The Middle East articles from August 2008

The Middle East archives from August 2008

Comment.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The West's Demonisation of Saddam Hussein, when it eventually came, was swift and sure. In the capital cities of Europe and in Washington, the savage cruelties inflicted on the Iraqi people by their despotic...

Arab youth: the challenge of tomorrow.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Arab world covers some of the richest and the poorest communities in the world. While the oil-rich moguls of the Gulf States boast disposable incomes of many millions of dollars a year, in the mean streets of...

Hopes for reconciliation rise: Mel Frykberg reports from the Occupied Territories.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Isolated from the outside world and divided from their compatriots in the West Bank, one and a hall million Palestinians living in Gaza continue to battle against overwhelming odds for survival as the harsh Israeli...

Islam's secret army? Hizb-ut Tahrir, the transnational party whose declared goal is to establish an Islamic superstate, is causing growing concern in capital cities around the world, as Ed Blanche reports from Beirut.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Beirut, Lebanon)(Organization overview)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR YEARS, WESTERN governments paid little heed to an Islamic organisation called Hizb-ut Tahrir (HT, or Party of Liberation) dedicated to setting up a worldwide caliphate, restoring the religious and political...

Strategic fight for a confederal Iran.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Rahman Hajji Ahmadi)(Interview)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Born in 1941 in a village near Mahabad, in the Kurdish area of Iran, Rahman Hajji Ahmadi (above) has been a militant Kurd all his life. Taking an active part in the renovation of the KDPI (Kurdistan Democratic Party...

Gunning for the gunrunners: the arrest of three men who are allegedly the world's most notorious arms dealers may shed some light on their murky demi-monde in the Middle East.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Yair Gal Klein, Viktor Bout, Monzer Al Kassar)
August 1, 2008... THREE MEN--an Israeli, a Russian and a Syrian--are behind bars in Moscow, Madrid and Bangkok. All are known as leading figures in the murky world of arms trafficking. All face judicial proceedings, including extradition, that could lift the...

A good excuse for a party.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What do British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Arab League secretary general Amr Mousa and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have in common? Don't wait for a punchline, the three men have nothing in common, except...

Iran's 'invisible man': the Brigadier General who heads Tehran's covert operations in Iraq will mastermind revenge strikes if Iran is attacked.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Qassem Suleimani)
August 1, 2008... If, AS is threatened, the United States or Israel attacks Iran--and there are signs that a major strike maybe likely before George W. Bush's term expires next January--a key figure in unleashing much of the threatened retaliation by Tehran is a...

The art of balance: the other side of the coin.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] In response to Adel Darwish's article in the July issue of TME, where Israel's ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, spoke of how, he believes, UK media reporting of Israel has become less objective in recent years, DR....

Energy alternatives: can they make a significant difference?(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS OF the world's oil supplies reaching a peak and then declining have helped to fuel financial speculation in crude oil and driven prices to record highs. They have also helped to raise expectations...

The new interest in Algeria.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
August 1, 2008... ALGERIA'S RETURN TO better fortunes has been aided by high oil and gas prices that have been on the up and up since 2003. These funds have endowed Africa's third-largest economy with a surge in revenues and the means to start anew and run down...

Saudi Arabia: bucking the global trend?(SPECIAL REPORT)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How resilient is growth in Saudi Arabia to a global downturn? The energy rich kingdom, endowed with one-fifth of the world's proven oil reserves, is in the midst of an investment-led boom that shows little evidence...

Has Saudi Arabia found the answer?(FOOD MANAGEMENT)(Elie Elhadj)(Interview)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ELIE ELHADJ is among the Arab world's most respected, and controversial, bankers. Now retired following postings in New York, Philadelphia, London and Riyadh, he spoke to economic analyst PAMELA ANN SMITH about his...

Arab donors buy the limelight at the Rome food summit.(FOOD MANAGEMENT)(Rome, Italy)
August 1, 2008... The Islamic Development Bank has raised $1.5bn to help the poorest countries cope with the savage current global rise in the price of food. Separately, Saudi Arabia alone has donated $500m and Kuwait $100m. The UAE has announced the...

Abu Dhabi's vision.(MOSAIC)(The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili Collection show in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ABU DHABI IS on its way to becoming a global cultural destination, certainly a magnet for visitors to the Middle East, seeking more than to fry themselves on the beaches of Dubai--or shopping. As part of this...

Simple words portray horrors of Iraqi life.(MOSAIC)(Black Words In Red Ink exhibition)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MUSTAFA JA'FAR'S exhibition "Black Words In Red Ink" clearly illustrates that simplicity is the key to truth. The 56-year-old Iraqi artist, who has lived in exile since 1974, was deeply affected by constantly...

Humanitarian crisis escalates as sewage contaminates Gaza water: Mel Frykberg reports from Gaza.(MOSAIC)
August 1, 2008... ISRAEL'S CONTINUING BLOCKADE of the Gaza Strip is putting the health of a million-and-a-half Palestinians at risk and threatening the lives of the more vulnerable such as children and the elderly, as the quality of drinking water continues to...

Bodybuilding in the Arab world.(MOSAIC)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EARLIER THIS YEAR, some 50 bodybuilders from across the Middle East region participated in the inaugural Dubai International Bodybuilding Championships, a first for this Gulf state nation. Held in the Dubai World...

Dubai, The Vulnerability of Success.(Books in brief)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DUBAI, THE VULNERABILITY OF SUCCESS By Christopher Davidson published by Hurst & Company ISBN 9781850658887 price 25.00 [pounds sterling] hardback Following a detailed history, Christopher...

Red Zone: Five Bloody Years in Baghdad.(Books in brief)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] RED ZONE: FIVE BLOODY YEARS IN BAGHDAD By Oliver Poole published by Reportage Press ISBN 9780955830259 price 12.99 [pounds sterling] paperback In Red Zone: Five bloody years in Iraq, Oliver...

Beyond Regionalism.(Books in brief)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BEYOND REGIONALISM? Edited by Cilja Harders and Matteo Legrenzi published by Ashgate ISBN 9780754649939 price 55.00 [pounds sterling] hardback This volume offers theoretical models and...

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time.(Books in brief)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN'S MISSION TO PROMOTE PEACE... ONE SCHOOL AT A TIME By Greg Mortensen and David Relin published by Penguin Books Ltd ISBN 9780141034263 price 8.99 [pounds...

Iran-Europe Relations: Challenges and opportunities.(Books in brief)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IRAN-EUROPE RELATIONS: Challenges and opportunities By Seyyed Hossein Mousavian published by Routledge ISBN 9780415447560 price $160.00 hardback Iran-Europe Relations provides an...

My Guantanamo Diary.(Books in brief)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MY GUANTANAMO DIARY by Mahvish Rukhsana Khan published by Perseus Book group ISBN9781586484989 price 15.99 [pounds sterling] hardback Born to immigrant Afghan parents in Michigan and outraged...

The last word.(Jaweed Al Ghussein)(Obituary)
August 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jaweed Al Ghussein, former Palestine Authority (PA) treasurer who died on 1 July 2008, aged 77, added some interesting and rather remarkable footnotes to history, helping orchestrate developments that changed both...