Posted in Egypt, Iran, Jon Alterman, Michele Dunne on Apr 14th, 2009 3 Comments »
From Michele Dunne After several years in which Egypt seemed to have ceded the mantle of Arab leadership to Saudi Arabia (and even to small states such as Qatar), the octogenarian Husni Mubarak has become reenergized in the last few months. He came out swinging against Hezbollah last week, charging the Lebanese group with efforts […]
Posted in Geopolitics, Iran, Philip Carl Salzman on Apr 14th, 2009 Comments Off on Persians and Others: Iran’s minority politics
From Philip Carl Salzman There is a natural tendency to reify countries and think of them as unitary entities, often indicated by calling countries “nations” and presuming a homogeneity and uniformity among the population. But this reification and assumption of homogeneity are almost always inaccurate and misleading. In the case of Iran, it would be […]
Posted in Iran, Mark N. Katz, Philip Carl Salzman, Public Diplomacy on Mar 21st, 2009 1 Comment »
From Philip Carl Salzman . [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/6MDklneATBI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] . President Obama used the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, to reach out to the Iranian people and the government of the Islamic Republic, promising a new start and relations based on mutual respect. The President stressed the commonalities between Americans and […]
Posted in Culture, Iran, Josef Joffe, Walter Laqueur, Walter Reich on Mar 11th, 2009 2 Comments »
From Josef Joffe . [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/rGsHUfl9xEE ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] . It was high time that anti-Semitism would find something hipper than those dusty Protocols of the Elders of Zion, concocted sometime between 1895 and 1902 by Russian journalist Matvei Golovinski and then used by the pro-Tsarists to discredit reforms in Russia as a […]
Posted in Afghanistan, Arab Gulf, Geopolitics, Iran, Martin Kramer, Pakistan, Terminology on Mar 2nd, 2009 1 Comment »
From Martin Kramer The appointment of Dennis Ross as “Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for The Gulf and Southwest Asia” (announcement here) has caused some puzzlement, in part because the geographic focus of his title seems fuzzy. This is especially so for “Southwest Asia.”
Posted in Iran, Mark T. Clark, Nuclear on Feb 21st, 2009 Comments Off on Iran’s methodical march
From Mark T. Clark Iran is already posing new challenges to the Obama administration. Two recent developments in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs are worth mentioning. First, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a recent report on Iranian nuclear activities. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a Washington-based think tank, analyzed […]
Posted in Geopolitics, Iran, Michael Young on Feb 10th, 2009 Comments Off on Iran and the Arabs… and Obama
From Michael Young . [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/Ufe5dt6iVaI ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] . Is Iran trying to create a “Shiite crescent,” as its Arab critics insist, or is it a country merely interested in helping the oppressed in the Middle East, Sunnis and Shiites alike? That’s the question indirectly posed in this news report from Al-Jazeera […]
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