Middle East Politics

The Hamas Split and the Palestinian Political Mess

By Barry Rubin February 19, 2012

There’s a serious split in Hamas reflecting the growing civil war among Islamists along Sunni-Shia lines. Each side is radical but the fact that they’re fighting among themselves weakens both of them. The issues involved are tactical, not strategic. Indeed, what is ironic is that Khaled Mashal, who historically has been described as the radical, is following the approach that will seem moderate to the naïve while Ismail Haniya, described by the naive as the moderate is leading the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Palestinians

Manufacturing Heresy: How the Mildest Muslim Liberalism is Turned into a Capital Punishment Offense

By Barry Rubin February 19, 2012

Please also read my article The Hamas Split and the Palestinian Political Mess “A merchant in Baghdad…sent his servant to market….The servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace…I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me….Lend me your horse, and…I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse…and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. The merchant went down to the marketplace and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Radical Movements

Report from Behind the Lines in Syria: An Interview with Dr. Jonathan Spyer

By Barry Rubin February 17, 2012

Dr. Jonathan Spyer, GLORIA Center senior fellow, has just returned from Syria where he met with oppositionists, members of the Free Syrian Army, and local inhabitants. Here’s his first interview on his experiences and observations. Barry Rubin: Dr. Spyer, please tell us about your visit to Syria, what you saw and your impressions. Jonathan Spyer: Well, I spent a week in Idleb province, traveling between a number of different towns. The most striking aspect was the extent … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Regional Security, Syria

What is Russia Doing in the Middle East?

By Barry Rubin February 17, 2012

The transition to democracy and capitalism has not been kind to Russia. It sank from superpower to sideshow internationally. The country is hurting and stagnant; it has no sense of purpose or goals; and Russia is in the hands of a ruthless dictator who knows how to use nationalism and demagoguery to ensure his power. Of course, Russia’s rulers are weaker, less ambitious, far less well armed, and less anti-American than the old Soviet Union. Still, though, the Russian government has a chip … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Russia/USSR

Gulf Arab Leaders: Obama Administration Policy is the Biggest Threat to our Security

By Barry Rubin February 8, 2012

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Want to understand the real Middle East? Then pay attention to the following. Let’s say an important and outspoken Gulf Arab gave a frank and thoughtful assessment of the region’s security problems. What would he say and what would that tell you? And how would that differ from the stereotypes of what Arabs—especially non-Islamist Arab leaders—think as presented by the Western media and academia? In fact, Dahi Khalfan Tamim recently gave such a speech. He is the respected police chief … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gulf, Middle East Politics, U.S. Policy on the Middle East

Response to Ron Paul: Did U.S. Policy Make Today’s Islamist Iran Hate America?

By Barry Rubin January 31, 2012

Presidential candidate Ron Paul has said repeatedly that Iranians hate America because of its role in the 1953 coup overthrowing Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh. Like his frequent claims that the September 11 attack was a response to a supposed decade-long U.S. bombing of Iraq.In fact, about the only intense bombing of Iraq done by the United States in the last twenty years was for two weeks at the start of the 2003 war and one time in retaliation against an assassination plot against former … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Iran, Middle East Politics, U.S. Policy on the Middle East

Why Syria’s Regime Is Surviving a Revolution

By Barry Rubin January 30, 2012

Despite what is now the longest-running revolution in Middle Eastern history, the Syrian regime will probably be in power on December 31, 2012. I don’t say that because it’s what I want to happen — Syria’s revolution is more democratic-minded than those in Libya or Egypt; the government is far more repressive than the former dictatorships in Tunisia or Egypt — but because it seems inevitable. Why is it that, after so many months of massive demonstrations and really bloody … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Syria

Arabism Is Dead! Long Live…?

By Barry Rubin January 20, 2012

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An editorial in the moderate Lebanese publication, Lebanon Now, reminds us of just how dramatically the Middle East has changed. Many of the arguments and assumptions that governed the Arabic-speaking world for six decades have simply vanished. Others, though, have just been modified slightly. The biggest change has been the collapse of Arab nationalism, the ideology and system that governed many countries, controlled the regional debate, and intimidated everyone else into line for six … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Regional, Syria

Hizballah Backs Assad – and Pays The Price

By Jonathan Spyer January 20, 2012

In early January, 2011, Hizballah and its allies took up the reins of government in Lebanon, having ensured the collapse of the coalition led by March 14 leader and then Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. Hizballah needed a coalition which it thought would staunchly oppose the Special Tribunal on Lebanon, investigating the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. But many at the time discerned a more significant meaning in the rise to government of the March 8 coalition. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Radical Movements, Syria

Who’s Winning in the Middle East? Everyone Outside the West Knows It’s The Islamists

By Barry Rubin January 19, 2012

Nawal al-Saadawi, now 80 years old, is a unique figure in Egypt. She is a pioneer feminist and a radical Arab nationalist. Al-Saadawi has lived in the United States but hates America and, of course, Israel. You can imagine that she also loathes the Islamists. So how does someone like al-Saadawi react to the Egyptian elections won by the Islamists? She brands it an American conspiracy. "Democracy is not elections and America uses religion to divide Egypt," she said in a recent television … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Radical Movements