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Iran: Ministry of Intelligence steps up Activities as Opposition Demonstrations Resume

Last Thursday (March 3), Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei held a brief visit to the Ministry of Intelligence headquarters in Tehran. Khamenei visited… Continue reading

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Hamas ordered five Israelis murdered following secret Islamist Khartoum parley

The Itamar attack was the first result of an Iran-funded secret conference in Khartoum last week of the heads of the national branches of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Arab world… Continue reading

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U.S. Middle East Policy and Those Little Ideas That Get Millions of People Killed

I listened again to President Barack Obama’s main speech on Egypt back during the revolution and two phrases caught my ear… Continue reading

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Turkey Remains an “Angry Nation” but could still serve as a Democratic Inspiration

Turkey remains an “Angry nation”, tormented by the many ghosts of its history, some of which still lurk in the shadows. Its political system… Continue reading

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Arab Political Upheavals: Obsession with Israel Blinded Westerners to the Real Middle East

As we consider the lessons of the dramatic upheavals in Arabic-speaking countries one of the main ones is this: the overriding obsession with… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: U.K.’s Briefing on Terminated BAE/Saudi Arabia Foreign Bribery Case

During a three-day meeting in January 2007 of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, a separate session of the meeting was devoted to the U.K.’s termination… Continue reading

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U.S. Head of Intelligence James Clapper Should Be Fired

If the Obama Administration would listen more to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates it might salvage its foreign policy… Continue reading

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Squaring the Circle: The PKK Return to Violence and Turkey’s Intractable Kurdish Problem

On February 28, 2011, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced that it was abrogating its unilateral ceasefire first declared on… Continue reading

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Amr Moussa: Meet Egypt’s Next President?

It’s now official. The Egyptian presidential election will pit Amr Moussa against Muhammad ElBaradei. It’s hard to see a… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: Afghan Tribal Elders Threaten to ‘Fight NATO like the Soviets’

US diplomats in Afghanistan continually warned that night raids against insurgents by special forces had dramatically eroded public support for the Nato mission… Continue reading

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Why Does the Media Report the Opposite of What’s True in the Middle East?

Here’s one of a thousand examples of how Middle East reality is being misrepresented. I’m told by people that the deputy head of… Continue reading

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Shahbaz Bhatti and the Death of Reason

My time in Pakistan was glorious. I taught bright, beautiful and hopeful students who saw the world not as a series of… Continue reading

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Ending Turkey’s nightmare

The arrest of prominent journalists in Turkey on March 3, among them a recipient of the International Press Institute’s “World Press Freedom Hero” award… Continue reading

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Palestinian Leaders’ Response to Democratic Upheaval: Fire the Honest Guy

The Palestinian Authority doesn’t have to worry about democratic upheavals since it has the nationalist and anti-Israel cards to play… Continue reading

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Bahrain Opposition Cleric: We Want Sharia Law State

Not everyone in the opposition movements in Arab countries are Islamists, of course, but at least outside of… Continue reading

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Hamas Applauds anti-Israel Position of the New Egyptian Foreign Minister

Hamas applauded Nabil al-Arabi’s statements. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called his positions “honorable” and said he… Continue reading

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Egypt and the Middle East: Romanticism Meets Reality

The projected million-women march turned out just 400 and they were harassed and in some cases attacked. Meanwhile, thousands of Muslims and Christians… Continue reading

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Egypt: Women Suffer Assault and Derision at Tahrir March

The romanticism of the Egyptian Revolution meets the reality of Islam dominated society. Read this report by Ali Abdel Mohsen about the Million Women March… Continue reading

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Gaddafi: The Libyan People ‘will take up Arms against Western Powers’ if Attacked

The Libyan people will take up arms against Western powers if they seek to enforce a no-fly zone in their country’s airspace… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: Saudis fear ‘Shia triangle’ of Iran, Iraq and Pakistan

America is often portrayed as the big dog in Pakistan’s yard: a swaggering power that makes rules, barks orders and throws its weight around… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: Yemen President Saleh says Foreign Forces are Wrecking his Country

President Saleh tells the US that from the UK, Qatar and Libya aiding the southerners, to Iran and Hezbollah engineering the Houthi rebellion… Continue reading

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Iran: Rafsanjani Loses Key Post, Mahdavi Kani New Assembly of Experts Chairman

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been replaced as head of the Assembly of Experts committee constitutionally tasked with… Continue reading

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Why U.S. Policy is so Bad: An Analysis of the Current Policymaking Process

The problem is that the people most qualified to be heard and who have the better understanding of the situation are being ignored… Continue reading

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WikiLeaks: Iranian Outreach to Latin America

Washington analysts assess that Tehran is reaching out to Latin American countries in order to reduce its diplomatic isolation and increase ties to leftist… Continue reading

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Arab Liberals Worry About an Islamist Egypt; Western Observers Claim There’s No Threat

while Western observers ridicule the fear of an Islamist Egypt, a lot of Arab writers are very worried. In fact, here are three articles that display such concerns… Continue reading