Interested in knowing why Lebanon frequently has the difficulties it does? Pay attention to the last sentence excerpted here. From The Daily Star Iranian official to meet Assad to discuss Lebanon Saturday, January 05, 2008 ROME: Ali Larijani, member of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will visit Damascus […]
Clearly, not everything in the Middle East centers around terrorism, despite the impression one might get from the news or even at times this blog. However, it obviously is a very real phenomenon, and understanding it is key. In light of that, I’m linking today to a fairly new publication called Perspectives on Terrorism, the […]
Marc Lynch has an article in the Christian Science Monitor on US policy toward Iran vis a vis the Gulf States. The thesis is essentially that the Gulf States have shifted their policy toward Iran to one of pragmatic accomadation (though not friendship). Lynch writes: The states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are accommodating […]
The Yemen Times has a recent profile on Sheik al-Ahmar's son, a very relevant man following the recent death of his father, the second-most powerful person in Yemen. The author, Abdullah al-Faqeh, is a professor of politics at Sana’a University and very clearly a fan of young Hamid. In the last post on the al-Ahmar […]
The Gulf Research Center has published a series of articles Nuclearization of the Gulf, which can be downloaded for free as a .pdf file from their main page, or you can order a hard copy if you want something impressive on your bookshelf. Interesting and comprehensive site in and of itself, and the paper looks very […]
Officials in the state of Chihuahua recently announced their plans to exhume the remains of more than 4,000 unidentified bodies buried in common graves in Ciudad Juarez, after beginning a similar process in Chihuahua City. Although local authorities deny a direct link to the murders and disappearances of several hundred local women in the past 14 […]
(Apologies for the delay in posting- have been out of town) A leader dies in a Muslim country, one in which chaos always seems a possible destiny, in a time of frail uncertainty, leaving the country in a new and vertiginous and dangerous world. This is case in Pakistan, with the unsolved murder of Benazir […]
At The Mail & Guardian Jean-Jacques Cornish has a feature in which he provides an overview of Africa's 2007. I may as well also remind you of my own South Africa: Year in Review feature for the Foreign Policy Association and this blog.
What does the ANC have in store for it in 2008? The party will have the chance to paint its picture in its traditional “January 8” statement at a gathering in Pretoria to honor the ANC's 96th birthday next week. A day before the newly constituted National Executive Committee will meet. Two key issues will be Thabo Mbeki's lame-duck […]
As Kenya entered the New Year much of the country was on the brink of the very chaos so many hoped that it would avoid as the country continues its tentative but measurable transition to liberal democracy. Even as President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner over challenger Raila Odinga, despite the incumbent having been […]
SUMMARY: The old Chinese curse declaims “May you live in interesting times.” Times are always interesting in South Africa, and 2007 proved to be one of the most interesting years of all. In South Africa everything is political and politics seems to be everything. In 1999 Nelson Mandela yielded control of the ANC and thus […]
Many people have already written some great comments on former President Bhutto's assassination. Here are the links to what I think are the quality discussions: The New York Times has a feature story, plus Biographical Timeline on Ms. Bhutto, some of her own writing, and other details accessible on the linked page. Peter Marton at […]
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