In The News

The Islamist Mouseketeers: Hamas Mickey Mouse Teaches Jihad

May 10, 2007
Clips from the Palestinian show “Tomorrow’s Pioneers,” feature a bright-colored set and a human-sized mouse with big black ears. But resemblance to the cartoon character of Mickey Mouse stops there. The voice of this Disney look-alike, Farfur, is shrill – more urgent than happy – as he rattles off vocabulary that goes beyond the understanding of most young children: world leadership, liberation,...

Army Squeezes Soldier Blogs, Maybe to Death

Noah Shachtman May 9, 2007
Since the invasion of Iraq, the US is managing the first war in which cell phones, laptops, e-mail connections and digital cameras are plentiful, allowing troops to send instant messages and images. With the war in its fifth year, the US Army has ordered troops to clear all blog and e-mail content with supervisors before sending. Failure to obtain supervision can result in court marital or...

Iraq’s Refugee Crisis

Anna Husarska May 7, 2007
The US and its coalition partners invaded Iraq, but have failed to provide for the 2 million Iraqis displaced since the start of the war. Nearly 15 percent of Iraq’s 26.8 million people have been displaced, with most moving to other parts of their war-torn nation or neighboring Jordan and Syria, and smaller numbers headed to Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt. Poor nations throughout the Middle East...

Against the Wall: The US Faces a United Iraq

Humphrey Hawksley May 1, 2007
The US still has a chance to deliver stability in Iraq, as hinted by widespread Iraqi rejection of a wall dividing Sunni and Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad, argues BBC correspondent Humphrey Hawksley. First and foremost, the US must focus on its fight with Al Qaeda. Also, the US must overcome any distaste for Islamist rule and embrace the Shias as the only viable, cohesive body with state-like...

Regime Change in the Arab World

Shlomo Ben-Ami April 30, 2007
The American-led invasion of Iraq was motivated, at least in part, by the desire to create a model state that would influence its Middle Eastern neighbors towards democracy. This did not happen, largely because the US policy of favoring pro-Western dictatorial regimes over hostile democracies did not end with the Cold War; therefore, the US has resisted the election of popular, yet threatening...

Is France Cooling Toward Its Arab Friends?

Pascal Boniface April 18, 2007
During the Cold War, France emerged as a Western advocate for the interests of the Arab world. Although conventional wisdom ascribes this special relationship to economic and political calculations, foreign affairs specialist Pascal Boniface argues that France’s motivations are more complex. A number of strategic concerns have been at the root of the French-Arab alliance since 1967. Good...

Lies, Grief and a Ticket Home for Illegal Indian Migrants

Caroline Brothers April 12, 2007
Enduring hardship and abuse, the poor journey toward high paying jobs of Europe. A new route for Asians is through the Middle East to North Africa, then Spain. But the very length of the journey poses great risk: Migrants – many illiterate – risk life savings and remain vulnerable to trickery or attack at any point along the way. Once on their way, the migrants have no choice but to pack onboard...