Middle East & North Africa Archives - Page 219 of 594

Annotate This! President Obama’s Afghanistan Escalation Speech

by Phyllis Bennis, Erik Leaver | Dec 2, 2009

There was one way in which President Obama’s escalation speech brought significant relief to the 59% of people in this country, as well as the overwhelming majorities of people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East and elsewhere who oppose the U.S. war in Afghanistan: It was a pretty lousy speech. That is, it had none of the power, the lyricism, the passion for history, the capacity to engage and to persuade virtually every listener, even those who may ultimately disagree, that have characterized the president’s earlier addresses.

Fort Hood: The War at Home

by John Feffer, Fouad Pervez | Nov 20, 2009

The nation is still reeling from the recent tragedy at the Fort Hood base in Texas, which left 13 U.S. soldiers dead and over 30 wounded. Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, perpetrated the horrific crime. Most media outlets have turned this into a case of security at military bases and have focused attention on ideology and religion as motivating factors.

Morocco: Endangered ‘Model’?

by John Feffer, Eric Goldstein | Nov 16, 2009

How should the United States relate to a solid ally whose human rights record is better than the norm in its region and better than its own record of 20 years ago — but is now heading in the wrong direction?

Bipartisan Attack on International Humanitarian Law

by Emily Schwartz Greco, Stephen Zunes | Nov 4, 2009

In a stunning blow against international law and human rights, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Tuesday attacking the report of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict. The report was authored by the well-respected South African jurist Richard Goldstone and three other noted authorities on international humanitarian law, who had been widely praised for taking leadership in previous investigations of war crimes in Rwanda, Darfur, the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere. Since this report documented apparent war crimes by a key U.S. ally, however, Congress has taken the unprecedented action of passing a resolution condemning it. Perhaps most ominously, the resolution also endorses Israel’s right to attack Syria and Iran on the grounds that they are "state sponsors of terrorism."

From Geneva with Love: Breakthrough in U.S.-Iranian Relations?

by Bernd Kaussler, Erik Leaver | Oct 30, 2009

This is part of a strategic dialogue on Iran. You can read Duran Parsi’s piece here.

When U.S. Undersecretary of State William Nicholas Burns, met Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili at the United Nations in Geneva on October 1, it marked the first-ever high-level bilateral meeting between Washington and Tehran in 30 years.

Rethinking Iran

by Erik Leaver, Duran Parsi | Oct 29, 2009

This is part of a strategic dialogue on Iran. You can read Bernd Kaussler’s piece here.

Engaging with the Muslim World Will Require More than a Special Representative

by Anne Hagood, Erik Leaver | Oct 26, 2009

A key facet of the Obama administration’s broader foreign policy strategy has been engaging with the Muslim world. This administration’s willingness to do so was welcomed as a beacon of hope across the globe and Obama’s speeches in the Middle East this spring brought long awaited overtures between America and Muslim communities.

Review: ‘Guardians of the Revolution’

by John Feffer, Duran Parsi | Oct 13, 2009

Guardians of the Revolution, by Council on Foreign Relations scholar Ray Takeyh, offers candid insights into Iranian politics, delving into the origins of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and tracking its evolution over the past 30 years. The current debate in Iran and among outside observers centers around whether or not the spirit of that revolution is still alive today. Many of the figures instrumental in building and sustaining the Islamic Revolution and which Takeyh brings to life in his book — Mir Hossein Mussavi, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali Larijani, Mohammad Khatami, and Hosein-Ali Montazeri are now virulently opposed to the regime. On the other side of the debate, Takeyh explains the rise of the New Right, a group of conservatives headed by Ayatollah Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who have slowly gained and entrenched themselves in the heart of the Iranian government.

Toward an Abrahamic Peace

by Kevin Funk, Arthur Waskow | Oct 8, 2009

In what some world strategists call “the arc of instability” from Pakistan to Israel and Palestine — and what others call the central pool of oil and still others call the heart of Islam — there are several sets of overlapping wars, military occupations, and semi-military sanctions in process between the U.S. and its allies and various Muslim-majority countries.

The Goldstone Report: Killing the Messenger

by John Feffer, Stephen Zunes | Oct 7, 2009

On October 1, the Obama administration successfully pressured the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva to drop its proposal to recommend that the UN Security Council endorse the findings of the Goldstone Commission report. The report, authored by renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone, detailed the results of the UNHRC’s fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict. These findings included the recommendation that both Hamas and the Israeli government bring to justice those responsible for war crimes during the three weeks of fighting in late December and early January. If they don’t, the report urges that the case be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible prosecution.