The Middle East articles from January 2006

The Middle East archives from January 2006

Comment.
January 1, 2006... Two days before Iraqis went to the polls, the West was marking a thousand days of war in Iraq. On 20 March 2003 The United States, with British help, launched its war as the deadline for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave the country expired....

Sharon's gambit.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Ariel Sharon )
January 1, 2006... ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON will go to the polls in March as leader of the new Kadima (Forward) Party. After a chequered history which has seen him variously labelled as a warhorse, a hero, a manipulator and a murderer, could it be that...

The new hope for Rafah?(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
January 1, 2006... FOR MANY THE NAME Rafah evokes an image of poverty and despair. It has been called the last city of Gaza, "the place at the end of the world". Once the entry and exit point to Palestine from Egypt, the city suffered tremendous hardship during...

Election results sound warning bells at home and abroad: Adel Darwish reports on the rise of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt.(EGYPT)
January 1, 2006... THE RESULT OF LAST MONTH'S EGYPTIAN parliamentary elections launched a chorus of wailing from Arab and American Cassandaras who have short memories and little appreciation of historic realities. Three rounds of elections, lasting five...

Sisterhood of stealth: female suicide bombers, and even husband-and-wife teams, in Iraq are insurgency's new stealth weapon.(REGIONAL)
January 1, 2006... THE BLOODBATH IN IRAQ PASSED A chilling milestone on 9 November when a Belgian woman who converted to Islam blew herself up in a suicide bomb attack on a US military convoy on the northern outskirts of Baghdad to become the world's first...

Converting a crisis into an opportunity: Thomas Land reports from the United Nations International Atomic Energy headquarters in Vienna on moves to establish the Middle East region as a nuclear weapons-free zone.(REGIONAL)
January 1, 2006... MOHAMED EL BARADEI, director-general of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has set out to convert the crisis generated by Iran's controversial nuclear power policy into an opportunity to free the Middle East of...

Syria plays the Palestinian card in Lebanon.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
January 1, 2006... THE LEBANESE GOVERNMENT OF Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, struggling to curb a destabilisation campaign by a humiliated Syria following its forced withdrawal from Lebanon in April, is moving to disarm Damascus-backed radical Palestinian factions...

Islands in the sun: from Oman to Kuwait, "Island Mania" is driving local real estate markets, as countries vie to build ever more spectacular man-made environments. But the true price may be far higher than builders imagine.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
January 1, 2006... UNLIKE EARLIER, utilitarian manmade offshore port facilities like Iran's Kharg Island, these newest bits of land are designed for lives of purest luxury. They come with evocative names like The Palm and The Pearl--both named according to the...

MTN to edge out Turkcell in Iran.
January 1, 2006... THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TELECOMS operator Turkcell and the Iranian government has been complicated by Tehran's apparent willingness to replace the Turkish company with MTN of South Africa. The Iranian government was confident it could inject some...

DP World makes giant acquisition: Dubai's state-owned ports operator, DP World, has paid $5.7bn to buy one of the most prestigious names in maritime transport logistics and become the world's third largest container port operator. It will also control the proposed London Gateway Port, set to become Britain's largest.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)(Dubai Port World )
January 1, 2006... DUBAI PORT WORLD (DP WORLD), the maritime commerce arm of the government of the Gulf emirate, has agreed to pay 3.32bn [pounds sterling] ($5.7bn) in cash to take control of the British-based company P&O, whose celebrated history dates back to...

Powering up for progress: Qatar is creating a genuinely innovative power sector that blends public and private sector investment.(QATAR)
January 1, 2006... ALMOST ALL GULF ECONOMIES are seeking to reform and liberalise their power sectors. Some have placed their faith in gas fired independent power producers (IPPs), while others have opted to make desalination plants a key element of their...

Windfalls and reforms fuel economic boom: Kuwait is riding high on growing business optimism and sound economic fundamentals. But the country's non-oil private sector would clearly benefit from more intensive market liberalisation reforms.(KUWAIT)
January 1, 2006... KUWAIT, THE THIRD-LARGEST OF the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) six-member economies, is in buoyant shape and prospects for 2006 are favourable. The removal of a major geopolitical risk from neighbouring Iraq, coupled with recent...

Saudi Arabian businesswomen woo the West: a 21-strong delegation of Saudi Arabian businesswomen stole the show at the Women in Business International conference, held in London in December. The head of the delegation, Princess Loulwa Al Faisal, daughter of the late, much revered King Faisal, talked to Pat Lancaster.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
January 1, 2006... THEY WERE AN IMPRESSIVE BUNCH by any standard, elegantly attired in designer named business suits with matching accessories. They mixed freely with the other speakers and delegates as if to the manner born, but then many of them were. ...

Middle East pensions need urgent reforms: with increases in life expectancy, pensions are becoming a pressing issue everywhere. A World Bank report highlights the urgent need for reform in the MENA region.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
January 1, 2006... PENSION SYSTEMS IN THE MIDDLE East and North Africa (MENA) are under growing financial stress and urgently need reform, according to a new World Bank report. The report Pensions in the Middle East & North Africa: Time for Change is the first...

Will trade ties pave the way to regional concord? In December 2005, Saudi Arabia became the 149th member of the World Trade Organisation. As a member of the world's largest trading group, the kingdom is no longer allowed to boycott goods from a fellow member. Francis Daly reports from Riyadh.(SAUDI ARABIA)
January 1, 2006... MANY PEOPLE HOLD THE VIEW that trade is as good a way as any to ensure peace and stability between the nations of the world. Others would go further, adding that peaceful relations are far more likely between trade partners than simply through...

Cairo stencils.(Om Kalthoum, singer, Chant Avedissian, architect)
January 1, 2006... OM KALTHOUM WAS THE MOST famous Middle Eastern singer of the 20thCentury. Born in 1904 in a village in the Egyptian Delta she arrived in Cairo in the 1920s. Every Thursday night for more than 10 years, her concerts were broadcast on the radio,...

Old problems require new solutions.(MOSAIC)(interview with Ilan Pappe )(Interview)
January 1, 2006... ILAN PAPPE, a senior lecturer in the political science department of Haifa University, has suffered vilification by Zionists who object to his revisionist interpretation of Israel's history. Pappe's academic dean campaigned for his dismissal...

Out of exile: the celebrated Kurdish film director Hiner Saleem talked to Chris Kutschera about the joys and sometimes sadness of coming home.
January 1, 2006... "LOOK, LOOK, THESE HILLS look like the body of a woman. Their shape is gentle because they are fondled by the wind... And look at these spots of light in the sky..." Driving through the mountains near his home town of Akkra, in Iraqi...

Iraq Ablaze: Inside the Insurgency.(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Iraq ablaze INSIDE THE INSURGENCY Zaki Chehab Published By I.B.Tauris ISBN 1 84511 11 09 Price 17.99 Hardback The battle for Iraq is the most misunderstood struggle of our times. Very few observers are able to travel outside the...

DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Iraq War.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... DC Confidential THE CONTROVERSIAL MEMOIRS OF BRITAIN'S AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S. AT THE TIME OF 9/11 AND THE IRAQ WAR By Christopher Meyer Published By Weidenfield & Nicolson ISBN 0 297 85114 4 Price 20.00 [pounds sterling] Hardback ...

Understanding Iraq.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Understanding Iraq By William R Polk Published By I B Tauris ISBN 1 84511 123 OPrice 9.99 [pounds sterling] Paperback A whistle-stop tour from ancient Babylon occupied Baghdad, taking in everything you need to know about the world's...

The Long Road from Taif to Jeddah: Resolution of a Saudi-Yemeni Boundary Dispute.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... THE LONG ROAD FROM TAIF TO JEDDAH Resolution of a Saudi-Yemeni Boundary Dispute By Askar H. Al Enazy Published by the ECSSR ISBN 9948 00 721 2 Price $45.00 paperback Competing territorial and boundary claims have historically led to grave...

Afghanistan: A Modern History.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Afghanistan A Modern History Angelo Rasanayagam Published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 85043 857 9 Price 12.99 [pounds sterling] paperback Since 11th September, 2001, Afganistan has dominated much of the news, as it often did during the Soviet...

Analysing Middle East Foreign Policies: And the Relationship with Europe.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... ANALYSING MIDDLE EAST FOREIGN POLICIES And the Relationship with Europe Edited by Gers Nonneman Published By Routledge ISBN 0 7146 8427 9 Price: 19.99 [pounds sterling] At a time when the Middle East and North Africa--host to most of the...

Auntie knows best.(THE LAST WORD)
January 1, 2006... IT WAS THE WIRELESS ON A HIGH SHELF THAT ENDED THE monopoly of Al Rawai (the storyteller) as the sole entertainer-cum-information-provider to care punters in areas where electricity to private homes, or newsreels in cinemas were the privilege...