Middle East & North Africa

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Watchword of the Arabic press on Obama seems to be 'cynicism'
January 24, 2009 1 min. read

A cursory glance at the National's Arabic News Digest for today sends that message, at least.

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Speaking of change and hope
January 24, 2009 1 min. read

Obama appoints George Mitchell to be the United States’ envoy to Israel and Palestine. Time magazine has a wonderful profile of him, including quotes; this one is especially good: “Please remember that it is possible for an American to disagree with you on aid to the Contras and still love God, and still love this […]

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PA employs 41% of Gazan workers under 30
January 21, 2009 1 min. read

… according to a recent interview with economist Edward Sayre by Brookings scholar Navtej Dhillon. His overview of the Palestinian economy, with a focus on Gaza and its future, sheds some light on just how intractable a problem the “peace process” has become. Really fascinating reading.

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Smart, hard, and soft power
January 21, 2009 1 min. read

The original promoter of soft power, Joseph Nye, comments on the term “smart power” in the Los Angeles Times today. Foreign Affairs hosted two important “soft power” and “smart power” articles; the first,”What New World Order”, was written by Nye in 1992 and the second, “Smart Power“, was written by Suzanne Nossel in 2004. The […]

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Gaza insulated from Obamamania
January 21, 2009 1 min. read

Evidently change and hope don't have quite the same resonance in a war zone. Arab Americans and Mona Eltahawy demonstrate a bit more optimism. Amir Taheri advocates taking a strong – but diplomatic – line immediately, as apparently showing weakness will mean squandering the brief window the now-President has to implement his agenda. Presumably, since […]

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UAE signs nuclear deal with US
January 21, 2009 1 min. read

The United States and the UAE now have an agreement wherein the UAE can utilize nuclear power reactors as a civilian energy source, but will import and export nuclear material and waste. Hmm. This means that the UAE is the first Arab state to develop nuclear capabilities. The NY editorial board points out the obvious: […]

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Azar Nafisi muses on reading
January 21, 2009 1 min. read

… and its potential to change the world at Goodreads.com (if you join, then we can be friends and you can see all the books I am reading). Dr.Nafisi is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran and now her memoir, Things I’ve Been Silent About.  

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Omar Suleiman
January 20, 2009 2 min. read

We usually don't link to articles easily found on the web (unless written by FPA contributor Nate Field) but this Haaretz piece about Egyptian Intel Chief Omar Suleiman is tooooo much. Here's my favorite line:  “We met some years ago with CIA representatives in the lobby of a hotel,” recalled an Israeli intelligence man, “and […]

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Gaza Tunnels
January 17, 2009 4 min. read

With all this attention being paid to Gaza Tunnels recently I’m printing here a June 2008 posting I wrote for a personal blog. It details how Washington approached the Gaza Tunnel issue in the past few years.  It is my personal belief that Gaza Tunnels are a red herring, and that neither Israel, the US, […]

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a future Palestinian state: Abu Mazen's future
January 16, 2009 1 min. read

Dion Nissenbaum, Jerusalem bureau chief for McClatchy, reviews potential scenarios for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the short-term future. Basically, argues Nissenbaum, he can't win, but the international community hasn't got a better alternative, so we can't let him lose, either. His analysis focuses on the international community – e.g. the United States and Israel […]

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battle of the sexes? how about … peace process?
January 15, 2009 1 min. read

Tala al Ramahi offers an optimistic perspective on women's advancement and men's role to play therein in the Emirates.

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