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SYRIA'S CIVIL WAR
Moscow seeks full-spectrum US engagement
An element of the tectonic shift in Syria sees Free Syrian Army "moderates" engage Damascus in jaw, not war, as President Bashar al-Assad emerges as the only figure capable of rolling back the al-Qaeda. The growing strength of groups linked to al-Qaeda puts the US and Russia (and also Iran) on the same page, and presents an opportunity for the Kremlin to build on "common achievements" and focus White House eyes on fronts beyond Syria's civil war. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Oct 4, '13)
After Syria, what's next for Obama?
US President Barack Obama - the stealth militarist who was about to wage war in Syria - must now fall from his high horse and become a man of peace. If his "hands off Syria" position slides into a morally vacuous position that more resembles "let them kill each other", it may become the purest expression of Islamophobia yet.- John Feffer
(Oct 4, '13)
Pragmatic Rouhani senses limited options
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's measured interaction with the West, his respectable performance at the United Nations and his tweeted well-wishes to the Iranian Jewish minority have sustained expectations for change in his country, even as his actual scope to make changes is limited. Being more a pragmatist than a reformist, he is well aware of that, and of the need to keep the Supreme Leader on his side. - Shahram Akbarzadeh
(Oct 3, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Lost Cruise fears save Obama on Syria
US President Barack Obama's unexpected reversal on bombing Syria may have followed a Pentagon appraisal that the regime had obtained - through Russian sources - enough satellite jamming devices to divert "smart" missiles. This would have quickly turned a US strike into a humiliating display of weakness, leaving Obama with no option but to send precious fighter-bombers into Damascus's well-equipped air defense system. - Gregory Sinaisky
(Oct 3, '13)
Iraq denies crackdown after jailbreak
Prisoners claim torture and murder are commonplace in two Iraqi jails following mass breakouts in July and allege that authorities are punishing prisoners "as if they were part of the conspiracy". While a crackdown could reflect government anger at how the escapes gave the opposition political mileage, officials deny meting out reprisals and say claims of inhuman treatment are exaggerated. - Rawa Haidar
(Oct 3, '13)
Netanyahu pours scorn on Rouhani
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took his turn at the UN General Assembly to dampen euphoria surrounding hopes for detente following Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's reception at the same podium last week. Netanyahu described Rouhani as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and urged the US to keep up the sanctions pressure to "knock out Iran's nuclear weapons program". - Jim Lobe
(Oct 2, '13)
COMMENT
Sisi can't break Egypt-Gaza bonds
The new Egyptian ruler's orders to destroy tunnels to Gaza and close the Rafah border are particularly painful for Palestinians who have long seen Egypt as the "mother" of Arab nations. Despite what modern regimes in Cairo such as General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi's do to please Washington and Tel Aviv, Palestinians and Egyptians share a historic bond that politics can't break. - Ramzy Baroud
(Oct 2, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Breaking American exceptionalism
What if the US government actually shut down to mourn the passing of Breaking Bad, arguably the most astonishing show in the history of television? It would be nothing short of poetic justice - as Breaking Bad is infinitely more pertinent for the American psyche than predictable cheap shots at Capitol Hill. - Pepe Escobar
(Oct 1, '13)
Interrogating an Assad militiaman
Pro-government militamen or shabiha captured by rebel forces in Syria often admit to multiple killings and rapes, while claiming that poverty and violence coercion forced them to join the Assad regime's forces. Though shabiha are eager to make such confessions, telling all is unlikely to help them escape the rebels' brutal and rudimentary justice system. - Shelly Kittleson
(Oct 1, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
A tectonic shift in the Middle East
As Israel and Gulf countries mull the implications a US nuclear deal with Iran, Tehran's allies are considering significance of the bonhomie for Iran's "axis of resistance". While it was domestic factors that eventually brought President Hassan Rouhani and President Barack Obama together, it is in the international arena that the dramatic shift will have its biggest impact. - Pervez Bilgrami
(Oct 1, '13)
Obama moves on Iran, Putin keeps Syria
Russian triumphalism over the UN resolution on Syria's chemical weapons contrasts with US President Barack Obama's inaudible sigh of relief at the weekend that he can avoid military action - for the present at least - and focus on the feelgood Iran file. Yet amid celebrations that Washington and Moscow actually agree on something, a dark foreboding is simmering away. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 30, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
How the US is enabling Syriastan
The big news from Syria is how demented jihadis of Jabhat al-Nusra and other nasties have ditched US-supported "moderates" to pledge allegiance to a Syria with Sharia law. Follow the money, not Washington's fairytale belief in its ability to control disparate hardcore jihadi gangs, to shatter the myth that a "democratic" Syria is still in the making. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 27, '13)
COMMENT
The US-Iran wrestling match
Current negotiations between Iran and the United States may be best described from Tehran's perspective as a wrestling match. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is willing to show "flexibility" in order to win the overall competition, but has also laid out clear red lines for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to show no weakness or humility to the United States. - Alireza Nader
(Sep 27, '13)
Iran's liberalism shifts with oil price
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's decision to allow moderates in Iran to participate and ultimately win an election reflects a sober realization of the economic situation on the ground, but also mirrors past liberal stints in Iran when diminished oil revenues provoked a jolt towards democracy. Disheartening for diplomacy, removing sanctions could simply reawaken cocksure, oppressive governance. - Amin Shahriar
(Sep 26, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Rouhani surfs the new WAVE
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani came to the United Nations, listened "carefully" to US President Barack Obama officially recognize the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's fatwa against nuclear weapons - and then called for a global coalition for peace to replace coalitions for war - in effect a call for a World Against Violence and Extremism. Now for the heavy lifting ... - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 25, '13)
US, Iran trade cautious overtures at UN
US President Barack Obama and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani both put diplomatic cards on the table at the United Nations. The real action begins on Thursday in the nuclear arena, when US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meet for the highest-level formal encounter of the two countries since 1979. - Kitty Stapp
(Sep 25, '13)
Why Obama needs a pen pal in Tehran
US media say Iranian President Hassan Rouhani offers a chance to break a cycle of successive US administrations trying their best to pull obstinate Iranian leaders towards democracy. The reality is that past approaches from Tehran were blocked because the Middle East balance of power was skewed in Washington's favor. Deft Russian diplomatic maneuvers have brought an end to that. - Ramzy Baroud
(Sep 25, '13)
Optimists to fore before Iran-US encounter
Behind the historical brush between two presidents being lined up as an "accidental" encounter at the UN are deliberate signs of detente between the United States and Iran. Against a background of grumblings of appeasement, old hands are remarkably optimistic that some breakthrough in relations is possible after 34 years of hostility. - Jim Lobe
(Sep 24, '13)
INTERVIEW
Zarif turbocharges Iran's diplomacy
New Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has a diplomatic marathon to run in New York this week, where the eyes of the world are on his country at the UN General Assembly. Zarif brings turbocharged energy to a portfolio that includes nuclear negotiations and the belief that it is time to tell the US that "the free lunch is over" on sanctions. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Sep 23, '13)
World reacts to Rouhani's no nuclear pledge
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's comments that his government would never develop nuclear weapons were welcomed by US Secretary of State John Kerry with the caveat that "everything needs to be put to the test", and lauded by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. To Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the pledge was an attempt to deceive the world.
(Sep 20, '13)
Syria diplomacy helps shuffle global order
The United States has lost the respect and the belief of the international community as power gradually diffuses on a global scale. That is one lesson to be learned from US President Barack Obama's failure to gain followers to attack Syria. Another is the striking influence of grassroots opinion on international policy, not seen since the Vietnam War. - George Gao
(Sep 20, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Obama-Rouhani: lights, camera, action
Though a meeting with Barack Obama at the UN next Tuesday is by no means certain, it's well-established that the stage is set for President Hassan Rouhani's administration to talk directly to Washington about Tehran's nuclear program. The question is whether Obama will have the "heroic flexibility" to face 34 years of history and stare down the spoilers. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 19, '13)
Israel, eying Iran, comes off Syria fence
A statement by Israel's ambassador to the US, Michael Oran, makes clear Tel Aviv's preference for the "bad guys" fighting Bashar al-Assad (rather than the "bad guys" who now run Syria). The timing of the pronouncement of support for US-backed forces signals further twists in the Syrian civil war, and focuses minds on the possibility of a grand bargain between Washington and Tehran. - Victor Kotsev
(Sep 18, '13)
Arab society fails to grasp its destiny
Oil wealth has blinded Arab populations to how Western nations have manipulated them into decades of subservience to authoritarian rule. As obsolete rulers are overthrown by their own people, the dismantling of social, economic and institutional infrastructure will open the path to a complete take-over by foreign masters. - Mahboob A Khawaja
(Sep 18, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Collaborators open door to the devil
The willingness of lackeys to pander to the West has undermined the global South from colonial until present times, with ministers from Iraq to Libya turning to "the winning side" only to usher in chaos and oppression. Syria is the latest stage for collaborationists who have such contempt for their own people that they cannot imagine local solutions to local problems. - Hafsa Kara-Mustapha
(Sep 18, '13)
UN confirms Syria gas attack, not culpability
UN arms inspectors have reached a predictable conclusion about the military attack on civilians in Syria last month: the deadly strike had all the trappings of the widespread use of chemical weapons. While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups point the finger at each other and the West and Russia squabble, the UN remit was not to apportion blame. - Thalif Deen
(Sep 17, '13)
The Middle East and its elemental descent
While America's military complex dreams of ethnic bio-weapons, a larger evil looming for the Middle East is the shepherding and tactical withholding of water as a weapon of mass destruction. As game-changing, elemental realities take over, the rationals of statehood, religion and politics will quickly succumb to more natural inclinations. - Norman Ball
(Sep 17, '13)
Putin does Americans a Middle East favor
Many Americans were enraged when Vladimir Putin blamed US exceptionalism and interventionism for the US's long-term decline. Yet by helping to avert another costly strike in the Middle East that would only ensure Israel's military and political supremacy, the Russian president has likely done the American people a huge favor. - Ramzy Baroud
(Sep 17, '13)
SYRIA IN CRISIS
Obama invites Rouhani to join great game
Direct US-Iranian talks are on after a three-decade freeze, with US President Barack Obama's disclosure of personal contact with Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, to bring Tehran into the matrix on Syria. Obama sees a major role for Iran in peace talks, while pushing Russia to the periphery on all but the destruction of its Damascus ally's chemical weapons cache. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 16, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Politics worsen Turkey's faultlines
Instead of responding with compromise to the national divisions made clear by a summer of anti-government protests, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party continues to excuse all by pointing to its strong electoral mandate. Such a strategy will likely alienate all but pro-government supporters, yet the opposition can seemingly reply only with belligerent rhetoric. - Ozan Serdaroglu
(Sep 16, '13)
Syria's looming economic disaster
Syria's civil war has devastated the country's economy, wrecked its infrastructure and sent the local currency into freefall. No matter the war's outcome, absent funds, professionals and political will to do what is necessary for recovery, the outlook is bleak. - Artem Perminov
(Sep 16, '13)
Bitter memories stir Tehran
Iran's bitter experience with chemical weapons in the 1980s highlights a common concern with Western powers over their alleged deployment by the Assad regime. Tehran likely views the Assad government - its closest ally in the regional "resistance front" against Israel - as a liability. Ultimately, neither it nor Washington want to see Sunni extremists grasp power. - Alireza Nader
(Sep 16, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
China stitches
up (SCO) Silk Rd
Oh, to eavesrop at the weekend meeting of presidents Xi, Putin, and Rouhani as they craft a new multipolar international order. Before the private meeting at Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, China's Xi Jinping's lyrical praise has highlighted the strategic importance to the new order of Central Asian silk roads. Beneath the shine, Beijing is busy building a multifaceted network that is the stuff of threadbare American dreams. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 13, '13)
Paving the way for the Road to Damascus
What Syria is really about involves water rights, pipelines, nation-state reconfigurations, militarized economies ... and on, and on. Somewhere well down the list are chemical weapons (perhaps), but these suit war-waging, propaganda-propounding elites. In the face of their criminal and deadly simplifications, it's high time we restored fear-mongering in America to its rightful place as a privilege that must be earned. - Norman Ball
(Sep 13, '13)
Putin eyes Obama's Iran file
As even Fox News says Vladimir Putin deserves a Nobel prize for the "deft diplomatic maneuvers" that handed his struggling American counterpart a Kremlin-embossed way out of the Syrian crisis, the Russian president has set his sights on a move that would up the ante for a gong: taking another dog-eared file out of Barack Obama's hands and turning it into a Moscow-backed peace plan for Iran. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 13, '13)
BOOK REVIEW
How oil poisoned Gulf governance
Collaborative Colonialism: The Political Economy of Oil in the Persian Gulf by Hossein Askari
Given the "collaborative colonialism" relationship between Western powers and Arab countries, with callous, often corrupt, regimes backed militarily in return for secure oil supplies, Askari sees little motivation for Gulf countries to improve governance despite increasingly restive populations. His suggestion of intergenerational oil funds as an alternative reflects a compassion for the region that runs throughout the book - Robert E Looney
(Sep 13, '13)
Ramallah and Gaza drift further apart
The cultural and economic distance between the geographically close Palestinian cities of Gaza and Ramallah underlines a fragmentation of national identity that has deepened since the Oslo accords. While the same issues affect Palestinians today as they did 20 years ago - from illegal settlements to US backing of Israel - unity around the cause is absent. - Ramzy Baroud
(Sep 13, '13)
JOHN PILGER
Enemy whose name we dare not speak
Regardless of diplomatic attempts to delay an attack on Syria, the United States' objective has nothing to do with chemical weapons and everything to do with wiping out the last independent states in the Middle East. Barack Obama accepted the war crimes of the Pentagon of his predecessor, George W Bush, and militarism camouflaged as democracy.
(Sep 12, '13)
Cheers and jeers greet Obama's bear hug
President Barack Obama's decision to embrace a Russian proposal to place Damascus' chemical-weapons arsenal under international control and delay a congressional vote on the use of military force against Syria has brought praise and condemnation from across the political spectrum. - Jim Lobe
(Sep 12, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Al-Qaeda's air force
still on stand-by
It was 12 years ago today that, according to the official narrative, Arabs with minimal flying skills turned jets into missiles to attack the US homeland in the name of al-Qaeda. 9/11 elevated them to Ultimate Evil status. Twelve years on, the President of the United States wriggles on a Syrian hook, and the amorphous "al-CIAeda" eagerly awaits the US Air Force to clear the road to Damascus. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 11, '13)
SYRIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Putin lures Obama towards engagement
Barack Obama has put the Syrian ball in the Russian court as Moscow fleshes out its detailed plan to neutralize Syria's chemical weapons. The shift from a war-footing offers the prospect of new cooperation extending to issues including Iran, and confirmation of Russian President Vladimir Putin's shrewd handling of the crisis. More immediately, the United States president can expect the hawks to pick him apart. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 11, '13)
Syria attack stuck in fog-shrouded limbo
The fog of war over Syria is so dense that even now it is not clear whether President Barack Obama is truly serious about directly joining the conflict there or serious about staying out of it. One thing is certain: at least 110,000 have died to date and come diplomacy or air strikes - or anything else, for that matter - there are few signs that the carnage will abate any time soon.- Victor Kotsev
(Sep 11, '13)
Nerve gas flashbacks hit Iran, Iraq
While traumatized Iraqi Kurdish survivors of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapon attacks say the use of poison gas in Syria should invite international retribution, Iranian survivors of a similarly deadly strike during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war are more skeptical over America's motivations. Had the world taken either tragedy seriously, perhaps they wouldn't have been repeated. - Golnaz Esfandiari
(Sep 11, '13)
After Syria, six countries still at large
If Syria agrees to accept the US-Russia proposal to abandon its weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention, six other countries will still be outside the treaty. Myanmar and Israel have signed but not ratified, while Angola, North Korea, Egypt, and South Sudan are in the same situation as Syria in having neither signed nor ratified the convention. - Thalif Deen
(Sep 11, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Lavrov gambit checks Washington
The joys of the geopolitical chessboard: Russia throwing a lifeline to save Barack Obama from his self-spun "red line" on Syria. By forwarding a two-step proposal on Bashar al-Assad giving up its nerve gas, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov outplayed Washington, though his move is not a checkmate; it is a gambit, meant to prevent the US from becoming al-Qaeda's air force, at least for now. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 10, '13)
Intrigue surrounds Obama's intel
The intelligence summary on last month's chemical attack in Syria released by the Barack Obama administration on August 30 did not represent an intelligence community assessment. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's refused to endorse the document - presumably because it was too obviously an exercise in "cherry picking" to support a decision for war. - Gareth Porter
(Sep 10, '13)
US STRIKES ON SYRIA
Kerry becomes first war casualty
The strain of defending an indefensible brief to push for a US military strike on Syria is beginning to show as US Secretary of State John Kerry performs taxing diplomatic acrobats. As gaffe piles upon gaffe, the United States is being forced to consider the merits of Russia's proposal for Syria to hand over chemical weapons. It's time for a contorting President Barack Obama to step up to the bar. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 10, '13)
Papal challenge rocks US's Syria plans
Pope Francis' case against a military solution in Syrian crisis cut deep to the Christian core of United States' governance, and the Holy See can count on the support of European countries made skeptical by the collapse of US-backed revolutions in Egypt and Libya. The pope's calls could grow into a historic opportunity for the Vatican to regain a global political role. - Francesco Sisci
(Sep 10, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
The (farcical) emperor is naked
The threatened US attack on Syria is not about ''strong common sense'', as the White House puts it. Is about farce built upon farce built upon farce, not least the ''credibility'' farce starring the Obama administration, caught in its own self-spun net woven of recklessly created ''red lines''. The pesky ''world'' is not buying it. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 9, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Diplomacy offers route out of chemical crisis
Diplomatic bargaining is more likely to cool the chemical weapons crisis in Syria than military strikes with a high risk of blowback. If Damascus' allies can pressure it into signing the Chemical Weapons Convention, this could lead to benefits for regional stability such as Israel abandoning the nuclear opacity that motivated Syria to build up its chemical stockpile in the first place. - David Lowry and Gordon Thompson
(Sep 9, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Putin eyes Syrian abyss for the US
While Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly compared a US war on Syria to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, privately he's likely thinking of the Soviets' 1980s conflict in Afghanistan. By refusing to send troops to Damascus but providing it with sophisticated weapons, Putin can ensure the US is dragged into a protracted war that bleeds its money and credibility dry. - Ahmed E Souaiaia
(Sep 9, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Dogs of war versus the emerging caravan
While China and Russia pulled up at the G-20 caravanserai to re-enact the spirit of the Silk Road, the dogs of war were baying for blood outside. "Yes We Can" bomb Syria, barked US President Barack "Red Line" Obama. To which the emerging-powers caravan threw him an old bone, "It's the (global) economy, stupid", and kept on trucking. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 6, '13)
Syria crisis yet to derail Iran nuclear talks
The appointment of Iran's Western-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as lead nuclear negotiator will add to the growing conviction in Washington that it can work with Tehran to resolve concerns over Iran's atomic program. In such a climate, any US action in Syria would be more likely to delay than derail international talks. - Jasmin Ramsey
(Sep 6, '13)
West's wars of choice target the weak
The defining feature of the brutality that has become a hallmark of Western behavior in the Middle East is its cowardly nature, as the UK vote against military action in Syria shows; that it finds it much safer to attack countries lacking effective deterrents. Wars of choice are waged against the weak and isolated. Libya and Iraq were both of these things; Syria is neither. - Dan Glazebrook
(Sep 6, '13)
BOOK REVIEW
The dark heart of West's Iran obsession
A Dangerous Delusion: Why the West Is Wrong About Nuclear Iran by Peter Oborne and David Morrison
Using concise research, this work argues that Iran's readiness to accept monitoring and lack of weapons-grade uranium enrichment make a mockery of Western hype over a supposed nuclear program threatening the security of Israel and Gulf states. Its only questionable conclusion is that the US wants to prevent Iran from becoming a major Middle East power. - Peter Jenkins
(Sep 6, '13)
Traps on the road towards barbarism
The downfall of the Soviet Union created a psychological trap for the West - that of a belief in invincibility. This is seen in the manner in which it is trying in Syria to present power as moral responsibility to protect. Convinced that advanced weapons are a guarantee of its security, the West has accepted barbarism and developed contempt for civilized behavior. - Nicholas A Biniaris
(Sep 6, '13)
REUVEN BRENNER
What does a 'two-state solution' mean?
As the United States takes pains to work out a ''two-state'' solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Secretary of State John Kerry, like his predecessors, appears to have overlooked one key question: What is a "state"? Absent an appropriate answer, his efforts, like those that have gone before, are doomed to failure.
(Sep 5, '13)
Pro-Israel groups mix Iran into Syria debate
The powerful Israel lobby has taken the lead in pressing the United States Congress to authorize military action against Syria. But in addition to saying that Damascus must be punished for alleged violations of international norms against chemical weapons, pro-Israel groups are focusing their appeals on stopping what they say is Iran's nuclear-weapons program. - Jim Lobe
(Sep 5, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
The re-politicization of violent conflict
Violence and conflict in the Cold War era seemed to fit into clear categories of interpretation: East versus West, or imperialist aggression. At first the aftermath saw conflicts involving ethnic groups and the formation of small states, now superseded in a more globalized yet fragmented world with politicized communities seeking influence amid the world order. - Andreas Herberg-Rothe
(Sep 5, '13)
Obama dips toe in Syrian Rubicon
For the first time through the two-year old Syrian conflict, and against all expectations, the United States has mentioned the necessity of its commander-in-chief having the option to put "boots on the ground". Whether Barack Obama ends up deploying troops in Syria, the demarche that he should have such a choice underscores that iron has entered into the president's soul.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 4, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
How Assad keeps the upper hand
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is well aware of the post-Iraq syndrome which sees Western powers unable to commit to any serious extent in the Middle East, and knows he can count on Iran, Hezbollah and Russia's support. Since Assad has the strategic upper hand in the conflict, by starting a "limited war" Washington will merely put Israel in the firing line. - Riccardo Dugulin
(Sep 4, '13)
CHAN AKYA
Lousy game theory in Syria
Rather than convince tinpot dictators of the West's moral or military superiority, all the mooted attack on Syria will achieve is an acceleration in nuclear weapons programs of countries ranging from Egypt and Iran to Turkey. But for the West this is a Mount Everest moment - for once it must act simply due to expediency rather than strategy or humanitarian aims. - Chan Akya
(Sep 4, '13)
Splintered Damascus holds its breath
For some in the concrete-block ringed center of Damascus, the Syrian capital is a golden cage amid tight security and the sound of artillery on the outskirts. By contrast, restive working class suburbs such as Saida Zainb are battlegrounds between the government and the opposition. They are united only by tense anticipation as the US administration intensifies the pressure for an attack that some residents say is unthinkable. - Karlos Zurutuza
(Sep 4, '13)
Palestine talks doomed to repeat history
That Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas readily returned to peace talks despite a lethal Israeli raid on a Jerusalem refugee camp underlines the asymmetric nature of the current negotiation process. Abbas' acquiescence to sweeping concessions echoes previous attempts to secure peace. - Ramzy Baroud
(Sep 4, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
The indispensable
(bombing) nation
The indispensable nation that drenched North Vietnam with napalm and agent orange, showered Fallujah with white phosphorus and large swathes of Iraq with depleted uranium is getting ready to attack Syria based on extremely dodgy evidence and the "moral high-ground". Anyone who believes the White House's pre-bombing maximum spin should rent a condo in Alice in Wonderland. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 3, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Obama challenges pathology of power
US President Barack Obama's decision to seek congressional approval before using military force against Syria has been dismissed by his opponents as symptomatic of a lame duck presidency, even "red lines" turning to a "yellow streak". But as he veers from a gun-ho path, he is challenging the pathology of presidential power. - Dallas Darling
(Sep 3, '13)
Iran can help Obama finesse his legacy
Of the many lessons inherent in the US countdown to an attack on Syria, the most profound lies elsewhere: Why Syria, not North Korea? The answer is clear. There is no risk of US casualties in a missile strike on Syrian regime forces, and no risk of nuclear retaliation. If Tehran is taking notes, Barack Obama's presidential legacy will be a nuclear Iran. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Aug 29, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Operation Tomahawk
with cheese
By pronouncing the use of chemical weapons in Syria a ''red line'', President Barack Obama effectively strangled his own options, with the forthcoming G20 summit now further limiting his room for maneuver. So Operation Tomahawk, set to unleash missiles on Syrian innocents, must go ahead - with or without added ingredients - if only to maintain his own credibility. - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 29, '13)
UN debate stalls US attack on Syria
As China and Russia walk out of an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting, guarded optimism pervades the UN that momentum is shifting from the threat of imminent war to a "wait-and-see" approach to establish the truth of allegations over last week's nerve-gas deaths in Syria. That mood is driven by the high price of more suffering and diplomatic damage that would be done should the US bypass the UN to launch a military strike. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Aug 29, '13)
Life loses value in the Middle East
The death of innocent civilians in protests and wars, from Egypt to Syria and from Palestine to Iraq, has been cheapened to the point that lives simply become political and religious fodder for opposing factions. Damascus with its gory chemical warfare allegations is now the epicenter of the blame game, with reactions to the slaughter demonstrating the diminished sanctity of human life. - Ramzy Baroud
(Aug 29, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Obama set for holy Tomahawk war
''Responsibility to protect'', invoked for the war on Libya, has transmogrified into ''responsibility to attack'' - just because the Obama administration says so. Forget (again) about getting the facts right about chemical or any other weaponry; the window of opportunity for war on Syria is now, before Bashar al-Assad's forces get too much into the habit of winning. - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 27, '13)
Follow the money to bury dictators
The only way to break a vicious cycle of Western support for Middle East strongmen allowing them to cling to power is to eliminate the incentives. To achieve this, it must become institutionalized globally that depletable resources belong to the state, and thus to citizens. Banks must also be made to disclose the loot in their vaults held by foreign heads of state. - Hossein Askari
(Aug 27, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Erdogan flies flag for Middle East stability
Support from the United States, Europe and Gulf monarchies for the military coup in Egypt leaves Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan further isolated after his regional vision took a battering during the Arab Spring. However, his strong moral stance over both the Egyptian and Syrian crises suggests Erdogan is still the standard-bearer for Middle East stability. - Mohammad Pervez Bilgrami
(Aug 27, '13)
COMMENT
Legacy of duplicity clouds global response
Widespread condemnation may lead some to conclude that Syria will be forced to refrain from the further use of chemical weapons. That nothing could be further from the truth is exposed by the blatant duplicity that emboldened Saddam Hussein to gas thousands of Iraqi Kurds. As long as expediency trumps international law, massacres will continue. - Hossein Askari
(Aug 26, '13)
Obama keeps hold of the Syrian ball
The prospect of a double whammy perhaps prompted Russia's Vladimir Putin to switch his Middle East focus from Damascus, believing the game there already his, to Cairo. But Barack Obama still has the Syrian ball very much at his feet, exploiting Putin's inattention and the gap that left open for UN weapons inspectors to go where they wish in Syria. The final whistle is still to blow. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Aug 26, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Survival instinct spurred Egyptian military
Despite weaving a narrative of a "battle against terrorism" and "rescuing revolutionary ideals", Egypt's military seized power from the Muslim Brotherhood to protect itself against an organization whose popular political ideology and power center was increasingly a threat to the army's future. While secularists were unnerved by the Brotherhood, the force they've back will revert quickly to true authoritarianism. - Sameera Rashid
(Aug 26, '13)
Syrians to be losers - again
A question mark hangs over who might be responsible for the alleged chemicals weapons attack that has claimed some 1,000 lives. As the US decides whether to mount an assault on Syrian forces, the irony is that the opportunity it presents for international cooperation is likely to be wasted, with the suffering Syrian people again set to be the biggest losers. - Victor Kotsev
(Aug 26, '13)
Denial is not just a river in Egypt
Events in Egypt (not to mention Washington's reluctance to cut military links with Cairo) give Beijing further justification for avoiding rapid democratic reform in China. Meanwhile, the US hunt for secrets whisteblower Edward Snowden and two court cases involving US-based Cisco Systems further highlight the consanguinity of authoritarianism in the East and West. - Peter Lee
(Aug 23, '13)
Washington frets over Saudi ties
As the Obama administration wrestles with its reaction to the bloody aftermath of the coup in Egypt, officials and analysts worry about US ties with Saudi Arabia. While the oil-rich kingdom's strong support for the junta includes a pledge to make up for any withdrawn Western aid, tough language from Riyadh against Washington's condemnation of the coup is perhaps more worrisome. - Jim Lobe
(Aug 23, '13)
Footfalls echo in Syria's rose-garden
Syrian opposition claims that government forces have killed up to 1,400 people in chemical weapons attacks have been quickly taken up by Western powers and will force Bashar al-Assad's regime to turn attention from military success to the diplomatic battle ahead. As UN inspectors tip-toe close to Syria's weapons of mass destruction, is this a prelude to an Iraq-like scenario? - M K Bhadrakumar
(Aug 22, '13)
Washington and the Egyptian tragedy
That the killing of civilians in Egypt is being perpetrated with US-provided weapons sold to a US-backed government makes Washington morally culpable in the crisis. However, the Muslim Brotherhood government also bears responsibility for imposing semi-autocratic rule. With neither domestic side concerned about democracy and both willing to use violence, the last thing the US should do is pour arms into the crisis. - Stephen Zunes
(Aug 22, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Egypt a challenge to the global conscience
That Egyptian generals suddenly became paranoid towards elected government reflects signals from the United States that evolving democracy doesn't suit American policy and practices in the Arab Middle East. Washington needs ruthless authoritarian dictators, as has been the case for over half a century, and appears to have exploited the fact that peaceful change cannot produce positive economic and political results overnight. - Mahboob A Khawaja
(Aug 22, '13)
Rabias of the world unite in Egypt
The burning of the Rabia al-Adawiya mosque last week was cruelly symbolic given that Rabia was a female Muslim saint from the eighth century who overcame slavery through faith and redefined class struggle. It represents how violently the army generals and liberals have steered the 2011 revolution from its original course. - Ramzy Baroud
(Aug 21, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
A message from our (Saudi) sponsors
The Egyptian junta is about to let former despot Hosni Mubarak out of the box in the name of defending the interests of the "Egyptian people". Take it as a message from the House of Saud, which loves Mubarak as one of its own. ... "Arab Spring? What Arab Spring?" - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 20, '13)
Egypt's Sisi banishes wild dogs
It doesn't look good for the bedraggled Syrian dogs of war, now that Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattel al-Sisi has ordered Syrian National Council leaders to leave Cairo. They aren't going to be safe in Istanbul either. With strange things beginning to happen all over the Middle East, it looks like the Syrian-regime-hugging Russian bear is throwing its weight around.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Aug 20, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Egypt: From counter revolution to civil war
As Egypt adapts to rule by military fiat, diverse Islamic currents once divided and hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood are coalescing against General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's illusory democracy. There are also new targets as extremists take charge on both sides, with Christians in the firing line, class conflicts deepening and almost the whole population feeling some form of injustice. - Monte Palmer
(Aug 20, '13)
COMMENT
Muslim Brotherhood: reform or relapse?
If Muslim Brotherhood leaders think this crisis is similar to others in their troubled history, they are badly mistaken. The wrath of a military regime and the anger and distrust of a large segment of Egypt's population stack up against them. To avoid marginalization, the Brotherhood must cast off delusions of grandeur and agree to join the political process. - Mohamed Yousry and Michael Gasper
(Aug 20, '13)
Fall of moderates seals Lebanon's fate
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's decision to wage war against rebels and Sunni jihadists in Syria has drawn Lebanon into a bloody conflict. Yet long before any shot fired in Homs, the Shi'ite militia's destruction of the base of Lebanon's economic success, Sunni moderate political parties, had sealed the country's fate. - Riccardo Dugulin
(Aug 19, '13)
PHOTO ESSAY
Kirkuk strains Iraqi, Kurdish security forces
As al-Qaeda-led violence ramps up around Iraq's disputed Kirkuk governorate, power brokers in Baghdad, Kurdish capital Erbil and local leaders in Kirkuk are exploiting the situation to consolidate their own power bases. At the sharp end of the conflict are security forces. Glimpsing bloody day-to-day realities through their eyes gives insight into the divided city's tensions. - Derek Henry Flood
(Aug 19, '13)
Egypt faces insurgency
As the body count in Egypt mounts, amid burning corpses on the streets, armed mobs torching churches and dozens of detainees dying in jail, the specter of a low-intensity insurgency hangs over the country, or, less likely, outright civil war. As the violence escalates, options that have a more peaceful outcome seem to be in very short supply. - Victor Kotsev
(Aug 19, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Hi, I'm your new Axis of Evil
The bloodbath in Egypt marks a victory for the House of Saud/Israel/ Pentagon triumvirate. And as they plot their way round a Middle East, with more settlements in Palestine, Egypt in civil war, Syria and Iraq bleeding to death (and never losing sight of Israel's perpetual survival), what's left is the certified proliferation of all kinds of axes, and all kinds of evil. - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 16, '13)
Pharaoh al-Sisi sits tight on the Nile
The stalemate that has prevented outright international condemnation of the Egyptian military's massacre of Muslim Brotherhood supporters reflects a "big power" battle of wits for geopolitical influence in Cairo and hence the wider Middle East. Yet while Russia watches the US squirm to balance "right side of history" appearances against strategic interests, Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is getting more comfortable on his throne. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Aug 16, '13)
Israel obsessed with an Iranian bomb
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's description of Hassan Rouhani as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" was in jarring contrast with the warmer Western diplomatic welcome for Iran's new reform-oriented president. Such Israeli alarmism underlines a relentless projection by Israeli leaders onto their Iranian counterparts: it is only rational for Tehran to attempt to acquire the bomb, so it must be. - Maysam Behravesh
(Aug 16, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
The Battle of Yarmuk, then and now
The legacy of the Imperial Byzantine army's defeat in August, 636 BCE by Muslim Arabs at the Yarmuk tributary reflects in some ways today's events. In Syria the battle is for the control of Damascus, and the overthrow of Bashar a-Assad involves once again the Persians, or modern Iran. As is the case with the 21st-century West, the Byzantine West was also totally exhausted, economically and militarily. - Nicholas A Biniaris
(Aug 16, '13)
Egyptian crackdown death toll climbs
The death toll in the Egyptian military's crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters rose to 327 on Thursday, bringing condemnation from the United States but no immediate threat to suspend aid to the new regime, even amid claims within the Washington establishment that the Obama administration's role meant it was complicit in the bloodshed. - Jim Lobe and Thalif Deen
(Aug 15, '13)
While officials talk, Israelis build
Even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders resumed negotiations towards a peace agreement, Israel has moved to strengthen and expand its settlements in occupied territories, including those built in defiance of Israeli law. Israel displays its determination to flout international law with a complete disregard for the consequences because there are none.- Jillian Kestler-DAmours
(Aug 15, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Chapulling in Turkey
When Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the term capulcu, or looters, to contemptuously describe Gezi Park protestors, he unwittingly created a 21st-century term for rebelling against the tyranny of a majority. In Turkey, the mandate handed to the ruling party by its electoral majority has been undermined by theocratic steps towards a total Islamization of society. - Chuck Hamilton
(Aug 15, '13)
US must be 'more forthcoming' to Iran
The United States should take advantage of the installation of Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran to adopt a more flexible approach toward Tehran to increase the chances of a successful resolution of the latter's nuclear program, according to a report out of Europe. Specifically, Washington should engage in direct bilateral talks with Iran, it says. - Jim Lobe
(Aug 14, '13)
Yemen needs a home-grown transition
The "Friends of Yemen" who have brokered Yemen's post Arab Spring power structure have only ever treated the pro-democratic revolt as a crisis to be managed - and eventually rolled back. With the US mainly interested in pursuing its drone war and the Gulf countries pushing an anti-Muslim Brotherhood agenda, there seems little chance of the country's complex divides narrowing. - Ramzy Baroud
(Aug 14, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Bandar Bush, 'liberator' of Syria
For a year, there was some doubt if he was even alive, but Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan, aka Bandar Bush, is very much alive and kicking, at least enough to knock heads with President Vladimir Putin over what Russia should do with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (drop him). That's not going to happen, which leaves The Comeback Kid (and Barack Obama) with a dilemma. - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 13, '13)
Rouhani dampens Iran's Third World fire
Critics of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are concerned that his diplomatic style are will undermine the Third World leadership role Tehran nurtured under his predecessor Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Though Ahmadinejad's fiery pronouncements often cost Iran international support, his efforts to empower the disaffected and the excluded generated solidarity. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Aug 13, '13)
The Middle East's newest strongman
Egypt's coup leader General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi displays the megalomaniac traits of Libyan despot Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (replete with the medals and identical shades); a newspaper columnist says she is willing to be his "sex slave". Welcome to part of the world for the Middle East's newest strongman - while prisons fill, the killing continues and he ominously concentrates power. - Emad Mekay
(Aug 8, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Iran reforms depend on Supreme Leader
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has further signaled to the West his intention to pursue diplomacy through the appointment of a prominent reformist to the foreign ministry. Yet he is also keeping hardliners happy by handing them plum cabinet positions. Such appointments and the reform drive, however, ultimately rely on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini's will. - Hamza Mannan
(Aug 8, '13)
Fear of isolation gets Israel talking
As Europe and United Nations bodies prepare legal salvos, it is dawning on Israel that stalemate in the peace process with the Palestinians is feeding an international isolation that will eventually suffocate the country. That motivates the leadership's latest quest for peace, though talks alone are unlikely to convince a world that's sick and tired of the occupation. - Pierre Klochendler
(Aug 7, '13)
Arab elites push back political Islam
From Jordan to Tunisia to Algeria, ruling Arab elites have for decades co-opted and manipulated Islamic opposition parties to keep the reins of power. Perhaps the most significant illustration of the trend is in today's Egypt. There, exploiting a resilient power structure and corrupt media, the old regime has managed to turn the revolution against itself. - Ramzy Baroud
(Aug 7, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Politics fuel a rising sectarian fire
The rise of sectarian conflict in the Middle East and South Asia is rooted in the increasing ability of politicians to hijack religion for their own ends rather than any playing out of theology in the Sunni-Shi'ite divide. No one, not least peacemakers and Western governments trying to twist religious differences for their own benefit, stands to gain from this distortion. - Shireen T Hunter
(Aug 7, '13)
Stumbling to the sanctions exit
Iran and the United States will need quick moves and compromise to make progress on a diplomatic deal. Tehran wants relief from sanctions. But layer upon layer of curbs has produced a blunt tool that has confused the strategic purpose of sanctions, while constraining Washington's ability to respond to positive actions with requisite nimbleness. - Ali Vaez
(Aug 6, '13)
Rouhani grapples nuclear mules
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a former nuclear negotiator, has moved swiftly to take full control - even as the final decision is out of reach - of the mechanisms to break the impasse over his country's atomic program. Hope for a new chapter in international talks is palpable but the sticking point is the schism between the Iran policies of US lawmakers and the White House. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Aug 6, '13)
Rouhani and the luck of the mullahs
The mullahs in Tehran have lasted nearly 35 years, thanks in no small part to the continuing ineptitude of the United States. With a little luck it could outlast other regimes in the region, and newly installed President Hassan Rouhani may be just the man to nudge things along for the next few years - though not for much longer than that without true economic reforms. - Hossein Askari
(Aug 5, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Al-Qaeda to the rescue
Fatwas from former Osama bin Laden sidekick Ayman "Doctor Evil" al-Zawahiri and jailbreaks galore have given the US a golden opportunity to deflect attention from the heady atmospherics of the Edward Snowden saga and back to trusted terror firma. Washington is waving its al-Qaeda false flags high, while hiding the colors of a truer enemy. - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 5, '13)
A spy who tried to scale Kremlin wall
Russia's recent policy successes in Syria doubtless flavored the discussions of chief of Saudi intelligence Prince Bandar bin Sultan in Moscow this week. The Kremlin knows only too well Bandar's skills in the dark arts - think Afghan jihad in the '80s - and this was one spy it was prepared to portray (with unusually public coverage) as very much out in the cold. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Aug 2, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
The war within a war in Syria
Fighting between Kurdish militants and al-Qaeda elements in Syria fuels Kurdish aspirations for independence, but is also bringing new threats to regional stability. This war within a war is a new development and a conflict that mocks Western intentions to back only the "good guys". - Hannah Stuart
(Aug 2, '13)
Rouhani's post-populist foreign policy
Fresh from his August 4 inauguration as Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani will face an in-tray of foreign policy problems by shunning his predecessor's populist style, preferring a prudent approach. Tackling economic sanctions and the nuclear impasse present dilemmas, while Rouhani's expected new focus on regionalism may weaken Iran's defense in the eyes of international adversaries. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Aug 2, '13)
Fourth revolutionary wave to engulf Egypt
The revolution that removed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011 and caught a second wave when his elected successor Mohammad Morsi was removed by the military a year later is now entering its third stage as the remnants of the Mubarak elites try to keep power. A fourth wave is inevitable in this house of cards on shifting sands. - Nicola Nasser
(Aug 1, '13)
Syrian war reaches explosive stage
Syria's fragmentation in the conflict between rebels and the Bashar al-Assad regime can no longer be contained within the country. To the north, Kurds threaten autonomy and are fighting al-Qaeda affiliates at the Turkish border. To the south, Israel is at guns drawn and Hezbollah has directly involved Lebanon. All the different fronts are liable to broaden and intensify in violence. - Victor Kotsev
(Aug 1, '13)
Kirkukis dice with death during Ramadan
Numerous bombings in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk have failed to deter residents from taking the evening air during Ramadan and playing traditional games of chance particular to the fasting season. Authorities say the only hope for peace in the city, populated by a powder-keg mix of al-Qaeda militants and Saddam Hussein loyalists, lie in it coming under Kurdish rule - or being surrounded by high walls.
(Aug 1, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Manning guilty, war criminals on the loose
The young Bradley Manning faces a lifetime behind bars after the delivery of a (predictable) guilty verdict in his show trial for spying. The US government went no holds barred, and failed, to prove that Manning had helped al-Qaeda. Events in Iraq this week show it's the US government that has actually enabled al-Qaeda, while the real culprits are still on the loose. - Pepe Escobar
(Jul 31, '13)
Palestinian bogeyman resurfaces in Egypt
Festering anti-Palestinian sentiment from the Hosni Mubarak era has seemingly intensified in Egypt's political turmoil, as seen in plans to prosecute overthrown president Mohammed Morsi for alleged "links" with Hamas. For Gazans who since the 1980s have bravely endured border humiliations and tunnel closures, the sense of betrayal is all too familiar. - Ramzy Baroud
(Jul 31, '13)
Ex-envoy sheds light on Iran nuclear claim
Newly published recollections by the former French ambassador to Iran suggest that, contrary to US intelligence claims in 2007 that Iran had halted a covert nuclear weapons program four years earlier, Tehran did not have an official, organized atomic arms program under the then nuclear policy chief - and now president-elect - Hassan Rouhani. - Gareth Porter
(Jul 31, '13)
Rouhani pick sends positive signal
Reports that Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president-elect, will choose the country's former ambassador to the United Nations as his foreign minister are helping speed the ongoing thaw between Tehran and Washington. Mohammad Javad Zarif is seen as a pragmatist who can help create conditions for direct talks to begin. - Jim Lobe
(Jul 30, '13)
Asia laps up lax Israeli weapons rules
Israel's limited political, economic and diplomatic leverage make its arms trade a vital facet in spreading influence and achieving foreign policy objectives. For customers such as South Korea, Vietnam, India and China, the offer of cutting-edge weaponry with lax technology transfer rules is simply too good to refuse. - Alvite Singh Ningthoujam
(Jul 30, '13)
Reading Marx in Cairo
The "grotesque mediocrity" that Karl Marx ascribed to Napoleon III and his mimicry of uncle Napoleon Bonaparte's giant (as a strategist) stature is being recreated in Cairo as coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attempts to link himself to the proud legacy of the Gamal Abdel Nasser while turning guns on Egyptians. The pseudo-Nasser is doomed to go down as one of history's farcical leaders. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jul 29, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
EU fuels blowback with Hezbollah blacklist
The European Union has placed Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations, though it can raise funds unabated to assist Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because only its "military wing" was proscribed. All the listing is will likely achieve is further destabilization of Lebanon - and provoking Hezbollah into plotting retribution against European interests. - Olivier Guitta
(Jul 26, '13)
How Iraq will win the Arab Spring
As uprisings and civil conflict implode the traditional power hubs of the Arab world, Iraq's youthful population, gigantic oil resources and strategic location give it the makings a major regional player. Freed from totalitarianism ahead of the others, Baghdad also has a democratic headstart. But the chances of more prosperity still boil down to maintaining security. - Riccardo Dugulin
(Jul 25, '13)
The rise of al-Qaeda 2.0
While today's al-Qaeda lacks a centralized leadership and prominent figurehead, successes like this week's prison break in Iraq and the chaos it has fomented in Syria highlight that its diffuse nature is a strength. By eschewing spectacular terrorist attacks in favor of exploiting local conflicts, "al-Qaeda 2.0" can gradually start to again exert global influence. - Frud Bezhan
(Jul 25, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
War against Iran,
Iraq AND Syria?
The signing by officials of Iraq, Syria and Iran of a memorandum of understanding to build a gas pipeline linking Iranian gasfields to the Mediterranean coast makes manifest a fundamental reason for the proxy war in Syria. The Europeans - who endlessly carp about being hostages of Gazprom - should be rejoicing. Instead, once again, they are shooting themselves in their Bally-clad feet. - Pepe Escobar
(Jul 23, '13)
COMMENT
Syria isn't about Syria anymore
US hopes that Syria will become a quagmire that weakens Iran and its allies, particularly Hezbollah, will ensure that humanitarian and conservative interventionists clamoring for direct US involvement are shouted down. As foreign Sunni fighters armed and funded by Gulf states fight the US's battles, managing the security concerns of Turkey and Israel is the US's hardest task. - Eric Shimp
(Jul 23, '13)
Jihadi embers reignite a vulnerable Iraq
The rise of Salafi-jihadi groups in Syria's war theater has breathed new life into al-Qaeda's Iraq affiliate, with its new moniker, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham, reflecting a desire to conflate conflicts in Iraq and Syria and forge an Islamic state stretching from the Iranian border to the Mediterranean coast. - Derek Henry Flood
(Jul 23, '13)
COMMENT
Netanyahu, Abbas back to square none
Political peddlers and media professionals want us to believe US Secretary of State John Kerry has done what others have failed to do in having Israel and the Palestinian Authority to return to the negotiating table. Yet the US has little leverage in this, while the timing suits the disputing parties to turn up for photos and sound bites - but nothing else. - Ramzy Baroud
(Jul 22, '13)
Israeli peace talks offer rare opportunity
The anticipated renewal of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington this week has the potential to reshape not only the Israeli-Palestinian political scene but the entire region. Numerous barriers have to be overcome, yet, if the Israelis and Palestinians, alongside the American mediators, again miss an opportunity, there may not be another one for a long time. - Victor Kotsev
(Jul 22, '13)
Iran engagement camp gets surprise boost
Increasing support in Washington towards relaxing sanctions and pursuing diplomacy with Iran - as evidenced by the fact that 131 House members signed a letter to the administration recommending this path - reflect how much the election of moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has changed perceptions. While wrong-footed, hawks on Capitol Hill and in Israel are unlikely to take the challenge lying down. - Jim Lobe
(Jul 22, '13)
A world where everything is for sale
Western nations will say certain oppressive and corrupt Gulf rulers must be propped up for reasons of regional stability or strategic security, despite the inevitable impact on their own reputations. Naturally the real reason is personal or corporate benefit, but what really frustrates is when one-time leaders of the US or UK peddle the good name of former offices in return for lucrative "consultant" roles. - Hossein Askari
- Hossein Askari
(Jul 22, '13)
Revisiting the Persian cosmopolis
The extent of Indic culture's influence over South Asian history is clear from the enormous geographic sweep of sanskrit text, but the continuing popularity of Persian concepts of justice, sultanhood and separation of religion and state underlines how Persian language and culture was equally significant. - Richard Eaton
(Jul 19, '13)
Hezbollah on shaky ground in Syria
As a result of overstretching itself in Syria, Hezbollah is being forced to take a defensive line instead of the offensive stance which has served it well, and is losing moral high ground on the Arab Street. The collapse of its parliamentary alliance in Lebanon means the party has to fight two different conflicts - one political, one military - on two different fronts. - Riccardo Dugulin
(Jul 18, '13)
Economists launch Iran anti-sanctions bid
Economists in Iran are calling on activists and intellectuals to create a "civil movement" that turns Western public opinion against punitive US sanctions they insist do more harm to ordinary Iranians than their leaders. President Hassan Rouhani's electoral win seemingly creates an opening for such a force. - Golnaz Esfandiari
(Jul 18, '13)
The quicksand of self-deception
Rising tensions throughout the Middle East and beyond are a result of far too many countries feeding into the West's delusional belief about its invincibility and mastery of the political game. For evidence of the West's decline, doubters need look no further than its alignment with Gulf countries who propagate hatred and intolerance for other Muslim traditions. - Nicholas A Biniaris
(Jul 17, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Meet a moderate Syrian insurgent
Hi, I'm Mostafa and I'll be your moderate insurgent today. We badly need your help. Mr Obama is committed to providing more support for us. Your CIA said guns will go only to moderate insurgents. But your Congress? Oh no. Don't be such a spoiler! OK, the Salafis can be a bit hot headed, but we are all brothers - and most of us are moderate insurgents. And we promise we will never use these guns against you. - Pepe Escobar
(Jul 16, '13)
INTERVIEW
Will the Iranian impasse end with Rouhani?
Iranians place importance in US actions, not just its words, says former spokesperson for Iran's nuclear negotiators Seyed Hossein Mousavian. If Washington genuinely seeks rapprochement with new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, it needs to demonstrate that through goodwill, instead of through increased hostilities and animosity. - Jasmin Ramsey
(Jul 16, '13)
China claims Uyghurs trained in Syria
China's concern that that the civil war in Syria will foster greater instability in the Middle East is matched by its fears that Uyghur "foreign fighters" there, with ties to international jihadists, may use their combat training to carry out attacks in Xinjiang and fuel unrest in the province. Beijing has already pinpointed the arrest of a returning Uyghur militant for planning "violent attacks". - Jacob Zenn
(Jul 15, '13)
Egypt's Sphinx casts eyes on Syria
The past week in the Middle East has been extraordinary, even by the region's usual volatile standards. As the Egyptian military takes US and Persian Gulf expressions of support as political underpinning for its brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the US, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Russia are increasingly on the same page - and big trouble lies ahead for Islamist movements, including the Syrian rebel groups. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Jul 12, '13)
The Arab Spring in turmoil
The revolts that started in Tunisia against oppressive authority brought a surge of optimism for better lives amongst people across the region. Nearly three years on, that hope has been dashed in the birthplace of the Arab Spring, replaced by joblessness and anarchy fed by misplaced populism. - Noureddine Krichene
(Jul 12, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
The China-US 'Brotherhood'
The latest US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue talk fest now underway in Washington comes with local punters believing Beijing has weakened since its post-financial crisis heavy lifting days. Don't bet on it. With Barack Obama trapped in a Middle East Brotherhood net, Chinese leader Xi Jinping sees good pickings in Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq - not to mention Pipelineistan and the South China Sea. "Fragile"? You wish. - Pepe Escobar
(Jul 11, '13)
Egypt's military presents no panacea
The Egyptian military is painting itself as a guardian of stability and democracy, but there is ample reason to believe it will bring neither. Confidence in the military's ability to set the direction for revolution and restore democracy ignores that the generals' roadmap to get there only serves to cloak their foreign policy interests. - Ben Luongo
(Jul 11, '13)
FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT
Syrian war hits Beirut
The Hezbollah neighborhood of Dahiyeh was considered the safest residential area of Beirut thanks to the Shi'ite group's strong security measures. Yet a deadly bomb on the eve of Ramadan, which many interpret as a message for Hezbollah to leave Syria, has shattered that perception and stoked concerns that Syria's troubles will reopen the wounds of Lebanon's long civil war. - Franklin Lamb
(Jul 10, '13)
How Egypt's 'revolution' betrayed itself
Through careful media manipulation, Egypt's opposition elites were able to hijack the revolutionary values of freedom and equality and paint the ouster of a democratically elected leader as the "people's will". As new forces more focused on retaining power rather than pursuing democracy take charge, the hope spawned in Tahrir Square in January 2011 seems an ever-more distant memory. - Ramzy Baroud
(Jul 9, '13)
COMMENT
Islam can't fix what ails the Middle East
Mohamed Morsi's removal as Egyptian president is a warning that Islamic parties cannot count on religious identity alone to govern successfully and need to engage others constructively. Given the magnitude of the problems Egypt faced after the removal of Hosni Mubarak, the Morsi regime's failure to reach beyond its political base is a lesson Islamists need to learn. - Barbara Slavin
(Jul 9, '13)
Turkey's sultan deplores the pharaoh's fall
While hypocrisy looms large in Persian Gulf oligarchies' welcome of the fall of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood government as a victory for "inclusive democracy", their stance is at least more clear-cut than the European and the American leaderships afraid to call the overthrow by its real name. In a turn that hints at new Middle Eastern faultlines, it's left to a resolute Turkey to "curse the dirty coup". - M K Bhadrakumar
(Jul 9, '13)
Iran blames Morsi's US stance for crisis
Iranian clerics who welcomed the Muslim Brotherhood election victory as a triumph for political Islam say deposed president Mohamed Morsi's "pro-US and pro-Israeli" stances were behind his ouster and the country's crisis. By cutting ties with Syria, and "not frowning" enough at Israel, the Brotherhood violated Islamic principles and sealed its fate, say hardliners close to the supreme leader's office in Tehran. - Golnaz Esfandiari
(Jul 8, '13)
SPENGLER
Islam's civil war moves to Egypt
Whether Egypt slides into chaos or regains temporary stability under the military depends on the view from the royal palace in Saudi Arabia, not on the conflicting protests in Tahrir Square. Democracy activists are a hapless force as democracy in Egypt is dead. Crosswinds from the great Sunni-Shi'ite civil war enveloping the Muslim world are at work, and the only question in the current power struggle is whose Islamism will win out.
(Jul 8, '13)
After Morsi, the geopolitical fallout
Fallout from the crisis in Egypt looks set to reverberate across the Middle East amid questions about what the ouster of Mohamed Morsi would mean. A post-Morsi Egypt would likely embed itself more firmly in the Saudi-led conservative camp, take a more assertive role in Syria, and put to rest US and Israeli concerns about any regional realignment. In other words, it would be back to the status quo favored by the old military regime. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jul 3, '13)
Egyptian nightmare for Erdogan
Egypt is becoming a nightmare scenario for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the struggle for the legacy of recent protests begins in Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities. The parallels between the two countries run far beyond the superficial. and Turkey, through its growing financial bubble, is primed for social friction on a scale that is now leaving Egypt reeling. - Victor Kotsev
(Jul 3, '13)
Rouhani just just another cog
Hassan Rouhani has attracted commentary suggesting is election win means reform is on the way in Iran. Given his history in the power structure, it is more likely he was anointed not at the ballot box by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in the same way as all previous presidents. The choice this time was geared towards improving international relations and to open the hearts of Islamic Republic's weary people. - Julia Ernest
(Jul 3, '13)
Gazprom one winner
from demise of Nabucco
The Nabucco consortium's failure to secure access to Azerbaijani gas is forcing a rethink of energy policies for all countries that would have been involved with the now scuppered pipeline to Europe. The sure winner is Gazprom, which will continue to dominate the price-setting process in Central Europe. - Vladimir Socor
(Jul 3, '13)
The meaning of Iran's new president
That Hassan Rouhani's victory in the Iranian presidential election didn't raise noticeable fears among conservatives underlines how authorities have mastered containing the power of reformist-controlled executive and legislative branches. While his rise to executive power isn't viewed as threatening to the political system, it does reflect an elite consensus. - Abolghasem Bayyenat
(Jul 3, '13)
Give Egypt a chance for change
As Egypt's generals enter the Tahrir Square fray, there is no political emergency in need of military dictates or intervention. It is short-sighted to think the Mohamed Morsi government in one year could deliver unthinkable goods and amenities. Instead of fireballs, constructive, creative thinking should be allowed to flourish. - Mahboob A Khawaja
(Jul 2, '13)
Hamas, Fatah and the squandered years
There was little fanfare when Hamas and Fatah representatives met in Gaza last month for "unity talks". Little wonder. The problem of the political divide within Palestine can only be resolved using national platforms that appeal to the individual, free from factionalism, and to the collective, free from the confining symbolism and polarizing discourses. - Ramzy Baroud
(Jul 2, '13)
Last curtain falls on Nabucco pipeline
Nabucco-West, hyphen in the European Union-backed pipeline project that was to have carried Azerbaijani gas from Turkey to Austria, is now dead, with the rival Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project winning the contest for priority access to Azerbaijani gas. Its demise affects the politics of energy supply along the entire southern gas corridor to Europe. - Vladimir Socor
(Jul 1, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
When to trust Iran's electoral system
Tension between the moderate camp of Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani and the conservative establishment that oversees the electoral process means that claims of vote-rigging on the scale of those that emerged four years ago are unlikely to taint the next presidential election. As the 2009 vote showed, it takes both motive and an opportunity for cohorts to work together for a result to be fixed. - Amin Shahriar
(Jul 1, '13)
Egyptian protesters set ball rolling
As many as14 million protesters who took to streets in Egypt on Sunday to demand an end to Muslim Brotherhood rule sent a powerful message, giving credence to warnings of civil war. The US has tacitly supported the Brotherhood in hope that moderate political Islam could counter extremism, but it has helped pushed the secular opposition into action that could have severe regional implications. - Victor Kotsev
(Jul 1, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Qatar's love affair with Syria
Qatar may have spent as much as US$3 billion to make sure "Assad must go". Yet he hasn't gone anywhere. Meanwhile other countries are funding their own favored rebel groups in Syria. As Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani settles in as Qatar's new leader, and the fighting in Syria intensifies, the "young and modern" emir of the Muslim Brotherhood Spring may conclude he is caught in a trap of his his father's making. - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 28, '13)
New dynamic in Iran's European ties
The election of Hassan Rouhani as Iran's new president, a year on from the imposition of a European Union oil embargo, is setting the stage for fresh thinking in Europe on engagement with the Islamic Republic. From blindly following US coercive diplomacy, France looks best poised to grasp the extended Rouhani olive branch and form a new avenue to entente-cordiale. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jun 27, '13)
Minorities harnessing the Arab Spring
Members of Libya's Amazigh minority are enjoying unheard of freedoms banned for decades under Muammar Gaddafi, reviving their "Berber" culture and traditions despite under the indifferent eyes of the country's new rulers. The awakening mirrors that of Syria's Kurds, who as they revive their ancient dialect are also seeking legal recognition of their ethno-religious group. - Karlos Zurutuza
(Jun 27, '13)
COMMENT
Did Rouhani dupe Europe?
European powers accused Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani of duping them over a 2003 agreement he negotiated that allowed Tehran to press ahead with the enrichment of uranium. Yet the record shows no trickery involved, and that in defending Iran's interests Rouhani can and will drive a hard but honest bargain and will be true to his word. - Peter Jenkins
(Jun 26, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
We are all Qataris now
All gratitude and praise for Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani for stepping aside so that Western-educated son Tamim can take over as despot. Never mind the younger man's love of the Muslim Brotherhood or that a bit of the good life in his fiefdom comes with flogging as a non-optional extra. Just think of all those billions of dollars under his control - and the cash and weapons that keep the Syrian rebellion bubbling with blood. - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 26, '13)
Rouhani's outlook riles Israeli hardliners
Some Western countries have welcomed the election of Hassan Rouhani as Iranian president as a chance to break the nuclear impasse, but hardliners in Israel who exploited the confrontational style of his predecessor to crystallize global opinion against Iran have been thrown off-guard. Discounting the chance of a new chapter, it's clear who many members of the US Congress are listening to. - Shahir Shahid Saless
(Jun 26, '13)
Yemen's young face grim future
Large families and poverty are the norm for the fast-growing population in Yemen, where 70% of people are under the age of 25. With water shortages, a dismal economy, and exportable petroleum running out, their future looks even grimmer than the present. - Rebecca Murray
(Jun 26, '13)
Gulf monarchies fuel Syrian storm
The United States' decision to directly supply weapons to the Syrian opposition not only may destroy any chance of a political settlement, it will also align Washington in the conflict directly with the Gulf Cooperation Council. As one of the most undemocratic alliances on the planet, the group of monarchies bankrolls ethnic divisions that are kiiling Syrians and destabilizing the region. - Conn Hallinan
(Jun 26, '13)
Is Egypt on the verge of civil war?
As the Egyptian government's ability to feed its population declines, so too is the Muslim Brotherhood's hope of transforming Egypt into the centerpiece of a modern Islamic empire that blends strict Muslim morality with economic and technological development. Domestic instability may spark a civil conflict, and Iranian, Russian and Chinese schemes to grasp the Middle East would fuel it. - Monte Palmer
(Jun 25, '13)
Tahrir to Taksim: West interferes
The driving forces behind the events and consequences of Cairo's Tahrir Square and Istanbul's Taksim Square are quite different, though knee-jerk analysis with a fondness for easy labels would prefer otherwise. What they do have in common is an opportunity for Western powers to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. - Ramzy Baroud
(Jun 24, '13)
Iranians want country put before cause
Hassan Rouhani's victory in Iran's presidential election underlined a growing urge among Iranians for democracy, freedom and integration with the outside world. The people expect Rouhani to create an environment where pragmatic policies take precedence over revolutionary zeal, but it won't be easy to get hardliners to focus on national interests over "the cause". - Farhang Jahanpour
(Jun 24, '13)
Hezbollah creates staging grounds in Syria
Free Syrian Army allegations that Hezbollah fighters have dug in near Aleppo to establish "infiltration" units that can directly attack opposition forces raise further questions over the extent of Hezbollah's involvement in the civil conflict. By targeting Aleppo and its suburbs, the pro-government alliance can refine a coordinated counter-insurgency strategy that involves local officials and populations. - Nicholas A Heras
(Jun 24, '13)
Rouhani leads Iran's new soft power
Post-election euphoria in Iran over Hassan Rouhani's election victory can spread to optimism with respect to the nuclear and regional crises in the Middle East. Iran's president-elect will enjoy a political honeymoon that allows him to reach out and hope the US will reciprocate goodwill. It is up to Washington to grasp the opportunity for US-Iranian detente, and to take the leap before the window shuts. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jun 21, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
China discovers the Mediterranean
The slow pace of Europe's recovery and political changes spurred by the Arab Spring are revitalizing ancient trade links between China and European and Arab countries in the Mediterranean region. Joint Chinese-Egyptian projects near the Suez Canal are only a taster of how the relations could redefine energy and geopolitical dynamics. However, if Beijing wavers from principles of non-interference, its maneuver could fail. - Pietro Longo
(Jun 21, '13)
Iran and Hezbollah go global
Suspected Iranian terror cells from Nigeria to the Balkans to Latin America suggest Tehran and its ally Hezbollah are pushing back on a global scale against Western countries and Persian Gulf petro-monarchies seeking to squeeze the Islamic Republic's influence. Iran's increasing scientific links with nuclear-armed North Korea are worrisome to countries that claim a "Shi'ite web" is rising. - Emanuele Scimia
(Jun 20, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Modernity makes a mark in Iran vote
The surprise victory of President-elect Hassan Rouhani in the Iranian elections represents the swing of the political pendulum by a voting public repulsed by eight years of hardline rule. In the battle between modernity and Islamic tradition, most moderates agree that revolutionary principles alone are too narrow a base to run a country where the middle class is in the ascendency. - Amin Shahriar
(Jun 19, '13)
Child labor jars with Islamic tradition
As World Day Against Child Labor passed on June 12, thousands of young Southeast Asians were toiling in Arab Gulf countries in menial roles ranging from domestic service to manual labor. While that trend bucks centuries-old Islamic doctrines emphasizing labor rights, the shame is shared far beyond the Middle East. - Ramzy Baroud
(Jun 19, '13)
Hawks, doves and pipeline politics in Syria
On Syria, the US is allowing policy to steer intelligence, rather than vice versa, with the hawks overcoming the doves in a pattern memorable to the Iraq war. This time the rebel's largest benefactor - Qatar - could benefit most from brute energy realities. Syria's status as the most obvious land route for pipelines from the Persian Gulf explains Doha's deep pockets. - Peter Dale Scott
(Jun 19, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Obama's weapons-for-peace program
The myth of US President Barack Obama as "reluctant warrior" in Syria is pure nonsense. Even his Russian counterpart, ex-KGB sickle Vladimir Putin, cannot convince him that expanding the proxy war would make the current - horrible - status quo look like a walk in the park. In its determination to arm "rebel" factions who would lose at the ballot box, the Obama administration has opted to play weapons-for-peace gambits rather than talk real democracy. - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 18, '13)
Washington split on Rouhani victory in Iran
Hassan Rouhani's surprise election as Iranian president leaves US analysts cautiously optimism about a possible Tehran-Washington detente, while pro-Israel forces reject any idea his presidency will produce substantive change. Some suspect Rouhani will push for a nuclear deal, and say Washington must be prepared to make concessions that convince Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to go along. - Jim Lobe
(Jun 18, '13)
Gore and fatwas show Syria's descent
Unprecedented calls by Saudi Arabian religious scholars for Sunni Muslims to support Syrian rebels against the Iran-backed, Shi'ite government of President Bashar al-Assad underline how the conflict is evolving into a increasingly internationalized sectarian war far removed from its peaceful, pro-democratic beginnings. Meanwhile, social media initially used to spread hope for the rebellion are now merely sharing atrocities. - Emad Mekay
(Jun 18, '13)
US faces Syrian crossroads
The Barack Obama administration has said it will start arming (at least parts of) the Syrian opposition and may institute a limited no-fly zone over the country. Yet, the US end game remains unclear so long as the administration does not explain its regional strategic plans regarding Iran, Hezbollah and their opponents, the Salafist Jihadist militias. - Walid Phares
(Jun 17, '13)
IRANIAN ELECTION
Rouhani: a consensus on the past
Iranian voters have taken a look back with the election of Hassan Rouhani, a favorite disciple of revolutionary leader Imam Khomeini, as the country's next president. Their choice is also forward-looking in that it consigns to the past the reformist-conservative split in Iranian politics. As far as the world outside is concerned, the big question is whether Rouhani's ascendance will bring a wind of change in Iran's foreign policy. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Jun 17, '13)
Family rule taints Kurdistan's rise
Political stability and billions of petro-dollars have helped northern Iraq's Kurdistan emerge as an apparent oasis amid the country's chaos. However, dissenting voices against the overbearing reach of regional president Massoud Barzani's family are increasing being silenced, while oil funds aren't reaching the people. The West is well aware of the "power dynamics", but good business makes them a taboo subject. - Derek Monroe
(Jun 17, '13)
SPENGLER
Syria and Egypt can't be fixed
Syria and Egypt were dying before the Syrian civil war broke out and before the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Cairo. They are are dying because they chose not move people from rural backwardness to a modern urban economy. Whatever the Western motivations for trying to help mend them, the two countries are broken and cannot be fixed.
(Jun 17, '13)
UN says 93,000 people killed in Syria
At least 93,000 people were killed in Syria's conflict by the end of April this year, with 6,561 children among the dead, according to the United Nations human rights office. Even as it says the killing continues at "shockingly high levels", the UN acknowledges it has "underreported the number of deaths".
(Jun 14, '13)
Obama's Monica moment
The moral edifice of Barack Obama's presidency has been exposed today as a pack of lies amid desperate war moves to divert attention from the cesspool of the Edward Snowden secrecy leaks. Obama's ploy on military intervention in Syria is the death-knell to the “audacity of hope”, and much like Bill Clinton’s use of Afghanistan as flak for the Monica Lewinsky scandal could have unintended consequences. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Jun 14, '13)
IAEA reform is long overdue
The longer that the International Atomic Energy Agency veers from its mandate as an apolitical technical agency and depends on dubious Western intelligence, as seen in its selective pursuit of Iran, the more its credibility is eroded. Internal IAEA documents show it's exceeding its legal authority and probing Iran on matters it has no business, or capability, to investigate. - Yousaf Butt
(Jun 12, '13)
Religious divides cost Arabs dearly
The Arab people were in the past wary of sinister divides the West would erect between their religions, sects and communities, aware this risked historic bonds that were integral to their proud identity. Now, as Sunnis battle Shi'ites and as Christians are seen as "foreigners" in their homelands, it seems that Arabs have surrendered this path for one that leads towards mistrust, misery and war. - Ramzy Baroud
(Jun 12, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
How prosperity destroyed Arabic culture
Despite oil-generated paper wealth and transitory economic prosperity, the Arab people have failed to regain the Islamic unity needed to restore their historical linkage to change and human progress. Since major public institutions in the Arab world were taken over by Western thinking and agents of influence, economic militarization has led to constant individualistic horrors. - Mahboob A Khawaja
(Jun 11, '13)
Through the Baku Looking Glass
Visiting Baku can be a surreal experience, in part due to the financial smog pervading the Azerbaijan capital and in part because supposedly serious discussions about how to exploit and pipe to the West the Caspian's energy resources can overlook a key point - the necessity of Iran's participation. - Chris Cook
(Jun 11, '13)
Egypt braces for judicial showdown
Controversial draft laws that would force thousands of Egyptian judges into retirement are bringing the post-revolution struggle between the judiciary and the Islamist government to a head. The secular opposition and most judges decry the legislation as a power grab by President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. - Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
(Jun 10, '13)
SPENGLER
Russia's new Middle Eastern role
Russia's promise of S300 surface-to-air missiles to the Assad regime in Syria is upsetting to Western plans, but the matter is up for bargaining - which begs the question of what the Kremlin wants in the Middle East. Its Syrian naval base is a certainty; destruction of the regime in Iran could be another. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin's position is more amenable to US strategic requirements than Barack Obama's.
(Jun 10, '13)
In Turkey, rival soccer fans unite in protest
Clashes with authorities are not a new phenomenon for the fans of Turkey's three most popular soccer teams. But fans of the three clubs - Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray - suddenly found themselves fighting with the common goal of protecting protesters in Istanbul. The image of them teaming up against a common enemy is jarring to any follower of the cutthroat world of Turkish football fandom. - Glenn Kates
(Jun 10, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Kerry spouts nonaligned nuclear hysteria
US Secretary of State John Kerry's bold claim that Iran's nuclear program gets more dangerous every month is alarmist and exaggerated. The real crux of the hysteria is fear of the US losing its monopoly on nuclear weapons and technologies as Iran expands its nuclear enrichment capabilities and shares nuclear technologies with other nonaligned nuclear nations. - Dallas Darling
(Jun 10, '13)
Nuclear issue is key in Iran election
Next week's presidential elections in Iran may serve as a referendum on the country's nuclear diplomacy, given the divergence of policy prescriptions by the eight candidates on the ballot. Saeed Jalili, perhaps the most militant candidate on the issue, may prove the winner, epitomizing as he does a sense of national resistance. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jun 7, '13)
No 'peace at home' in Turkey
Protests raging in Turkey suggest the economic success that had insulated the country from Arab Spring throes had come despite, not as a result of, Recep Tayyip Erdogan's leadership. Overconfident authoritarian gestures by the prime minister's ruling party following its election win, as seen in a kissing ban in Ankara, were the final straw. - Jacques N Couvas
(Jun 7, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Hezbollah don't
take no mess
A prime wet dream among US Think Tanklanders has been the possibility of pitting Hezbollah against al-Qaeda-linked jihadis inside Syria. In the full scale rout of Qusayr, 10 kilometers from the Lebanon border, they got their wish. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah delivered, leaving the usual Western imperial courtiers mourning a Middle East prey to an "aggressive Russian-Iranian axis". - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 6, '13)
Calm and the spreading storm
The mood on the streets of Istanbul suggests the worst of the protest clashes seen over the past few days may be over, at least for now. Warning signs elsewhere, notably in Antakya, where a young man was killed by police fire on Tuesday, point to an increasingly sectarian dimension to the troubles in which spillover from the Syrian civil war remains a possibility. - Victor Kotsev
(Jun 5, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Meet the 'Friends of Jihad'
That about 70% of the Syrian people support President Bashar al-Assad is something the "Friends of Syria" prefer to trample under the nearest Persian rug. As Western governments - notably Britain and France - "lead from behind" to play the Sunni-Shi'ite divide, all they are promoting is perpetual petro-war by proxy. - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 5, '13)
TURKEY IN TURMOIL
Et tu, Gul? Then fall, Erdogan
The hand of Fetullah Gulen, the CIA-linked and self-exiled Turkish leader of one of the most influential movements in the Islamic world, is poised to strike at Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Washington takes the same view of the Turkish prime minister as being an increasingly uncontrollable force, and appears ready to support an "in-house" coup that would bring Gulen ally and Erdogan foe, President Abdullah Gul, to the fore. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Jun 5, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Erdogan risks the 'must go' path
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is playing with fire as he belittles the popular protest spreading among a cross-section of secular Turkey and totally opposed to his highly personalized/autocratic mix of hardcore neoliberalism and conservative religion. The prime minister now deriding demonstrators as "looters" is the same man who said Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak "must listen to his people" and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go. - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 3, '13)
Salvaging the Syrian peace conference
The prospects for the proposed and now delayed Syrian peace conference appear poor at best. Salvaging it requires creative diplomacy, such as experimental "de-militarized zones" that would provide space for gradual reconciliation on the ground, and greater give and take on the part of the Syrian government. Objections to Tehran's participation at the conference should also be dropped. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jun 3, '13)
SPENGLER
The economics of the 'Turkish Spring'
The credit bubble that cosseted Recep Tayyip Erdogan's incipient Islamist dictatorship has now burst while politically directed generosity has come back to bite Turkish consumers. For a growing proportion of Turkish voters who mistrusted his agenda but liked his economics while the going was good, the devil they thought they knew hasn't kept his side of the bargain.
(Jun 3, '13)
Syria: The policy dilemma that endures
Advocates of US military intervention in Syria present the American public with the alluring argument that failing to step in means a missed opportunity to help a great people overthrow a tyrant. Opponents point to the calamitous blowback in the aftermath of every single US misadventure in recent years, stretching back from Libya to Iraq. Damascus's chemical weapons could prove a decisive factor. - Carl O Schuster
(Jun 3, '13)
Atrocities, disunity threaten Syrian rebels
Inflows of Russian and Iranian weapons and Hezbollah fighters are a double-edged sword for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Yet the rebels, even as they cling on to half the country in the face of a powerful offensive from the regime, are delivering the proverbial shot to their own foot through continuing divisions and atrocities perpetrated by many of their number. - Victor Kotsev
(May 31, '13)
Moscow remembers Charlie Wilson's War
While there was no Texan belly dancer, the subterfuge and ideological drive seen in Senator John McCain's flight to Syria had heavy overtones of the 1980s tour by Charlie Wilson to secure arms for the Afghan mujahideen. McCain's maneuver aligns well with Europe removing an arms embargo and wavering US resistance toward boots on the ground, but this time Russia could respond in kind. - M K Bhadrakumar
(May 31, '13)
Khomeini's rebel grandchildren rock the vote
Outspoken demands by Zahra Mostafavi Khomeini that former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's candidacy in next month's presidential vote be restored highlight how, on issues ranging from democracy to women's rights, several grandchildren of the late revolutionary leader are challenging the theocratic regime. When they state that Tehran has deviated from Khomeini's lessons, Tehran knows it resonates with the people. - Helia Ighani and Garrett Nada
(May 31, '13)
Gaza held hostage to Egypt's turmoil
The fall of the Mubarak regime put an end to Egypt's role as a buffer zone for Israel and the US that isolated Hamas from the world. However, a misguided overreaction to kidnapping by Islamist gunmen that saw Cairo order a crossing to the Strip closed underlines that leaders remain insensitive to "collective punishment" as political fodder and the traumas of digging tunnels to survive. - Ramzy Baroud
(May 30, '13)
UK pays price for MI5 courting terror
Links between the alleged killers of a British soldier in London's Woolwich district and the al-Qaeda-backed Al Muhajiroun group likely came as no surprise to the British intelligence service, MI5, which has spent years co-opting Al Muhajiroun members to forward US-UK energy security objectives. Rather than the "self-radicalizing" cells London is blaming, MI5's ruthless pursuit of commercial interests ultimately sowed seeds of the attack. - Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
(May 30, '13)
A warning shot for Turkey-Qatar axis
Limited US condemnation of the Reyhanli bombing in Turkey suggests Washington, like its ally Saudi Arabia, is frustrated with how Turkey and Qatar are pursuing their agendas in Syria, especially their arming of groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Like a recent blast targeting a Qatari delegation in Somalia, the Reyhanli bombing seems targeted to warn Ankara off. - Alper Birdal and Yigit Gunay
(May 29, '13)
Iran seeks dialogue on Syria
Iran is drawing 40 countries, including Turkey, Russia, and China, to Tehran this week to promote peace in Syria, even as the West - and France in particular - criticizes its support of Syria's Bashar al-Assad. The conference offers an alternative forum to Russian-US planned talks in Geneva, which appear likely to legitimize more Western intervention. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(May 28, '13)
What's a disqualified candidate to do?
Disqualifications by Iran's unelected Guardians Council of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei for next month's presidential race have sparked an outcry. Rafsanjani seemingly buckled, while Mashaei, the incumbent president's protege, is taking the only route available to reinstate his candidacy - a direct appeal to the Supreme Leader. - Frud Bezhan
(May 24, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Turkey puts a new paradigm in play
The Arab Spring and the conflict in Syria have forced Turkey to reassess its policy stance of non-interference towards the Middle East "swamp". Ankara has grasped the opportunity created by the conflict to resolve its Kurdish question - taking a path its leaders hope will enable a reawakening of the country's regional ambitions. - Omer Aslan
(May 24, '13)
US moves toward full Iran trade embargo
The United States Congress has stepped closer to a full trade embargo on Iran with legislation intended to increase support for Israel. If it is passed into law, President Barack Obama would lose his waiver rights that ensure countries with historic trade and financial relations with Tehran continue cooperating with Western efforts to pressure Iran over its nuclear program. - Jim Lobe
(May 23, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
And the winner is - Khamenei
Iran's roster of would-be presidents has been whittled down to eight from nearly 700, courtesy vetting by the Guardian Council. Two potential big draws are ruled out - former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim, too much outgoing President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's man. That leaves an uninspiring bunch and one sure winner whoever wins - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. - Pepe Escobar
(May 22, '13)
The case for hope, continued
The crushing feeling of defeat felt by anti-Iraq war activists in 2003 as the invasion was launched is revived today by glass-half-empty Americans who say the Arab Spring failed and the Occupy movement faded. This ignores that, just as that failed war led to the toppling of a neoconservative elite, so to today's revolutions will generate waves of change that grow into social tsunamis. - Rebecca Solnit
(May 22, '13)
US-IRAN TIES: A SPORTING CHANCE
The basketball bridge
Jonas Lalehzadeh, as an American-born basketball player who plays in Iran and for the Islamic Republic's national team, has more insight than most into how passionate Iranians are about the sport. Insisting that sport transcends politics, Lalehzadeh says his fans forget about tensions whenever the National Basketball Association and its players such as Kobe Bryant are mentioned. - Garrett Nada
(May 21, '13)
Syria highlights US political impotence
Contradictory discourse in the US over the Syrian civil conflict underlines how American strategy in the Middle East has become watered-down to the point of impotence. It's a far cry from the days of invading Iraq and carving up the region through "peace deals" - yet this was the likeliest end result of a foreign policy almost entirely reliant on blowing things up. - Ramzy Baroud
(May 21, '13)
SPENGLER
Syria's madness and ours
While atrocities in Syria, such as the cannibalism viewable on YouTube, transfix the West, the real horrors of war are still to come in the Middle East. Americans, whose appetite for horror shows little sign of satiation, cannot abandon the region, but should avoid the conflict in the grim recognition that civilizations determined to destroy themselves cannot be prevented from doing so.
(May 20, '13)
Assad counteroffensive reverberates loudly
Steady gains by regime forces by no means indicate they are about to win the Syrian civil war, even as the reversals suffered by the rebel forces and their penetration by ever-more extreme groups prompt international backers to have second thoughts about their support. Meanwhile, the potential for a spillover of violence in the region is growing. - Victor Kotsev
(May 20, '13)
US-IRAN TIES: A SPORTING CHANCE
Wrestle - in a different way
A distinct relationship that's developed between the US and Iranian wrestling organizations is culminating in the two sides teaming up to try and prevent the sport being dropped for the 2020 Olympics. Politics are easily left aside when the nations' teams hit the mats in a new twist on "ping-pong" diplomacy.
- Garrett Nada (May 17, '13)
Erdogan drags heavy bag to Washington
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps into the White House today for a long-awaited meeting with US President Barack Obama. The conflict in neighboring Syria will likely top the agenda, and, as he carries heavy baggage across the threshold, Erdogan will be only too aware that Middle East power games are becoming more complex. - Egemen B Bezci
(May 16, '13)
Skeptics multiply as UN vote condemns Syria
The UN General Assembly has condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's beleaguered regime, while as expected China and Russia voted against the resolution. Significant. however, was the increase in the number of skeptics who wanted neither to back Damascus nor to hamper a renewed push for peace talks. - Thalif Deen
(May 16, '13)
In Tehran, all eyes are on North Korea
Beneath North Korea's recent bellicosity there is a rational and strategic plan to challenge America's standard operating procedure for dealing with "rogue" states with credible military deterrents. That's reason enough for Iran, itself subjected to economic sanctions, isolation, and containment, to watch carefully how the US handles peninsular tensions. - Giorgio Cafiero and Shawn VL
(May 15, '13)
Nuclear terror in the Middle East
Projections of the millions who would be killed in an Israeli nuclear strike on Iran's capital are as frightening as the knowledge that the US is powerless to derail a war path set by two countries committed to conflict. In a world awash in nuclear weapons, a detonation would cause suffering on an almost unimaginable scale, perhaps nowhere more so than in Tehran. - Nick Turse
(May 14, '13)
Hawking and a brief history of boycotts
The decision by world-renowned physics professor Stephen Hawking to boycott an Israeli academic conference was first dismissed by Israeli officials as insignificant, but signs that high-profile dissent is tearing at the country's carefully tailored narrative on Palestine have since appeared in public. While it warns of attempts to "de-legitimatize" Israel, Tel Aviv expects the world to not question settlements that violate international law. - Ramzy Baroud
(May 14, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
US plays with genocidal fire in Iraq
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is girding for an all-out Shi'ite war on Sunnis as he showed last month by turning his tanks on Sunni protesters in the northern city of Hawijah. If the United States sells Maliki more American weapons, including scheduled squadrons of F-16s, US President Barack Obama will be a willing co-partner in Maliki's Sunni genocide. - Mark Langfan
(May 13, '13)
Saudis, Qatar fire torpedo at Syrian peace
A Saudi Arabia- and Qatar-sponsored draft resolution on Syria is now doing the rounds at the United Nations. Far from being supportive of the US-Russian initiative to hold a peace conference at the end of the month, its divisive points contradict UN findings, offer lop-sided condemnation of the Bashar al-Assad regime, and are likely to undermine current attempts to open meaningful dialogue. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(May 10, '13)
Kerry couldn't set Moscow River on fire
Surprising perceptions of a "breakthrough" on Syria emerged from the shadow play and low expectations shrouding United States Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Moscow. While a shift in the US demand that President Bashar al-Assad should quit as a prelude to peace talks was significant, new challenges confront both sides: not least Washington will struggle to convince its Gulf allies to join the Syrian leader at the same table. - M K Bhadrakumar
(May 9, '13)
Red-line rhetoric in Syria
The US and allies, after initially throwing their lot behind the Syrian uprising, are now alarmed by the advances of al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, which pose as big a threat to Israel as they do to the Syrian regime, Iran and Hezbollah. The best the West can hope for now is some form of direct occupation, which is why it is likely Israel has been invited to intervene. - Shahab Jafry
(May 9, '13)
Decade after Iraq, hawks reunite over Syria
Ten years after right-wingers and liberal hawks united to push the US into invading Iraq, key members of the two groups are coming together to back stronger US military intervention in Syria. Liberals appear motivated by a desire to stop the violence and prevent regional contagion, while the neo-cons among right-wingers see American intervention in Syria as a key to defeating Iran. - Jim Lobe
(May 8, '13)
Turkey brings refugees out of the shadows
A new asylum law in Turkey does not remove historic clauses that limit the granting of refugee status solely to Europeans, yet it crucially guarantees the right to legal representation for all seeking refuge, enabling a full-scale modernization of the system to bring it up to Europe's standards. - Zaid Hydari
(May 8, '13)
SINOGRAPH
China widens stride
on Middle East stage
As the US repositions its core foreign and economic policy to the Pacific theater, China has stepped in to fill the gap on the Middle Eastern stage with an offer to host a summit between the Israelis and Palestinians. True, Beijing would prefer to stay out of the conflict, but it has strong reasons to take a mediation role in a region increasingly vital to its national interests. - Francesco Sisci
(May 8, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Israel rescues Mujahid Obama
Israel's bombing of Syrian army installations near Damascus is an act of war, and a timely one for President Barack Obama, just when the "red line" charade was reaching fever pitch and he had to choose between the US "exercising restraint" or "directly involving itself" in the Syrian war. - Pepe Escobar
(May 7, '13)
Multiple messages in Israel's Syria strikes
Fact and fiction cannot easily be separated from the rubble of the air strikes on Syrian past days. The attacks may have been a letter from America delivered by Israeli warplanes over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons, or were they an attempt to send a message to Iran about Israeli capabilities? - Victor Kotsev
(May 6, '13)
Attacks reframe the Syrian crisis
Israel's latest air strike in Syria has been called an "act of war" by Syrian officials and brought calls from Iran for the Arab world to "take a united stand". That makes pushing the throttle further a risky proposition for Israel as it shifts the focus from civil war to inter-state conflict. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(May 6, '13)
Iraq: Mission unaccomplished
On May 1, 2003, George Bush famously announced "mission accomplished" in Iraq. For young American television cameraman Andrew Arnett, the air was still thick with the stench of death and decay. Ten years later, he questions if the optimism among the Iraqi people over the ousting of Saddam Hussein has all but evaporated.
(May 2, '13)
Syrian conflict casts long shadow over Iraq
The Syrian conflict is testing Shi'ite loyalties of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to Iran and Tehran's ally, Bashar al-Assad. Uncertain allegiances and spillover fears amid an influx of Syrian refugees make Iraq's official neutral stance on the fight in Syria all but academic. - Laith Hammoudi
(May 2, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
The Syria-Iran red line show
The Bushist Obama "red line" as applied to Syria and Iran is becoming a tad ridiculous. Prevailing "wisdom" in Washington is that the limits in place for Syria (like the US-Israeli fabricated hysteria on chemical weapons) must be enforced with the same color-coded spin used for Iran. There is no "red line", just a hue and cry to drown out hardcore weaponizing of Israel and the Gulf petro-monarchies. - Pepe Escobar
(May 2, '13)
Irrational rhetoric fuels illegal wars
The anti-Islam circus in the US received another boost following the Boston Marathon bombings, with the political jugglers and media acrobats who preach hate to all Muslims indirectly ensuring the public are a willing audience for any hegemonic US act in the Middle East. The vitriol of the spectacle is not without cool calculation. - Ramzy Baroud
(May 2, '13)
A tulip for all seasons in Iran
From ancient times until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the tulip has been a potent symbol in Iran. In modern times, the flower became a motif of the Green Movement's failed struggle for justice, and now it adorns a Facebook page marking the Iran-Iraq war. - Garrett Nada
(May 1, '13)
Iran softens tune on Israel
Ahead of elections in June, prominent Iranian voices including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani are presenting a softer tone on Israel than President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Within the policy debate is a cognitive switch that, drawn to a logical conclusion, could see both countries acting in concert to stop Syria falling to radical Sunni Islamists. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Apr 30, '13)
Syria says PM escapes car bomb
Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi survived a bomb attack on his convoy in central Damascus, according to state media, which said he was not hurt and immediately continued with his day's business. With government forces gaining ground in recent weeks, the strike appears to be a message of defiance from rebels.
(Apr 30, '13)
Israeli yellow card for US on Iran
Israel is standing up to American pressure to leave the Iranian nuclear program to Washington, despite recent reciprocal high-level visits and an "unprecedented" US$10 billion arms deal. Its intensions appear to be two-track: to push the US into more decisive action and to prepare world opinion for a unilateral strike on Iran. - Victor Kotsev
(Apr 30, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Albright's role in Iran dialogue
The world of misinformation concerning Iran's nuclear program continues to spin relentlessly. Somewhere near the center, David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, misses no real or perceived opportunity to blame the Islamic Republic for global security woes. - Ardeshir Ommani
(Apr 29, '13)
White House fuels US debate on Syria
A White House letter to US congressional leaders suggesting it has intelligence that Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime used chemical weapons has reignited debate about direct US military involvement. It's not clear if Barack Obama's "red line" has been crossed since, according to one commentator, the letter was "weasel-worded" to preserve all options. - Jasmin Ramsey
(Apr 26, '13)
Al-Qaeda and Iran: Enemies with benefits
Al-Qaeda elements in Iran gave "direction and guidance" to two men arrested by Canadian authorities this week who allegedly planned to derail a passenger train. Tehran has denied involvement and there no evidence of Iranian sponsorship. The Shi'ite theocracy in Iran and Sunni terrorists in al-Qaeda are not natural allies. - Matthew Duss
(Apr 26, '13)
BOOK REVIEW
How humanitarians
trumped neo-cons in Libya
Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO's War on Libya and Africa by Maximilian Forte
The succession of human-rights based scare stories used to justify Western intervention in Libya, from the looming bloodbath in Benghazi to the African mercenaries and the "mass rapes", underscore the colonial mentality of the liberal lynch mob who backed the invasion. While it's similar to the smoking gun deception over Iraq, at least the neo-cons never claimed to be kind. - Dan Glazebrook
(Apr 25, '13)
Israel, Palestine indicate peace bid
A comprehensive push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians appears to be underway, though hidden from public view, amid an overarching sense of urgency to reach a deal. Complex bargaining involving the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Israel and reports of a US attempt to convene a major summit in June, make a significant shift in the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate likely soon. - Victor Kotsev
(Apr 25, '13)
Boston shock may push Obama to the right
In terms of foreign and domestic policy, the first terror strike on United States soil since 9/11 has weakened Barack Obama's presidency and increases pressure on him to veer to the right. A concerted effort to use the Boston attack to press a defensive White House for a more hawkish anti-Iran agenda is indicative of an attempted policy coup. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Apr 24, '13)
Guantanamo inmates hungry for freedom
Feeling as long-forgotten as President Barack Obama's pledges to close down Guantanamo Bay, inmates at the detention center have gone on hunger strike. Their desperation is likely motivated not only by injustice, broken promises and lawmakers' obstacles, but also by increasingly apparent concerns that Gitmo will never close its doors. - Ramzy Baroud
(Apr 24, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Cold War lessons apply to Syria
President Barack Obama's reluctance to make hard decisions over the Syrian conflict has echoes of incoherent US policy behind the Bay of Pigs fiasco. As in the Cuban invasion, when Washington was unsure what would happen once the exiles established their presence on the beach, so too the current administration has no idea of what Syria should become if the rebels actually win. - Jared Metzker
(Apr 24, '13)
Political ghosts haunt Turkey
The 20th anniversary of former Turkish prime minister Turgut Ozal's death last week coincided with a court finally filing charges over his suspected assassination, throwing focus on the legacy of a man credited with liberalizing the economy, defying the army and tackling the "Kurdish question". However, the way Ozal came to and held power undermines his image as a symbol of interrupted democracy. - Caleb Lauer
(Apr 23, '13)
SPENGLER
Turkey's ticking debt time-bomb
The consequences of spiraling short-term foreign debt for Turkey's government could be devastating should the largesse of Gulf states fade. As other emerging economies maintain growth and as a domestic consumer bubble rapidly expands, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's claim to leadership of the Islamic world - let alone his own country - is looking far less credible.
(Apr 23, '13)
US goes through Middle East motions
The spin Washington put on US Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to the Middle East - that nurturing economic cooperation between Israel and Palestine will create a climate conducive to peace - was designed to mask the lack of real progress and growing sentiment that the administration is sacrificing far too much energy and political capital on the issue. - Mitchell Plitnick
(Apr 22, '13)
IMF, World Bank spineless
with Gulf's dictators
The spineless treatment of the Persian Gulf oil dictatorships by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has little impact on their rulers' self-enriching policies. With a bit of backbone, the organizations could recommend, inter alia, full disclosure of offshore accounts exceeding US$1 million of all rulers worldwide. - Hossein Askari
(Apr 19, '13)
Social media lures Iran's Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has launched several pages on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with daily updates advertising Iran's scientific achievements or railing against Western foreign policy. The ironies that Tehran bans Facebook and that he posts using American-based apps seems lost on the Supreme Leader. - Helia Ighani
(Apr 19, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Qatar and Saudis divide and conquer
It's rich that Qatar promotes the rights of women, immigrants, and people without states, while being at heart a Wahhabist absolute monarchy. By funding groups and movements promoting Islamism, the Gulf kingdom has joined Saudi Arabia in Western-inspired tactics of division. - Sean Fenley
(Apr 17, '13)
Elites ask Washington to drop Iran gun
Nearly three dozen former top US diplomatic, military, and intelligence officials have put heft behind calls for Washington to strengthen diplomacy with Iran. They back a new Iran Project report that says sanctions and military threats have hurt Iran's economy and slowed its nuclear program, but have failed to create a peace breakthrough or to reduce Tehran's regional influence. - Jim Lobe
(Apr 17, '13)
Beit Daras and a buried history of massacres
As lamentable as the decades without justice for the Palestinians massacred by Zionist paramilitary groups in places like Deir Yassin and Beit Daras is the fact that such atrocities are only accepted when recorded by "credible" Israeli historians. The Palestinian narrative's reliance on borrowed analogies and borrowed histories makes a travesty of the search for recognition and redress. - Ramzy Baroud
(Apr 16, '13)
'Chemical warfare' deepens Syrian horror
Rebels and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have accused each other of perpetrating chemical weapons attacks reported in Aleppo and other places. It if difficult to know the truth, but with large-scale intervention distant it can be said for sure that horror in Syria is set to deepen. - Victor Kotsev
(Apr 15, '13)
SPENGLER
When hunger came to Egypt
Prices of subsidized basics like bread, sugar and oil in Egypt look like going the same way as the price of beans - beyond the reach of half the population - as the flat-broke state sinks further into the financial mire. The question is how long Egyptians can go hungry before the Muslim Brotherhood loses its capacity to govern.
(Apr 15, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
The Islamic Emirate of Syriastan
As Islamic brigades answer al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri's call to form an Islamic Emirate in Syria, Syrian jihadists, with a little help from Western weapons, are preparing an annex to Iraqi jihadis. Baghdad sees the writing on the wall: as a direct consequence of divide and rule Sunni-against-Shi'ite games the Americans have been encouraging for 10 years now, the stage is set for a civil war, Syria-style, in Iraq. - Pepe Escobar
(Apr 12, '13)
Sunni rivalries threaten local Iraqi vote
Violence generated by a split within Iraq's ruling Sunni coalition is complicating an already dire security situation in the lead up to local elections. Sunni militias who once fought shoulder to shoulder against al-Qaeda are now turning their sights on each other, and assassinating candidates in the April 20 polls. - Ron Synovitz
(Apr 11, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
West chemical fait accompli in Syria
While the West is concerned that forcing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s back against the wall could prompt him to attack Israeli defenses and population centers with chemical weapons, a successful intervention against him could equally see toxic weapons including binary warheads, aerial incendiary and cluster bombs falling into the hands of radical Islamic rebels.
- Bob Rigg
(Apr 11, '13)
US belittles Iran's nuclear offer
There is nothing "token" about an offer from Iran that puts to rest a lion's share of the West's nuclear proliferation concerns about Iran. But that's how the milestone approach is being presented after talks that restored a mistrustful status quo ante and the Western justification for expansion of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The West's illogical response to Tehran's showing peaceful intentions risks major escalation of the crisis. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Apr 11, '13)
COMMENT
Morsi's sputtering start to democracy
The Muslim Brotherhood has no monopoly on the future vision of Egypt, even if it appears to be seeking a monopoly on power. If President Muhammad Morsi is to be the president of all of Egypt, he must take concrete steps to alleviate his citizens' concerns about his leadership, create jobs for the youth, and partner with leaders of different ideological stripes to build a more democratic Egypt. - Emile Nakhleh
(Apr 10, '13)
Brotherhood turns back on Gaza
Post-revolution Egypt is maintaining the very policy of isolating Gaza first espoused by former dictator Hosni Mubarak. Overwhelmed by persistent political deadlock at home, the ruling Muslim Brotherhood approaches matters concerning Palestinians with utmost caution and is offering little to help the Hamas government overcome the Israeli blockade. Ramzy Baroud
(Apr 10, '13)
Will Kurdish ceasefire change Turkey's role?
The beginning of the end of the three-decade fight over greater autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish minority could temper not only Turkey's suspicions of its ethnic minorities, but of its neighbors too. Some see a diplomatic peace-dividend extending from Cyprus to the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan. - Dorian Jones
(Apr 9, '13)
Soccer riots and Egyptian democracy
Protests over the highly publicized trial of defendants in the deadly February 2012 Port Said soccer riots have contributed to growing anti-police sentiment in Egypt. As many fans blame acquitted police for the 79-plus deaths on that day, and turn against security forces for suppressing dissent, football fan clubs look set to reprise their unexpectedly powerful political role in the country's revolutionary path. - Leslie Garvey
(Apr 9, '13)
Israel watches the show beyond Almaty
Iran's arch-enemy Israel has made noises that suggest it will wait at least until the upcoming election in Iran before acting on its own in any strike on nuclear facilities there. As international negotiations look poised to rumble on after the latest negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the predominant view is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to give American diplomacy another chance to resolve the crisis peacefully. - Victor Kotsev
(Apr 8, '13)
Iran talks yield no deal, but build confidence
Negotiators involved on the latest round of international talks over Iran's nuclear program cautioned against any wind of a breakthrough, yet the dialogue proved its value in continuing to build confidence. With Israel acting to impede a formula for a successful deal, the deployment of sanctions and the status quo look set
to grind on. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Apr 8, '13)
Europe welcomes Gulf funds
Plans by Qatar to launch a US$100 billion sovereign wealth fund to invest in European construction throw a harsh spotlight on economic prospects of the Arab world, including some of the world's highest income inequality and unemployment rates. European support for the pact at a high level suggests the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has agreed to commit itself to protecting the rule of the emir in return for geopolitical and economic support. - Ardeshir Ommani
(Apr 8, '13)
After Iraq, the moral abyss still gapes
The only courtroom facing US politicians, policy makers, and bureaucrats who justified the Iraqi invasion with lies is the court of public opinion, and most will receive light sentences. This leaves a generation of American children with the message that manipulating the truth is acceptable, while raising the chances that, like past empires, US dominance will fall due to moral decay from within. - Adil E Shamoo
(Apr 5, '13)
Iran's nuclear father gives US a clue
Dr Akbar Etemad, who was in charge of Iran's fledgling nuclear program between 1974 and 1978, has shed light on what is likely to be the Islamic Republic's fundamental motive in seeking the "threshold" capability previously sought by the Shah - defense, devoid of aggression. The US has other means than punishing Iran to discourage the spread of dual-use technologies. - Peter Jenkins
(Apr 5, '13)
Now for a vacation in Gaza, maybe
A cheery rendition of Gaza City's highlights is part of a tourist map in English devised by geographers to create a sense of normality in the occupied territory. While its creators recognize a flourishing tourism industry to be a distant dream, the map aims to show the people of Gaza are hospitable and welcoming. - Eva Bartlett
(Apr 4, '13)
How Turkey's regional ambitions crumbled
Pre-Arab Spring Turkey seemed to have found a magical non-confrontational formula to resolve historic regional tensions, with the ruling Justice and Development Party proclaiming its re-election victory in 2011 as a win for countries stretching from the Balkans to North Africa and Central Asia. The euphoria died when the flames of Syria's sectarian violence licked Turkey's borders, forcing it back towards Israel. - Ramzy Baroud
(Apr 4, '13)
Coalition frays on eve of Iran nuclear talks
China and Russia are increasingly at odds with their other P5+1 partners (the US, Britain, France, plus Germany) on the eve of talks with Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, according to Javier Solana. The European Union's former top foreign policy official says fears of a spike in energy prices due to additional Western sanctions are driving the rift. - Jim Lobe
(Apr 2, '13) |
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ATol Specials
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How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
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Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar '06 - ongoing)
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The evidence for and against Iran's alleged
nuclear weapons program
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Nir Rosen rides with the US 3rd
Armored Cavalry in western Iraq
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Islamism, fascism and
terrorism
by Marc Erikson
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Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
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