Middle East Policy articles from March 2008

Middle East Policy archives from March 2008

Iran's strategic concerns and U.S. interests.(Symposium: Iran's Strategic Concerns and U.S. Interests)
March 22, 2008... The following is an edited transcript of the fifty-first in a series of Capitol Hill conferences convened by the Middle East Policy Council. The meeting was held on Friday, January 18, 2008, in the Gold Room of the Rayburn House Office Building...

Iran and the United States: the nuclear issue.(Cordesman: Iran and the United States)
March 22, 2008... It is easy to call for a dialogue between the United States and Iran. Few, other than ideological hardliners on both sides, are likely to oppose the need to talk at some level. The last few years of needless war scares have also shown how...

Diplomacy and hypocrisy: the case of Iran.
March 22, 2008... A number of international conferences concerned with Iraqi security have been held cross the Middle East over the past year. In mid-January, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced that representatives of his government will...

Iran's reformists and activists: Internet exploiters.(Company overview)
March 22, 2008... It has become increasingly accepted that the Iranian presidential election of 2005, which brought to power hardline politicians like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, caused a major decline of dissent. Under Mohammad Khatami's presidency, Iranians,...

Arab economies at a tipping point.
March 22, 2008... The Arab world is experiencing an economic boom of historic proportions. The tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai is emblematic. Boasting the world's only seven-star hotel, its massive land reclamation project, allegedly the only man-made...

Gulf cooperation council stock markets since September 11.
March 22, 2008... Despite many economic and social features that bind their economies, the Middle Eastern countries are remarkably diverse. Their economic heterogeneity is a reflection of unequal natural-resource endowments, with a few economies in the region...

Thinking strategically about Iraq: report from a symposium.
March 22, 2008... Is America now winning in Iraq? What would "victory" mean? Over the last several months, optimism over the spread of local-level security in Iraq and the changed politics of the Iraqi Sunni community has surged. Analysts from all sides of the...

Pakistan: terror war bolsters Islamism, nationhood.(Viewpoint essay)
March 22, 2008... A recent visit to Pakistan reminded me of the movie Gone With the Wind. The country where I lived and worked has been hit by turbulence that has blown away many of the symbols of secularism and Western lifestyle that once characterized its...

Wars and rumors of war: the Levantine tinderbox.
March 22, 2008... A recent extended visit to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt leaves little room for optimism about the geopolitical stability of the Levant or the likelihood of Middle East peace. Most Arabs believe that more bad times are coming to the region,...

Libya and the United States: a Faustian pact?
March 22, 2008... After a promising start, the rapprochement between the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the United States may be reaching its limits. The Bush administration's July 2007 nomination of a new ambassador to Libya, the first since...

The attack on Middle East studies: a historical perspective.(Essay)
March 22, 2008... Throughout American history, the population has periodically indulged in episodes of self-abuse. The abuse usually entails one group of citizens attacking another with the charge of undermining American security and values. These outbursts are...

Burning Issues: Understanding and Misunderstanding the Middle East, A 40-Year Chronicle.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Burning Issues: Understanding and Misunderstanding the Middle East, A 40-Year Chronicle, by John Mahoney, Jane Adas and Robert Norberg, editors. Americans for Middle East Understanding, 2007. viii and 439 pages, 5 maps. $16.95, paperback. ...

Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization, by Akbar Ahmed. Brookings Institution Press, 2007. 301 pages. $28.95, hardcover. Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, holder of the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, has written...

The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World.
March 22, 2008... The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World, by Mohammed Ayoob. University of Michigan Press, 2008. 232 pages. $22.95, paperback. Although explicitly aimed at students in introductory courses and at...

Faith in Moderation: Islamist Parties in Jordan and Yemen.
March 22, 2008... Faith in Moderation: Islamist Parties in Jordan and Yemen, by Jillian Schwedler. Cambridge University Press, 2006. 252 pages. $80, hardcover. Does political participation lead Islamist parties to be more moderate? By now a vast literature...

Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence, by Aliza Marcus. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007. 351 pages. $35.00, hardcover. Formally established on November 27, 1978, but with immediate roots...

The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide, by Guenter Lewy. The University of Utah Press, 2005. xiii and 370 pages. Index, 3 maps. $23.00, paperback. The Armenian Rebellion at Van, by Justin McCarthy, Esat Arslan,...