The Middle East articles from November 2007

The Middle East archives from November 2007

Editorial comment.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Editorial)
November 1, 2007... Condi's been in the Middle East again, on a three day whistle-stop tour of Israel, the West Bank and Egypt. Her visits mark the latest US diplomatic push to revive the moribund peace process. The Bush administration is pinning its hopes of...

Dividing Iraq? The US Senate supports splitting Iraq into three sectarian statelets, incensing Arabs and fuelling fears that the disillusioned Americans plan partition.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... IN OCTOBER, THE Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq announced it intended to develop its nascent oil industry independent of the policies of the beleaguered central government headed by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. Considering...

Have the Kurds lost the battle for Kirkuk?(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "THERE ARE FIVE or six issues on which I will not compromise," Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, recently told one of his confidants: "Identity, borders, peshmergas, budget, the oil law and Kirkuk."...

After Tony Blair: the first Labour Party annual conference under the leadership of new prime minister, Gordon Brown, revealed few foreign policy surprises, observes Westminster commentator and political analyst Adel Darwish.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... WITHIN MOMENTS OF Foreign Secretary David Miliband's first speech to the annual party conference in September, news networks began rounding up the usual suspects for their analysis on whether, under new prime minister Gordon Brown, Britain was...

Turkey: drafting constitution causes consternation: with the bunting only just packed away after its July election victory, Turkey's new government moved rapidly in late summer to draft a new constitution--and in so doing triggered some heated debate amongst public and pundits alike.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "A COMPLETE CHANGE OF constitution leads us to think the purpose is to change the basic principles of the republic," main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy chairman Onur Oymen told reporters in...

Twisting the screw: Mel Frykberg reports from Hebron on how an impossible situation just gets worse.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... AN ATMOSPHERE OF despair and depression permeates the Old City of Hebron, which is said to be one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the Middle-East. Wandering through the deserted alleys, the odd tourist or human rights worker...

Pasdaran power: the US Congress brands Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist organisation as it tightens its grip on the Islamic Republic's economy and builds political muscle.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS THE BUSH administration sinks deeper into the Iraqi quagmire, it has said it plans to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Praetorian Guard of the clerical regime in Tehran, a terrorist...

The Blackwater debacle: the rise in private army personnel is on the increase in Iraq. The murder of 11 innocent Iraqis by the US's Blackwater "security firm" brought the activities of such enterprises into the spotlight.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Blackwater USA)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR THE GOVERNMENTS who contributed troops to the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, the subject of when they will be brought home is gaining prominence as the number one issue of foreign policy. Generally,...

Press under pressure: Egypt's independent media has been taking a bashing in the courts at the hands of ruling-NDP lawsuits. But in fact the press in Egypt is freer than it has ever been. What is behind the recent clampdown on the papers? Jeff Black reports from Cairo.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] THE IMPRESSION THAT the phalanx of plain-clothes police standing outside the Cairo court that was hearing the case of Al Dostour editor Ibrahim Eissa on 1 October gave, was that there wasn't much freedom in Egypt,...

Border solution offers peace dividends.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
November 1, 2007... WHEN ANY GROUP of Armenians and Turks gather together in front of the media these days, the results are usually fairly predictable. Whatever the ostensible subject of discussion, the gathering will almost instantly find itself drawn into an...

Will [euro]-$ rivalry be determined by the Iranian bourse?(BUSINESS AND FINANCE)
November 1, 2007... AT THE BEGINNING of the 20th century, Germany announced its plans to construct a railway linking Berlin with Baghdad. Germany needed oil to fuel its industry if it were to grow but, unlike Britain with its empire, did not have easy access to...

IDB looks to Africa: the Islamic Development Bank, which has disbursed $46bn since it began operations over 30 years ago, is turning its focus on banking in Africa.(BUSINESS AND FINANCE)
November 1, 2007... THE ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT Bank (IDB) has long invested in Africa, both in development projects and in support of Islamic institutions and culture. Yet its recent agreement with the United Nations could take the organisation's involvement in the...

The Middle East as a business gateway.(BUSINESS AND FINANCE)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Gulf Arab States are being touted by business media and economic commentators alike as a fast growing gateway for businesses in the subcontinent of India and the broad Middle East region, including North Africa,...

Egypt banking sector confidence soars: Neil Ford reports that investor confidence in Egypt's thriving banking sector has never been higher.(BUSINESS AND FINANCE)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHILE LESS PROGRESS is being made on realigning other parts of the economy, Egypt's banking reforms are changing the face of the country's financial services industry. Following the successful sale of the Bank of...

Put it on the bill.(BUSINESS AND FINANCE)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Trade has, over the years, fostered some unlikely unions and nurtured some improbable friendships. But when A has what B wants, especially if A wants to sell and B wants to buy, there are few obstacles that cannot be...

Morocco enters a new era of oil and gas: Neil Ford reports on Moroccan attempts to join the ranks of regional energy producers.(BUSINESS AND FINANCE)
November 1, 2007... INTEREST IN NORTH African oil and gas resources is widely scattered across the region. Algeria, Egypt and Libya are the traditional hydrocarbon heavyweights and members of Opec, which have been important oil exporters for many decades. ...

Frankincense futures.(MOSAIC)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHAT MARKET VALUE does frankincense have nowadays, the gum resin at the heart of an immensely profitable luxury trade spanning several millennia and once as important to the economy of the Middle East as oil is...

A victory against the wall: Mel Frykberg reports from the Occupied Territories on the September announcement by the Israeli court that after a long, tough battle, it agreed that a small section of the apartheid Wall must be rerouted away from Palestinian-owned land.(MOSAIC)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AN ATMOSPHERE OF triumph and celebration permeated the air in the West Bank village of Bil'in north of Ramallah. Singing and dancing, honking car horns and waving Palestinian flags, the celebrating crowd of several...

No smoke without fire ... call it what you will, the nargile, the hookah or the shisha, the smoking of water pipes has strong associations with Middle Eastern culture. The practise has seen something of a revival in the region and even gained widespread popularity in the West, but a renaissance of this ancient custom is coming under threat.(MOSAIC)
November 1, 2007... FOR MANY HUNDREDS of years, the smoking of water pipes has been integral to the culture of societies around the world, but in particular to the Middle East and southern Mediterranean littoral. Its origins are lost in time and subject to much...

Few friends in the Negev: in 1993, Dvorah Brous was a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey who went to Israel to discover her cultural traditions. Today she's the champion of the disenfranchised Bedouin Arabs of the Negev Desert.(MOSAIC)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OVER THE 14 years, since she first arrived in Israel, Brous has learned to speak Hebrew and Arabic, earned two master s degrees and founded Bustan ("orchard" in Arabic), a grassroots organisation that assists...

Empires of Oil: Corporate Oil in Barbarian Worlds.(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EMPIRES OF OIL CORPORATE OIL IN BARBARIAN WORLDS By Duncan Clarke published by Profile books ISBN 1 84668 046 8 price 20.00 [pounds sterling] hardback We might think that the world's oil empires are invincible...

Karzai: the Falling American Intervention and the Struggle for Afghanistan.(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] KARZAI THE FALLING AMERICAN INTERVENTION AND THE STRUGGLE FOR AFGHANISTAN By Nick B. Mills published by Wiley ISBN 978 0 470 13400 9 price 18.99 [pounds sterling] hardback Hamid Karzai's life spans the fall of...

The West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Geography of Occupation and Disengagement.(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP A GEOGRAPHY OF OCCUPATION AND DISENGAGEMENT By Elisha Efrat published by Routledge ISBN 041538545 8 price 19.99 [pounds sterling] paperback Since the rise of the Zionist Movement and...

Ceramics from Islamic Lands: Kuwait National Museum the Al Sabah Collection.(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CERAMICS FROM ISLAMIC LANDS KUWAIT NATIONAL MUSEUM THE AL SABAH COLLECTION By Oliver Watson published by Thames & Hudson ISBN 0 500 97634 1 price 24.95 [pounds sterling] paperback Islamic pottery is one of the...

The Sand Cafe: A Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE SAND CAFE A NOVEL By Nell MacFarquhar published by Public affairs ISBN 158648 368 5 price 14.99 [pounds sterling] hardback Dhahran Palace Hotel, Saudi Arabia, 1991. The US forces are massing on the border...

Iran and the Rise of Its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran's Silent Revolution.(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IRAN AND THE RISE OF ITS NEOCONSERVATIVES THE POLITICS OF TEHRAN'S SILENT REVOLUTION By Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Mahjoob Zweiri published by IB TAURIS ISBN 978 1 84511388 9 price 20.00 [pounds sterling] hardback...

Eid around the world.(Eid-al-Fitr)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Last month Muslims around the world celebrated Eid-al-Fitr. The three day festival, which begins after the sighting of a new crescent moon marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED]