Posted in Arab Gulf, Democracy, J. Scott Carpenter on Oct 16th, 2008 Comments Off on Listening in, in Dubai
From J. Scott Carpenter In a Policy Watch of The Washington Institute that ran today, I reflect on yet another Bush Administration initiative that has been left to crawl forward weakly without sustained U.S. leadership: the G-8’s Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) Initiative. Like a man dying of thirst in a hot desert, […]
Posted in Culture, Philip Carl Salzman on Oct 16th, 2008 1 Comment »
From Philip Carl Salzman In Israel, there is a political lobby group called “Peace Now,” as if peace were a circumstance that could be brought into being by the political will of one party. The same sentiment was expressed, somewhat less arrogantly, by Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, when he famously (or infamously) said that […]
Posted in Democracy, Geopolitics, Martin Kramer, Philip Carl Salzman, Tamara Cofman Wittes on Oct 15th, 2008 5 Comments »
From Tamara Cofman Wittes There are two opposing coalitions in the Middle East today. On the one hand, there is a revisionist coalition comprised of Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah—a coalition dissatisfied with the distribution of power in the region, and dissatisfied with the current agenda-setters and frameworks for state action. These revisionists include states […]
Posted in Democracy, Michele Dunne on Oct 14th, 2008 Comments Off on Democracy promotion: three fallacies
From Michele Dunne Can the United States still promote democracy in the Arab countries? There are three misguided assumptions and assertions circulating in discussions on this question: The United States has contaminated the idea of democracy in the Middle East and now Arabs do not want democracy because it is connected with U.S. policy. It […]
Posted in Announcements, Books, Michael Mandelbaum on Oct 13th, 2008 Comments Off on And the winners are…
From Michael Mandelbaum The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has launched a book prize for the three best books on the Middle East published in the previous year. I had the honor and pleasure of serving as one of the three jurors for the inaugural awards, along with Jim Hoagland and Bernard Lewis. The […]
Posted in Arab Gulf, Gal Luft, Iran, Oil and Gas, Saudi Arabia on Oct 11th, 2008 Comments Off on Financial crisis: OPEC to blame?
From Gal Luft There is so much blame to go around in the wake of the financial crisis that there is no wonder OPEC’s name shows up high in the list of culprits. After all, soaring oil prices and loss of wealth in 2008 to the tune of $1.2-$1.9 billion each and every working day, […]
Posted in Adam Garfinkle, Iran, Israel, Oil and Gas on Oct 9th, 2008 Comments Off on ‘Redefining U.S. Interests in the Middle East’
From MESH Admin The latest contribution to Middle East Papers is by Adam Garfinkle, editor of the journal The American Interest. Garfinkle (a particularly prolific contributor to MESH) argues that the conventional understanding of U.S. interests no longer accords with post-Cold War realities. The protection of oil, support for Israel, and preservation of U.S. hegemony […]
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