Middle East Quarterly articles from September 2008

Middle East Quarterly archives from September 2008

The Revolutionary Guards' role in Iranian politics.(Insight on Iran)
September 22, 2008... Almost three decades after the Islamic Republic's founding, former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders are infiltrating the political, economic, and cultural life of Iran. Half the members of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's...

The Islamic Republic's economic failure.(Insight on Iran)
September 22, 2008... The Islamic Republic's nuclear drive remains a focal point of international concern. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks of becoming a pan-regional if not world power. (1) Much of his defiance is fueled by unprecedented oil income. Iran has...

Ahmadinejad and the Mahdi.(Insight on Iran)(Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)
September 22, 2008... Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surprised not only many Westerners but also many Iranians when, during his first speech at the United Nations, he prayed for the hasty return of the Hidden Imam, the Mahdi, Shi'i Islam's messianic figure....

Iran's revolutionary guards--a rogue outfit?(Insight on Iran)(Essay)
September 22, 2008... There is a tendency in Western capitals to dismiss adversarial Iranian behavior as the work of rogue regime factions, which are not representative of Tehran's true intentions. Following a Baghdad press conference providing evidence of Iranian...

Ahmadinejad: the U.S. "is going down".(Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)(Brief article)
September 22, 2008... TEHRAN -- Iran's president on Tuesday blamed the U.S. and other "big powers" for nuclear proliferation, AIDS, and other global ills, and accused them of exploiting the U.N. and other organizations for their own gain and the developing world's...

Jail for Iranian journalists.(Insight on Iran)(Essay)
September 22, 2008... I was a newspaper journalist in the Islamic Republic, but censorship forced me to blog. My blogging led to my arrest and eventual departure from my homeland. To comprehend how pervasive censorship is in Iran today and how difficult it is for...

Iran: death for online crimes.(Brief article)
September 22, 2008... A new law has been passed by the Iranian parliament extending use of the death penalty to online crimes. Bloggers and website editors can be sentenced to death for crimes such as promoting corruption, prostitution, and apostasy, the...

Jeffrey Gedmin: "our Iranian colleagues believe in Radio Farda's mission".(Insight on Iran)(Interview)
September 22, 2008... Jeffrey Gedmin has, since February 2007, been president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), where he directs broadcasting and Internet operations in twenty-eight languages and where, with an annual budget of just $5.3 million for...

Gazans paid Egyptians with play money.(Brief article)
September 22, 2008... Ma'ariv correspondent Amit Cohen reports in today's edition that many Gazans exploited the lack of familiarity of Egyptians with Israeli currency and paid for goods with play money. "During the disengagement, 100 and 200 [fake] shekel notes...

Philippe Karsenty: "we need to expose the Muhammad al-Dura hoax".
September 22, 2008... THE LAWSUIT Middle East Quarterly: What specifically led France 2 television to sue you for defamation? Philippe Karsenty: The defamatory words were that the Muhammad al-Dura tapes are fakes, a hoax, that Charles Enderlin was misled,...

Early Zionists and Arabs.(DOCUMENT)(Essay)
September 22, 2008... Many Arab officials and Israeli "New Historians" describe early Zionist attitudes toward the Arab population of Palestine as dismissive or arrogant. Books and pamphlets from the time tell a different story. BEN-GURION: OUR ARAB BRETHREN...

Alhurra's Daniel Nassif.(Correspondence)
September 22, 2008... To the Editor: Mr. Nassif's refusal to "spread U.S. propaganda" ("Daniel Nassif: 'We Do Not Spread Propaganda for the United States,'" Spring 2008) seems a defense of objective journalism at Alhurra, but in reality, either ideologues or a...

European converts to terrorism.(CORRESPONDENCE)
September 22, 2008... To the Editor: Milena Uhlmann makes a serious conceptual error ("European Converts to Terrorism," MEQ, Summer 2008) when she writes, "A minority [of European Muslims], however, embraces radical interpretations of Islam." There is only...

Islamic science and the renaissance.(Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance)(Book review)
September 22, 2008... Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance. By George Saliba. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007.315 pp. $40 (24.95 [pounds sterling]). Saliba has been studying Arabic scientific texts for many years, mainly those written by...

Arab Soccer in a Jewish State: The Integrative Enclave.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... Arab Soccer in a Jewish State, the Integrative Enclave. By Tamir Sorek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.239 pp. $91. Sorek, an Israeli social scientist (as his prose can attest), finds in soccer a rich opportunity to study Arabs...

Civilizing Women: British Crusades in Colonial Sudan.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... Civilizing Women: British Crusades in Colonial Sudan. By Janice Boddy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. 402 pp. $65 ($24.95, paper). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Recent years have seen serious debates in leftist and feminist...

The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City. By Dore Gold. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc, 2007. 372 pp. $27.95. The Fight for Jerusalem is not written for academics but for a general...

God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis. By Philip Jenkins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 340 pp. $28. Europe's religious crisis, referenced in Jenkins's title, is actually a demographic crisis. For a...

Hamas: A History.(Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement)(Book review)
September 22, 2008... Hamas: A History. By Azzam Tamimi. Northampton, Mass.: Olive Brank Press, 2007.372 pp. $20. Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement. By Zaki Chehab. New York: Nation Books, 2007. 244 pp. $25.95 ($15.95, paper). ...

A History of Modern Libya.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... A History of Modern Libya. By Dirk Vandewalle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 246 pp. $30. Vandewalle, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth, is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable students of Libya, and...

The Jews of Libya: Coexistence, Persecution, Resettlement.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... The Jews of Libya: Coexistence, Persecution, Resettlement. By Maurice M. Roumani. Portland, Ore.: Sussex Academic Press, 2008.310 pp. $77.50. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In 1948, 36,000 Jews lived in Libya. Today, none do. Roumani, a...

Power and Succession in Arab Monarchies: A Reference Guide.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... Power and Succession in Arab Monarchies: A Reference Guide. By Joseph A. Kechichian. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 2008. 553 pp. $95. With many Middle East rulers well past their prime, succession in the region is full of uncertainties,...

The Price of Fear: The Truth behind the Financial War on Terror.(Understanding Islamic Charities)(Book review)
September 22, 2008... The Price of Fear: The Truth behind the Financial War on Terror. By Ibrahim Warde. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.261 pp. $24.95. Understanding Islamic Charities. Edited by Jon B. Alterman and Karin yon Hippel. Washington, D.C.:...

Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom. Edited by Ami Pedahzur. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2006. 202 pp. $135 ($39.95, paper). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The phenomenon of suicide...

The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda. By Yaroslav Trofimov. New York: Doubleday, 2007. 289 pp. $26. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Trofimov, a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street...

Tackling the Intractable: Palestinian Refugees and the Search for Middle East Peace.(Book review)
September 22, 2008... Tackling the Intractable: Palestinian Refugees and the Search for Middle East Peace. By Michael Chiller-Glans. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. 370 pp. $48.95, paper. Written from a Palestinian perspective, this doctoral thesis analyzes various...

Yallahrup Faergeby.(Television program review)
September 22, 2008... Yallahrup Faergeby, television series. By Nanna Westh. Produced by Bjarke Ahlstrand. Danish Broadcasting Corporation, 2007. On December 1, 2007, the Danish television channel DR2 began running Yallahrup Faergeby (O Allah ferry town), a...

Mehdi Kazemi.(Dissident Watch)
September 22, 2008... Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's September 24, 2007 speech at Columbia University largely resonated with the audience, perhaps in reaction to university president Lee Bollinger's stern introduction. (1) Of all Ahmadinejad's assertions, only his...