In The News

Legitimacy Contested

Dina Ezzat June 27, 2007
Governments throughout the Middle East are torn apart by factions, categorized as “moderate” or “extremist,” notably in Palestine and Lebanon. Popular public opinion, weary of corruption, poverty and external influences, tends to support parties described as “extremist,” while governments – including the US, Egypt, Jordan and Israel – tend to support traditional parties labeled as “moderate.”...

Jumping on the US Bandwagon for a “War on Terror”

Susan Moeller June 21, 2007
Since the 9/11 attacks, a US priority has been to eliminate global terror. The US has spent and accrued billions in debt, invading Afghanistan and Iraq and enhancing security procedures in travel and everyday routine. A study of newspaper coverage of Pakistan, following the 9/11 attacks, suggests that journalists, either willingly or unwittingly, contributed to overall public confusion regarding...

A Triumph for Hamas... But a Tragedy for the Palestinians?

Donald Macintyre June 15, 2007
Muslims and non-Muslims alike around the world have long hoped for political and economic stability in the Palestinian territories. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has dissolved what was once called a “national unity government,” formed after the Hamas party defeated Fatah in 2006 parliamentary elections. After a week of chaos, Hamas fighters, donned in hoods, control Gaza Strip and...

Indo-Iranian Ties: Thicker Than Oil

C. Christine Fair June 14, 2007
Both India and Iran have ambitions to be major powers in Asia. With Iran and the US at odds over Iranian nuclear development and conflict in Iraq, India must balance its ties with both. Even though both Iran and India express concern about unipolarity and US attempts to display power throughout Asia, the Bush administration in the US has not regarded the India-Iran alliance as a matter of great...

Seething Anger in a Broken Middle East

Fawaz A. Gerges June 12, 2007
Early in 2003, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman applied a rule common in retail pottery stores, “You break it, you own it,” to the then-impending invasion in Iraq. The succinct analogy warned that the US and other invading nations would bear responsibility for rebuilding Iraq. More than four years later, political and social institutions throughout the Middle East are in ruins, with...

A New War in Iraq?

Andrew Lee Butters June 8, 2007
Turkey is massing troops along its border with Iraq to confront the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, militants who have long waged a separatist insurgency within Turkish borders. The strategy and timing is questionable: An army relying on conventional tactics will struggle to control the PKK’s skilled mountain fighters. Furthermore, Turkish intervention in Iraq could invite military action from...

Today’s Iraqi Refugees Key to Tomorrow’s Stability

Humphrey Hawksley June 7, 2007
On the surface, China’s gradual transition from Tiananmen-era suppression of dissent to controlled-yet-liberating market economics would seem to hold few lessons for turbulent Iraq. After all, Iraq needs many more resources, including an end to sectarian violence, before even attempting to emulate China’s evolution toward a competitive and developed economy, one achieved through careful...