Somewhere, there must be an investigate journalist who will link the violence of the likes of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to abuse they may have suffered as children.
The Book About Terrorism Crying Out to Be Written
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Middle East & North Africa
Morocco’s Short-Sighted Politics
April of this year marked the 21st anniversary since the UN Security Council accepted responsibility for trying to resolve the Western Sahara conflict through a referendum on self-determination. The referendum has never taken place, nor is it likely to ever happen. Nor, for that matter, is it likely that the conflict will be resolved through the mutually acceptable political solution that the Council has been asking for since April 2004.
Are Islamists Role Models to Christian Fundamentalists?
Despite what Christian fundamentalists wish, religion and politics are unlikely to become one in the United States.
Lip Service Is All the Bahraini Opposition Will Ever Get From Washington*
Despite Bahrain’s authoritarian rule, Washington still sells it military equipment.
Israel’s Reluctant Friend
A new and perhaps surprising country took center stage recently in the ongoing row over Iran’s nuclear program – Azerbaijan. Citing anonymous “high-level sources” from U.S. diplomatic and intelligence circles, a controversial article in Foreign Policy at the end of March suggested the possibility that Israel might have been proffered the use of Azerbaijani airstrips for any strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
U.S. Sides With Israel’s Nukes Over Iran’s Lack Thereof
The United States sides with a state with an illegal nuclear weapons program over one without one.
Syrian Kurds Fleeing to Iraqi Safe Haven
It was a January evening when his Syrian army unit raided a house near the city of Zabadani, not far from Damascus, the former sergeant recalled. A 70-year-old man wearing a hospital gown was brought to the house, and the soldiers, including a colonel, interrogated him. When he wasn’t able to respond to their satisfaction, one of the guards beat him ferociously in the face with a helmet.
Labor Trafficking: Modern-day Slave Trade
The freer flow of commodities and capital has been one of the features of the contemporary process of globalization. Unlike in the earlier phase of globalization in the 19th century, however, the freer flow of commodities and capital has not been accompanied by a freer movement of labor globally. The dynamic centers of the global economy, after all, have imposed ever tighter restrictions on migration from the poorer countries.Yet the demand for cheap labor in the richer parts of the world continues to grow, even as more and more people in developing countries seek to escape conditions of economic stagnation and poverty that are often the result of the same dynamics of a system of global capitalism that have created prosperity in the developed world.
Elections and Instability in Algeria
Algeria’s instability claimed another self-immolation victim, Rechak Hamza, on April 29. Hamza set himself on fire in Jijel, in eastern Algeria, suffering third-degree burns. He was airlifted to a hospital in Constantine before succumbing to his injuries. His funeral was held on May 2.
Promoting Democracy in Iran Is Not Only Wishful Thinking, But Belligerent
Foreign Affairs contributor Patrick Clawson clings to the hoary old myth of democracy promotion as a means to regime change in Iran.