Mattkiops. Qatar's forum for free speech in the Arab world. Bidoun - Art & Culture from the Middle East.
Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion. MERIP Home. Arms Supplies and Military Spending in the Gulf. While not as great as it had been in the recent past, the role of arms and military spending in the societies and economies of the Gulf states is still much larger than in any other area of the world.
It was not until after the Iran-Iraq War and the 1991 Gulf war that these states felt that they could make reductions, necessitated by the 1980s fall in world oil prices, in their very large levels of military spending. Demilitarizing Muslim Politics - Shahid Javed Burki. Exit from comment view mode.
Click to hide this space ISLAMABAD – Can Muslim governments free themselves from their countries’ powerful militaries and establish civilian control comparable to that found in liberal democracies? This question is now paramount in countries as disparate as Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey. To predict how this struggle will play out, it helps to understand the region’s past. Since Islam’s founding in the seventh century, it has maintained a tradition of deep military engagement in politics and governance.
The military was responsible for Islam’s implantation throughout the Middle East, as well as in Persia, Southern Europe, and the Indian sub-continent. The military’s incorporation into the state was most prominent in the Ottoman Empire, whose rulers created a new type of military force that drew its manpower mostly from Islamic-ruled parts of Europe. Why Netanyahu Made the Prisoner Swap Deal with Hamas. No one in Israel is calling the agreement signed for Gilad Shalit’s freedom a good deal.
On many levels it is terrible. Israel is releasing more than 1000 prisoners, several hundred of them hardened terrorists, for one soldier. For the first time, the Jewish state essentially acquiesced as a terrorist organization dictated the list of prisoners to be released, including several responsible for mass deaths of Israeli citizens, a notion that would once have been unthinkable. Israel may well have given its enemies incentive to kidnap more soldiers. And the terrorists now being released are likely to attack and kill Israelis in the future. Despite these facts, the deal for Shalit passed a cabinet vote by an overwhelming margin (26 in favor and only three opposed), and the vast majority of Israeli citizens support it. Notes from Behind the Blockade. The Majalla the leading political affairs magazine in the Arab world. QuiltingPoint. Middle East and North Africa. Middle East Resources - MSU Libraries: Guides.
The Middle East 1916-2001 : A Documentary Recor. Basra and Southern Iraq Analysis. Insurgent Iraq: Links to full-text online resources about the Iraqi insurgency. Middle East Policy Council. المحتوى باللغة العربية. The Particular Believer. A conversation with Nawal El Saadawi, activist, feminist, writer, doctor.
She is the author of forty-seven books, including Women and Sex, Memoirs From the Women’s Prison, and God Dies by the Nile. Seventy-nine years old, she is one of the most outspoken agitators for women’s rights in Egypt. Nawal El Saadawi I am very angry today. Look at this silly magazine: they have misquoted me. It reads, “I am bigger than the president.” Bidoun The doorman asked me about you when i came up. What did he want to know? He wanted to know why i was going up to see you. They like to say Nawal El Saadawi loves absolute freedom. Why are they so sensitive to you, do you think? I think Suzanne Mubarak in particular tried to bury my name in history. You know, there is no difference between Sadat, Mubarak, Bin Laden, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Has anything substantive changed after January 25? The revolution came and we were very happy, but I believe nothing has changed. I am going mad. Many things. A Non-Arab Arab / عربي غير عربي. Flashpoint Intelligence. ArmsControlWonk.
Middle East Program. CAMERA: Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in Ameri. Middle East Forum. The Mess in Afghanistan « BernardFinel.com. I think it is now pretty clear that the 2009 decision to dramatically escalate the war in Afghanistan was a tragic mistake.
A few recent stories highlight this: Glenn Greenwald comments on a new Sunday Times report about drone strikes targeting rescuers: As I indicated, there have been scattered, mostly buried indications in the American media that drones have been targeting and killing rescuers. As the Bureau put it: “Between May 2009 and June 2011, at least fifteen attacks on rescuers were reported by credible news media, including the New York Times, CNN,Associated Press, ABC News and Al Jazeera.”
So, this is a war crime, just to be clear. Then we have this NYT story about a new article in Armed Forces Journal: “How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding? Look, I don’t actually know how to measure success in Afghanistan. Indeed, it looks like we are going to accelerate our “transition from a combat role” to 2013.
Anyway, a few thoughts on this: Afghanistan Conflict Monitor - Human Security Report Project.