agreement on that area – located some 16 square miles on the western slopes of the Hermon Mountain range – can help create a much-needed momentum …

Impenetrable barriers separate the richest Egyptians from the rest of society. They are real walls of cement and iron, not just symbolic walls describing class structures figuratively. The wealthiest class is increasingly becoming alienated from the rest of society. They have shut themselves in to enjoy the wealth of a country they know nothing about …

When it comes to global warming, extreme scare stories abound. Al Gore, for example, famously claimed that a whopping six meters of sea-level rise would flood major cities around the world. Gore’s scientific advisor, Jim Hansen from NASA, has even topped his protégé. Hansen suggests that there will eventually be sea-level rises of 24 meters …

China lobbied long and hard to host this summer’s Olympics, and thousands of Chinese literally danced in the streets when the decision was made to award Beijing the games. This was to be a chance for the Chinese to show the world just how far they and their country had come. I do not know …

Iran s insistence on enriching uranium in defiance of three UN Security Council resolutions, combined with a bevy of antagonistic threats aimed at Israel s existence has created an explosive recipe that may well precipitate a horrifying regional conflagration. For Iran s own best interests, its contentious leaders would be well advised to tone down …

Earlier this month, the Turkish police detained an additional round of suspects for their affiliation with Ergenekon, described as a mafia-like gang of largely ultra-nationalist Turks, many of whom are linked to various state institutions. It is rumored that they are plotting to bring down the government through a bevy of methods, ranging from creating …

There s an odd thing about Baghdad: Iran is the only regional power with an embassy, while US President George W. Bush s best Arab allies – Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia – refuse to let their diplomats live there. It is not for want of US effort. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has …

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. The proverbial opening words of L.P. Hartley’s “The Go-Between , though set in 1900s England, can’t be more suited to many aspects of life in Egypt today. I grew up on stories of how an innocent catcall or whistle by a rowdy youth had …

More than anything else, the recent decision by the International Criminal Court to place Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir under arrest, revealed beyond the shadow of a doubt, that crimes against humanity neither take place in Palestine nor Iraq, but in Sudan. For a long time, we, like many others around the world, had imagined that …

Dear Editor, I am writing in response to the Daily News Egypt article by Reem Abu Zahra titled “MP Chides Tourism Ministry Over Sexual Harassment (July 14, 2008). The article quotes MP Mohsen Radi as stating that in order to prevent sexual harassment, “Women should dress modestly because there is a big sector of youth …

There are radical changes in the relationship between the state and society in Egypt. These changes occurred in the historic equation that has governed the relationship between citizens and the government for long centuries based on the intimate relationship between the “sponsoring state and its “content citizens. There is an attempt now to forcibly wean …

Iran s parliament convened last month for the first time since the April 2008 elections. The results of the parliamentary elections are in and all the votes have been counted. Surprisingly, or perhaps alarmingly, women now account for a mere 2.8 percent of this new conservative-dominated parliament. This is a decline from the already low …

The recent compromise on power sharing in Lebanon spares the country further bloodshed, and allows its people to return to a modicum of normalcy. However, the underlying causes of the conflict remain, and Lebanon continues to be an arena where external powers play out their rivalries. Unless and until Syria and the United States reach …

It is only a little more than 15 years ago that the first of the contemporary international courts was created to prosecute those who commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Yet there is already a persistent theme in criticism of such tribunals: in their effort to do justice, they are obstructing achievement of …

Realist scholars of international relations argue that “anarchy is the defining characteristic of the international system in which states interact. According to these scholars, anarchy simply means the absence of any overriding authority above states. That is the case because states are sovereign and the system lacks any “hierarchy of authority. Unlike domestic societies, there …

Nowadays, in country after country, policymakers have become obsessed with the need to strengthen science education. But what about the humanities – all those disciplines (literature, history, languages, and so forth) whose relevance to economic competitiveness is not so obvious? We need the humanities only if we are committed to the idea of humanity. If …

When the French occupied Syria in 1920, they famously dissected the country, giving four major parts to the newly created state of Lebanon. The French left Syria 26 years later, and Syrian lawmakers claimed that the division was null and void, asking President Shukri Al-Quwatli to officially request the area be restored to Syria. Quwatli …

Those who follow events in Darfur closely know very well that Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir leads a group of political and military leaders responsible for the serious and large-scale crimes against Sudanese citizens that the country’s military forces, with the assistance of paramilitary groups and militias, commit every day in the region. These citizens …

After turning to China, India, Eastern Europe and ultra-Orthodox Israeli women as low-cost sources of software programmers, some local tech companies have begun outsourcing their coding needs to West Bank Palestinians. John Bryce Training, the training and deployment division of Matrix, is currently negotiating with the managing director of ASAL Technologies, Murad Tahboub. The company …

The EU has no coherent strategy on many issues. It has only sketchy economic policies toward Russia; ambitions, but no game plan, to become a player in the Middle East; and, despite its original leadership on the Kyoto Protocol, no successor program on climate change. And the biggest question of all – how to engage …

When Nicolas Sarkozy cruised to power on May 7, 2007, his foreign policy plans were sweeping. The triumphant president envisioned a grand scheme for the Middle East and North Africa. Under his guidance, France s supposed Arab policy was to be rectified with a more balanced policy. Sarkozy believed that his break with his predecessor …

My Sudanese father, now in his mid-80s, grew up without access to public education. The ruling British authority hadn t yet built a public school near Argo, his hometown on the Nile River in Northern Sudan, south of the border with Egypt. They did build one there later, however, and I became the first in …

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France just hosted a summit of European and Mediterranean countries interested in his personal project of Union pour la Mediterranee in Paris. Among the foreign statesmen invited for this inauguration are President Bashar Assad of Syria and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel. It is well-known that this curious project emerged …

Turkey s problem with the idea of a Mediterranean union is that it was presented by Nicholas Sarkozy during his election campaign and immediately thereafter as an alternative to Turkey s membership in the European Union. It thereby reflected the new French president s clear and open opposition to Turkey joining the EU. Turkey s …

Recollections of the past are indeed subjective and history can often sharply illuminate the conditions of the present as well as the particularities of the past. Today, the recurring patterns of historical precedent are echoing down the timeline of the past, as once more Iran is under possible threat of invasion. In the early days …

History is often written in terms of military heroes, but the enormous potential of human leadership ranges from Attila the Hun to Mother Teresa. Most everyday leaders remain unheralded. The role of heroic leadership in war leads to overemphasis of command and control and hard military power. In America today, the presidential debate is between …