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Beware The Leader Who Bangs The Drums of War

It should be getting pretty hard even for Western leaders to ignore the Turkish regime’s growing alliance with their enemies. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Lebanon included a very dangerous statement that must not go unnoticed… Continue reading

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North Korea: Adding Insult To Injury

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be very happy with such a “nuclear” friend in North Korea… Continue reading

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US 2010 Religious Freedom Report Toned Down Criticism of Israel

The U.S. State Department’s 2010 International Religious Freedom Report that was released last week, actually toned down the unjustified criticism that for years was the norm in the document authored by… Continue reading

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After The Yom Kippur War

In July 1972, the Egyptian President announced that he had asked the Soviet government to withdraw its “advisers” from Egypt. The reason, he said, was that the Soviets had refused his requests for more sophisticated weapons with which to attack Israel… Continue reading

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The Lame Duck

Actually, a “Lame-Duck President” is a President who either has just lost a bid for re-election or is ineligible for re-election. But Obama’s recent congressional election losses, coupled with political failures abroad have… Continue reading

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Palestinians Commemorate the Sixth Anniversary of Arafat’s Death

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday commemorated the sixth anniversary of late leader Yasser Arafat’s death and asserted the Palestinians right to petition the United Nations Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state if Israel refuses to halt settlement… Continue reading

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Democracy’s Balancing Act

When I started drawing the Dry Bones cartoons, way back in January of 1973, the accepted wisdom was that the future for a democratic Middle East was tied to the fortunes of Christian Lebanon, the secular government of Muslim Turkey, and the Jewish State of Israel… Continue reading

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The War Before The Six Day War

On May 14, 1967, the territorial limits of the State of Israel were the lines agreed upon in her Armistice Agreements of 1949 with Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. Israel held none of the territories she was to gain as a result of the still undreamed-of war three weeks away… Continue reading

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Israel Slams Obama’s Remarks On Housing Plans in Jerusalem

The statement was a response to President Barack Obama’s remarks in Indonesia when he was asked whether “Israel’s advanced planning for more than a thousand new homes in Jerusalem” undermines… Continue reading

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The Arab Lobby: The European Component

In the early 1980s, there was a palpable concern among staffers at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) of the looming rise of an Arab-American lobby aimed at challenging the pro-Israel community. The National Association of Arab-Americans (NAAA), founded in 1972, was at a high point, and in… Continue reading

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Iran Wants Recognition From The West As A Nuclear State

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast announced this week that Iran had repeatedly expressed willingness to resume negotiations with the West and had already clarified its position on the principles on which such negotiations should be based… Continue reading

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What Effect Will The U.S. Elections Have On Its Middle East Policy?

What effect will the congressional elections have on U.S. foreign policy generally and Middle East policy in particular? It isn’t a matter of the individual candidates, since nobody lost or won who will have some big influence on U.S. policy in the next couple of years. The important factor is… Continue reading

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Turkey Declares Israel As A Threat

Only hours ago I wrote about the Turkish regime’s decision, in its official main strategy document, to drop revolutionary Islamism or Iran as threats–because they are now its allies–in the main NSC document. It was only a matter of time, I added, before they declared Israel or… Continue reading

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Understanding Islam, Islamism and Jihad

Jihad is supposedly only defensive. However, it is easy to portray anything as defensive by dissociating cause and effect. Why did U.S. forces go into Afghanistan? It was as a response to the September 11 attacks. If there had been no September 11 attacks U.S. forces would not have attacked… Continue reading

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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2006 Letter to President George W. Bush

On may 08, 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush discussing the role of religion in foreign policy matters, the U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-Israel relationship, human rights (Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib prison), the establishment of the State of Israel and Iran’s right to nuclear program. In the letter, Ahmadinejad criticizes Bush and suggests that… Continue reading

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Iran Sets Conditions Ahead of Resumption of Talks With the West

President Ahmadinejad stated this week that Iran is willing to resume talks on its nuclear program with the G5+1 (United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) if they are based on “dignity and justice”. That was the president’s reply to an announcement made by EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton according… Continue reading

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Muslim Brotherhood Calls For Jihad Against Israel, Western Countries And Moderate Arab Regimes

The Muslim Brotherhood’s London-based publication calls for jihad and terrorist attacks against Israel, and incites against the United States and moderate Arab regimes. However, when addressing leftist and human rights activists of the anti-Israel coalition, the Muslim Brotherhood emphasizes the rights of the Palestinians and tones down its radical Islamic nature… Continue reading

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Obama, The Selective Bully

President Obama waffles about Iran and is “appalled” at the behavior of the Iran Super Leader toward the brave Iranian protesters as he decides whether strong condemnation may interfere with his plan to charm the Iranian leaders out of developing nuclear weapon, but he has no qualms about bullying Israel… Continue reading

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Israeli Assessments of Obama Are Far More Pessimistic Than You Know

Obama is so determined to “solve” the Israel-Palestinian conflict–due to his ideology–and is so full of the belief that he can do so–due to his excessive self-confidence plus inexperience–that he will make this virtually the highest foreign policy priority during his term’s remaining two years… Continue reading

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Iran May Get Russian S-300 Missiles After All – Via Venezuela

Venezuela’s ruler Hugo Chavez, offered to buy five advanced S-300PMU-1 air defense missile battalions when he met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow Thursday, Oct. 14. Israel immediately turned to Washington to try and block the… Continue reading

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Chinese Warplanes In Turkey and Iran

The arrival of a new Middle East player startled Washington and Jerusalem: debkafile’s military sources disclose that when Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan met Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus Monday, Oct. 11, they talked less about the Kurdish question and more about… Continue reading

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Palestinian President Abbas Presents Four Alternatives If Peace Talks Fail

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is urging Arab leaders to consider alternatives if peace talks with Israel fail, including pressing the United States to recognize a unilateral declaration of statehood and, if it were to fail, to take the demand to the United Nations. President Abbas presented his four alternatives, which he described… Continue reading

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Obama Ultimatum Makes Assad Responsible For Hizballah Violence In Lebanon

Early Friday, Oct. 8, senior US diplomat Frederic Hof landed in Damascus with a strong ultimatum from US President Barack Obama warning Syrian President Bashar Assad that he would be held personally responsible for military action Hizballah may pursue in Beirut or any other part of Lebanon… Continue reading

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Obama’s Ineptness On Middle East Issues Explained

Remember, this isn’t the first time in the last month that Obama has set himself up for humiliation on the issue. He also made his big UN speech which presented the Israel-Palestinian conflict as the world’s most important issue and made the potentially embarrassing prediction that he would resolve the conflict within… Continue reading

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Iran On Special Alert As Worm Virus Hits Industry Computer Systems

Mehr News Agency reported this week that the Telecommunications and Industry ministries are on high alert for a worm virus discovered in control and monitoring systems of Iran’s industrial complexes. In recent days, Western media have reported that the worm, nicknamed “Stuxnet”, targets… Continue reading