Middle East Policy articles from December 2005

Middle East Policy archives from December 2005

Editor's note.
December 22, 2005... As this issue goes to press, Irving Lewis ("Scooter") Libby--special assistant to VicePresident Dick Cheney as well as to President George W. Bush himself--has just been indicted on five counts of perjury. There will be a long wait, however,...

"A shia crescent: what fallout for the United States?
December 22, 2005... The following is an edited transcript of the forty-first in a series of Capitol Hill conferences convened by the Middle East Policy Council. The meeting was held on October 14, 2005, in the U.S. Capitol, with Chas. W. Freeman, Jr., moderating....

Iranian foreign policy towards occupied Iraq, 2003-05.
December 22, 2005... "For us, Iraq is the most important country in the world.' (1) Hojjatoleslam Ali Yunesi Minister of Intelligence and Security Since its independence in 1932, Iraq has been a major foreign-policy concern for Iran for many reasons. The first...

The United States and Iraq: making sense of the oil factor.(Industry overview)
December 22, 2005... When Winston Churchill made historic switch from coal- to oil-fired naval vessels prior to World War I, the international oil market was born. It became international since the oil used in these vessels was located in the Middle East; it became...

Iran and America: is rapprochement finally possible?
December 22, 2005... Iranian-American relations, as is well known, have been notoriously poor ever since the 1979 revolution toppled the shah and brought the Islamic Republic to power. All efforts to improve the relationship have foundered. A rapprochement may seem...

Iraqi Kurds and Iraq's future.
December 22, 2005... Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government and leader of the Kurdish Democratic party (KDP), remarked in early September 2005 that politics was so much harder than fighting. (1) His comments capture some of the texture of the...

The Persian Gulf's collective-security mirage.
December 22, 2005... A drawdown of American forces in Iraq is in the wind. And many observers are giving thought to what the shape of Persian Gulf security could or should be as the Iraqis prepare to take over the burden of defending themselves. In Washington...

Turkey and the GCC: an emerging relationship.
December 22, 2005... The Middle East is now a changing geography, subject to direct U.S. interference through the Afghan and Iraqi invasions and through political attempts to transform the region socially, politically and economically. Calls for reform and...

The Presbyterian divestiture vote and the Jewish response.
December 22, 2005... I don't want the money that pays my pension and medical benefits to be invested in companies that profit from bulldozers that demolish Palestinian homes or are building parts of the wall. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk, PC(USA) (1) ...

The new ivory towers: think tanks, strategic studies and "counterrealism".
December 22, 2005... That's not the way the world really works anymore.... We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality--judiciously, as you will--we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you...

Economic liberalization and changes in fundamentalism: the case of Egypt.
December 22, 2005... The relationship between economic liberalization and radical politics has been a key issue in Muslim countries since the 1970s. Economic liberalization policies have two important aspects: the retreat of the state from the economy and the...

Palestinians in Lebanon.
December 22, 2005... Behind the gloss of the new Beirut City Center, the sparkling luxury hotels and boutiques, the plethora of new banks, restored office buildings and residences, the revived disco and restaurant scene, life in the Palestinian refugee camps...

Interview: Gary Hart.(Interview)
December 22, 2005... Gary Hart was a U.S. senator from Colorado, 1975-87. Sen. Hart was a Democratic presidential candidate in 1984 and 1988. He co-chaired, with Sen. Warren Rudman (R-NH), the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century (1998-2001)....

Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11, by Melissa Boyle Mahle. Nation Books, New York 2004. 403 pp. $26.00, hardcover. Melissa Boyle Mahle, educated at Berkeley and Columbia, an Arabic speaker with a...

Uncharted Journey: Promoting Democracy in the Middle East.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Uncharted Journey: Promoting Democracy in the Middle East, edited by Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005. 302 pages. $24.95, paperback. With few exceptions, Western-style...

Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity, and Muslims in Britain.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity, and Muslims in Britain, by Tariq Modood. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.232 pages. $22.95, paperback. After the July 2005 bombings in London, Frances Stead Sellers wrote a piece...

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, by Robert A. Pape. Random House, 2005. 335 pages with appendix and bibliography. $29.95, hardcover. Dying to Win is a significant contribution to terrorism studies that applies...

The Path to Geneva: The Quest for a Permanent Agreement.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... The Path to Geneva: The Quest for a Permanent Agreement, 1996-2004, by Yossi Beilin. New York: RDV Books, 2004. 297 pages. Appendices to page 361. Index to page 377. $22.95, hardcover. With the exception of Shimon Peres, no Israeli...

West Bank Diary: Middle East Violence as Reported by a Former American Hostage.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... West Bank Diary: Middle East Violence as Reported by a Former American Hostage, by Jerry Levin. Hope Publishing House, 2005.248 pages. $14.95, paperback. There is much talk these days about promoting American-style freedom and democracy...

The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its Furies.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its Furies, by Dilip Hiro, New York: Nation Books, 2005. xxxvii plus 418 pages. $16.95, paperback. The Labyrinth described in Greek mythology was an intricate maze devised by...

Germany and the Middle East, 1871-1945.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Germany and the Middle East, 1871-1945, edited by Wolfgang G. Schwanitz. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2004, 267 pages, with selected documents, maps, bibliography, notes and index. $89.95, hardcover. There has been considerable...