After my teeth were professionally scraped, polished and flossed, I told my dentist about my recent trip to Iran. In the midst of waxing on about chadors and secularism, gas lines and fabulous chicken kebabs, he asked, How are their teeth? I ve been to Iran four times already and no one s asked me …
There are numerous explanations, definitions and theories on war, whether historical, psychological, demographic, Marxist, economic or rationalist. But all agree that war is any large scale or violent act which leads to the destruction of territory, nation and lives. War has evolved throughout history, but nowadays it is conducted through military campaigns, armed conflict, intelligence, …
Russia s approach to a Syrian-Israeli peace process is very much a function of developments in Russo-Syrian relations. Since the beginning of this century, Russo-Syrian ties have been making good headway in quite a number of fields. Certainly, the traditional character of historical ties between Moscow and Damascus is playing a role. But one should …
On the eve of 2008 Egyptian private satellite channels like Dream and El Mehwer interviewed experts to forecast the future of Egyptian media. These channels were concerned about their accountability and their commitment to the truth, which, they believe, is the main asset to attract larger audiences. Being close to the ordinary person on the …
President Bush came, he saw, and he went. Barely had he gone when 25 Palestinians were killed and an intensive barrage of rockets were launched from Gaza. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gone from a violent, intractable, clear-cut duel to a violent, intractable, three-way chess match. Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas each fear that the …
Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and – some would say – encouragement of the international community. An international community that professes to uphold the inherent dignity of every human being must not allow this to happen. …
Hiroaki Kanazawa, Middle East Affairs correspondent for Nikkei – Japan’s second largest newspaper and East Asia’s foremost economics paper – asked me the other day: “Can the Arab world achieve democracy despite its adherence to Islam? The question implied that Islam contradicts democracy because it’s a repressive, domineering religion that doesn’t accommodate the concepts of …
The annual World Economic Forum is rightly perceived as a global “barometer. But the superb sunshine in Davos these days cannot avoid the shadows of the financial crisis that have enveloped the world, casting an atmosphere of gloom and doom on this year’s meeting. Today, more than ever, the Forum’s proud motto, “Committed to the …
Education in the Arab world is a mixture of good and bad news. On one hand, literacy continues to improve across the region, with some countries progressing more than others. On the other hand, the Arab world continues to lag behind most of the world and is producing citizens ill-equipped to participate in the rapidly …
When the Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness last week as a result of the Israeli fuel blockade, many people around the world were surprised. But the optimism produced by the Annapolis peace process, which included President George W. Bush’s promise of an agreement in 2008 to create a Palestinian state, was clearly unrealistic. Gaza …
It was not quite the outcome Judge Abdul Fattah Murad had in mind when, on February 28 of last year, he asked the Egyptian authorities to ban more than 50 websites, claiming that they threatened national security, insulted the president, and furthermore, defamed his own person. When the responsible government branches refused to abide by …
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those that go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art mirrors. -Oscar Wilde It is neither a secret nor a surprise that the first manifestation of religion …
Kenya is aflame after a presidential election on Dec. 27 widely believed to have been rigged to secure the re-election of Mwai Kibaki. Kibaki’s opponents took to the streets, the government issued shoot-to-kill orders, and hundreds have died at the hands of the police as well as from gang rampages and inter-ethnic violence. The United …
Perhaps the most gripping aspect of the recent dispute between Egypt and the European Union over a European Parliament resolution criticizing Egypt’s human rights situation, is how poorly the crisis was handled by both sides. The crux of the problem doesn’t, however, lie in the content of the EP report, but rather in the sharp …
I rubbed my eyes repeatedly at midnight on the eve of the 28th of Ramadan. I desperately wanted to keep my eyes open to watch the Laylat Al Qadr sermon (the night Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran were revealed to Prophet Mohamed). It’s known that Prophet Mohamed [PBUH] used to intensify his …
Good fences make good neighbors, the American poet Robert Frost once wrote, and he oughta know. The failed farmer-turned-schoolteacher was a professional Puritan who spent his lifetime not hugging people, though he is now described as one of America s most beloved poets . That is to say: what he wrote is beloved. Yitzhak Rabin …
Ever since French President Nicolas Sarkozy took himself off his country’s most-eligible-bachelor list by publicly acknowledging his affair with supermodel-turned-pop-musician Carla Bruni during a romantic trip to Euro Disney, he’s run into trouble. His ratings have dipped below 50 percent for the first time. Older French citizens don’t find the public spectacle of their leader …
Are there prospects for peace between Syria and Israel? We re at a nail biting stage where the US administration seems intent on continuing the siege on Syria, and the Syrian-Iranian alliance is growing stronger and stronger. As US threats grow bolder, Syrian alliances with a number of resistance movements are also consolidated. Meanwhile, the …
Perhaps the most gripping aspect of the recent dispute between Egypt and the European Union over a European Parliament resolution criticizing Egypt’s human rights situation, is how poorly the crisis was handled by both sides. The crux of the problem doesn’t, however, lie in the content of the EP report, but rather in the sharp …
For an entire century, Syria has had a love-hate relationship with Palestinians. The Palestinian cause has been at the core of Syria s ideological and political posture. The pan-Arab ideology always placed Palestine at the center of Greater Syria, and the ruling Syrian pan-Arab Baath Party followed the Palestinians in choosing a flag identical to …
As President Bush traveled through the Middle East, the prevailing assumption was that Arab states are primarily focused on the rising Iranian threat, and that their attendance at the Annapolis conference with Israel in November was motivated by this threat. This assumption, reflected in the president s speech in the United Arab Emirates, could be …
The prospect of a Syrian-Israeli peace settlement looms over the Arab-Israel and larger Middle Eastern arenas as a potentially significant but ever elusive issue. On the eve of the Annapolis conference, the dormant Israeli-Syrian track seemed infused with new life; a few weeks later it appears blocked yet again. Such fluctuations are not new to …
The 30-year anniversary of the January 18-19 1977 bread riots comes at a moment charged with speculations about the possibility of their recurrence. Will there be a similar widespread riot as a result of the growing social crisis and the massive strikes which reached record highs last year?Diverse groups are posing this question; some more …
The current situation in the Arab World begs the question: Were the “states that came into existence between the two world wars or after World War II states in the real sense of the word according to the definition of a “state by political historians and modern international law, or were they merely contrived phenomena, …
High officials in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice, and other US government departments and agencies love to talk about how good they are at “reaching out to American Muslim communities. They should be reaching out. It is just possible that folks in these communities might be valuable sources of intelligence, …
Russia is not alone in seeing oil as a means to transform its global standing. Nowadays, the mantra of President Umar Yar’Adua, who took power in June 2007, following controversial elections, is to transform the country into one of the world’s 20 largest economies by 2020. Yar’Adua and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are struggling …
As America’s primaries move beyond Iowa and New Hampshire, it is simply impossible to predict who will be the Democratic and Republican nominees, much less who will become the 44th president of the United States. But it is not too soon to address the question of what effect US foreign policy is having on the …
At the heart of all things is the germ of their overthrow, wrote Egyptian author Adhaf Soueif in her novel, The Map of Love. She was indulging in a very beautifully written digression about Arabic grammar, comparing words derived from the same root: in this case, qalb, heart ; and enqilab, overthrow . At this …
As the future of both Pakistan and its president, Pervez Musharraf, wallow in uncertainty in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, parallels are being drawn to the 1979 fall of the Shah and the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Once again, a “pro-American autocrat seems to be rapidly losing his grip on power, with his US …
The October 2002 terrorist bombings of a beachfront pub in south Bali pushed concerns about Indonesia’s Islamic schools to a new high as students from an Islamic boarding school in Lamongan, East Java were eventually convicted of the crime. For some Indonesian observers, facts like these confirm that at least some of Indonesia’s Islamic schools …
