在2003年入侵伊拉克之后，美国的伊拉克政策聚焦于强行推动民主。中东问题专家法瓦兹•A•盖尔盖斯（Fawaz A. Gerges）认为，当地各派本来大体上就以宗教或种族为边界各自为营，而这一政策只是强化了各自成员的忠诚。它的影响持续至今：最近的伊拉克国会选举表明，伊拉克政治体制仍处于分裂之中，难以通过联盟的方式在国会中形成符合宪法规定的多数派，并且引起人们对更多暴力纷争的担忧。特别需要指出的是，什叶和逊尼两派间的分歧充斥伊拉克政治，反映着伊朗和沙特阿拉伯对它的影响。美国会平衡这些外部势力，确保没有一家能占上风。要想组成一个可以顶住地区性宗派主义压力的有凝聚力的国会，任何联盟都必须排除各种分歧...
伦敦：伊拉克第二次国会选举最终未能取得成功。在一个阿拉伯国家举行第二次国会选 举，这实属罕见。人们曾经期望一次成功的选举活动会在中东地区引发民主热（democracy fever）。事与愿违的是，此次巴格达选举却令人厌倦。此次选举活动不仅表明不民主的宗派政治依旧猖獗，它还进一步加剧了受到伊朗和沙特阿拉伯这类外国 势力支持的什叶和逊尼两派间的分歧。
尽管由伊拉克前总理伊雅德•阿拉维领导的、有名无实的世俗政党联盟在伊拉克三月份的国 会选举中领先，然而选举的结果却让我们看到了这个国家因种族、...
The essence of good surveillance requires those under observation not realizing an operation is underway. US President Donald Trump released social-media messages maintaining, without offering evidence, that he had just learned former President Barack Obama had ordered surveillance of Trump Tower...
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The artificial intelligence, or AI, field has experienced great advances, with recent innovations enabling robots to become increasingly autonomous. Many AI inventions, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, are benefiting society and quickly become routine for users. On the opposite end of the...
Michael Wolff insists he had no agenda in writing Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. In television interviews, Wolff claims that he wishes he could have written that “this unexpected president is actually going to succeed,” before adding “This is worse than everybody thought.” Susan...
Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House confirms the worst characterizations of the US president and reports of chaos, with gory details supporting one senator’s observation that the White House had transformed into an adult day care center....
Rising temperatures and melting polar ice influence the system of ocean currents that shift cold water from Greenland. “Since the 1950s, geologists and oceanographers have been gathering convincing evidence that alterations in ocean circulation are a key determinant of climate change,” notes an...
The death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul puts a spotlight on Saudi-US relations and investigations that seem more about spinning stories to ease public concerns than getting at the truth. “The Khashoggi mystery is proving hard to solve not because it is such a...
Read the column about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and implications for the Saudi-US relationship.
Nayan Chanda is a US-based journalist who writes columns for TOI. He is also the founding editor of YaleGlobal Online.
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