Middle East Quarterly articles from January 2007

Middle East Quarterly archives from January 2007

After the Danish cartoon controversy.(worldwide Muslim protests over Muhammed caricatures)
January 1, 2007... On February 5, 2005, at the height of the tension following the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, Muslim protesters torched Denmark's embassies in Beirut and Damascus. While many in the...

Yemeni editor faces death calls.(Yemeni lawyers recommend death sentence for Muhammad al-Asadi)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Yemeni lawyers have called for a newspaper editor to be sentenced to death for showing cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, his paper says. Muhammad al-Asadi was arrested after his publication, the Yemen Observer, showed the Danish cartoons...

Could sanctions work against Tehran?(employment of UN de facto sanctions against Iran's nuclear ambition)
January 1, 2007... As Western diplomats debate ways to counter Iran's nuclear program, the strategies they devise must take Iranian motives into account. If Iranian leaders see their nuclear program as essential to defending Iran s existence--as the Israeli (1)...

Russia and the Middle East.(Russian national security strategy and war on terrorism)
January 1, 2007... Where does Moscow stand in the fight against Islamism and the global war against terror? Facing the Chechen threat at home, the Russian government might be sympathetic to U.S. and even Israeli concerns. Not so. Despite U.S. declarations that...

U.S. army sparks a fashion craze in militant Gaza.(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Wearing a green Hamas headband, waving a Hamas flag, swinging a Kalashnikov, and chanting for Israel's demise, Bassem Shorah looks to be a prototypical Palestinian militant. His olive green shirt, however, tells a different story. It's a...

Is female genital mutilation an Islamic problem?
January 1, 2007... Among social activists and feminists, combating female genital mutilation (FGM) is an important policy goal. Sometimes called female circumcision or female genital cutting, FGM is the cutting of the clitoris of girls in order to curb their...

Scuffle over ring tone shuts down legislature.(Iraq's new legislature session grounded as a result of ruckus over religious chant ringtone)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... BAGHDAD, May 10--A Shi'ite Muslim lawmaker's cell phone ring tone--sounding a Shi'ite religious chant with each call--sparked a scuffle this week that led to a brief shutdown of Iraq's new legislature on what was only its second full day of...

Iran's suicide brigades.(Terrorism Resurgent)
January 1, 2007... More than five years after President George W. Bush's declaration of a global war against terrorism, the Iranian regime continues to embrace suicide terrorism as an important component of its military doctrine. In order to promote suicide...

Can the PKK renounce violence?(Terrorism Resurgent)(extremist ideologies of Kurdistan Workers Party )
January 1, 2007... In 2002, It seemed as if Turkey s two-decade long struggle against the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan, PKK) had ended. It did not. Peace was ephemeral. While the PKK, on October 1, declared yet another cease-fire, it came...

Arab politics: back to futility.(Out with the New, in with the Old)(failure of reforms and stability in the middle east)
January 1, 2007... After Iraq's military defeat in 1991, many in the West and in Arab states hoped that changes in the world and region would produce a new Middle East of pragmatism, reform, democracy, and peace. Given the Soviet Union's collapse, growing...

"Nasrallah the victorious" is top pick.(Hasan Nasrallah)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Beirut -- As Egyptians prepare for the holy month of Ramadan, date sellers have nicknamed the top fruit after Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah. Due to the popularity of the Shi'ite group's leader, Egypt has made the most expensive date a...

The end of Israeli military restraint.(Out with the New, in with the Old)
January 1, 2007... Between 1948 and 1993, Israel relied on a policy of strategic deterrence to ensure peace and security. If Israel was attacked from beyond its borders, it responded with disproportionate force. For example, on October 1, 1985, Israeli air force...

The new look for Britain's hospitals.(Out with the New, in with the Old)
January 1, 2007... This is the latest look coming to our NHS hospitals--a burka-style gown for patients. Instead of standard issue clothing, women who want to cover up because of their faith are to be offered the striking turquoise garment. The "inter-faith...

The Kurdish case.(Who Owns Kirkuk?)(the right of Kurdish people over Kirkuk)
January 1, 2007... Kirkuk Is an essential part of Iraqi Kurdistan. While Kirkuk s demography as been in flux in recent decades, this is largely a result of ethnic cleansing campaigns implemented by Saddam Hussein s Baathist regime. Free from Baathist...

The Turkoman case.(Who Owns Kirkuk?)(Turkmenian and Kurdish claim to the state of Kirkuk)(Report)
January 1, 2007... The question of Kirkuk's final status remains among the touchiest issues concerning Iraq's future. The Iraqi Kurdish political parties seek to include Kirkuk in a federal Kurdish state, an outcome at odds with Iraqi Turkoman sensitivities. The...

De 4th Wereld Oorlog--Het Pad van Marx na Allah.(The 4th World War: The Path from Marx to Allah)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... De 4th Wereld Oorlog--Het Pad van Marx na Allah [The 4th World War--The Path from Marx to Allah]. By Pieter Siebelt. Soesterberg, Netherlands: Aspekt, 2005.464 pp. 22.50 [euro]. Siebelt, a Dutch investigative journalist, ends his book De...

The Kurds and the State.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... The Kurds and the State. By Denise Natali. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005.238 pp. $29.95. In The Kurds and the State, derived from her University of Pennsylvania doctoral dissertation, political scientist Natali explores how...

Mirage: Power, Politics, and the Hidden History of Arabian Oil.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Mirage: Power, Polities, and the Hidden History of Arabian Oil. By Aileen Keating. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2005.560 pp. $28. For eons, oil oozed out of the ground in Iran and Iraq. But this fascinating account demonstrates just how...

Orientalism and the Jews.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Orientalism and the Jews. Edited by Ivan Davidson Kalmar and Derek J. Penslar. Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 2004. 285 pp. $26. The editors of this fascinating volume of essays provide an introduction that opens with some...

Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. By Saba Mahmood. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. 233 pp. $17.95. Politics of Piety consists of two almost entirely disconnected texts. The first is an...

The Question of Zion.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... The Question of Zion. By Jacqueline Rose. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2005.202 pp. $22.95. Rose, a Jewish British academic, seeks in this book to "plumb some of the deep components that make up the imaginative world of...

Syria, the United States, and the War on Terror in the Middle East.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Syria, the United States, and the War on Terror in the Middle East. By Robert G. Rabil. Westport: Praeger, 2006. 320 pp. $49.95. Despite U.S. military involvement in neighboring Iraq, a clear policy toward Syria has eluded the Bush...

Turkey's Policy towards Northern Iraq: Problems and Perspectives.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Turkey's Policy towards Northern Iraq: Problems and Perspectives. By Bill Park. London: Routledge, 2005. 77 pp. $23.95. Turkish military and political officials watch Iraqi Kurdistan warily, concerned both that Iraqi federalism could set a...

Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Built a Nation.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation. By Joshua E. London. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2005. 276 pp. $24.95. One should never overlook the horrors of peace. Between 1750 and...

The View from the Fence: The Arab-Israeli Conflict from the Present to Its Roots.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... The View from the Fence: The Arab-Israeli Conflict from the Present to Its Roots. By Neill Lochery. New York: Continuum, 2005.262 pp. $26.95. In this clearly written, provocative, and well-balanced study of the Arab-Israeli conflict,...

Dissident watch: Mansour Osanlou.(Commentary)(Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company)
January 1, 2007... On December 22, 2005, several thousand Tehran bus drivers belonging to the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (sharkat-e vahed) went out on strike paralyzing the capital. Their leader, Mansour Osanlou, called the job...