Kenneth Pollack offers a compelling perspective on the effects an oil boom in the Middle East. July 13, 2008 Op-Ed Contributor Drowning in Riches By KENNETH M. POLLACK Washington YOU might think that $140 per barrel oil would be good for at least one part of the world, the Middle East. It’s too soon to [...]
I got the following email from Ziad Abdelnour, President of the US Committee for a Free Lebanon. Ziad was born in Lebanon, and he does not parse any words. While sometimes he is rough and undiplomatic, his clarity is necessary at times of politically correct ambiguity, as we’ve witnessed when addressing Iran and its quest [...]
Hamas continues to institute more draconian and totalitarian impositions on Palestinians living in Gaza, including heavy monitoring and filtering of internet and telephone communications. Mainstream media is not reporting about this.
In contrast to my blog entry criticizing the negotiations Israel carried out with Hezbollah to release the bodies of two slain Israeli soldiers in exchange for releasing several terrorists, here are some alternative perspectives from friends I respect: From an Israeli jurist who asked to remain anonymous: The problem you raise has no one answer. [...]
The Israeli Government has just announced its agreement to procure the "release" Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, in exchange for releasing several Lebanese prisoners including Samir Kuntar, the man who in 1979 murdered 3 Israelis in their home, including a 4-year old, and [...]
This article from the Christian Science Monitor summarizes pretty well the political developments that have for now kept the current Israeli parliamentary coalition afloat. Instead of recriminations and fights for personal political advancement, for once these considerations were borne in mind: …it’s not as if we don’t have a few other things to keep us [...]
Tony Blair Meets With OneVoice Palestinian and Israeli Youth Leaders in Jerusalem Grassroots Youth Leaders Call for the Creation of a “Quintet”, Adding a Fifth Arm for Civil Society Movements Jerusalem, June 20, 2008 – In a meeting at the American Colony Hotel earlier today, Tony Blair—the Representative for the Middle East Quartet – pledged [...]
– As we gear towards the general election, a word of caution for US Presidential candidates about an important constituency that will not vote for them – According to conventional wisdom, Presidential candidates can take campaign stances that will curry favor with particular constituencies of voters, only to be forgiven for adjusting campaign positions once [...]
Full Transcript here. Some excerpts: Q151 Hugh Bayley: I agree, from my visits to the region, that a majority on both sides want peace, and the only prospect for that is to have a two-state solution, but the majority who want peace are marginalised time and again by acts of violence, whether it is a [...]
IDF To Remove West Bank Roadblocks as ‘Reward’ for Efforts to Clamp Down on Militants JERUSALEM POST, Yaakov Katz, Jun 17 2008 The Civil Administration in the West Bank has negotiated a deal with a number of Palestinian villages in the Kalkilya region in which dirt roadblocks cutting off their access to nearby cities and [...]