North Africa

Storm Clouds Over Eastern Mediterranean

By Jonathan Spyer October 2, 2011

Early this week, the US-based Noble Energy Company began exploratory drilling for offshore gas deposits off the coast of Cyprus. They did so with the agreement of the Nicosia authorities, in an area indisputably located within Cypriot territorial waters. Despite this, there was real concern that the drilling could face interference from Turkish navy ships on maneuvers in the area. The explorations proceeded undisturbed. The Turkish ships observed procedures from a discreet distance. But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israel, Lebanon, Middle East Politics, North Africa, Turkey, U.S. Policy on the Middle East

The Obama Administration Finds Another Dictatorship to Appease; Makes Friends with Sudan

By Barry Rubin September 30, 2009

ATTENTION WEBMASTERS. You are welcome to post this entire article as long as you give a direct link to the article on our site and to http://www.gloria-center.orgGood news for bad guys. The Obama Administration has found another dictatorship to appease.Thanks to a superb article in the Washington Post, we can see what’s happening with U.S. policy toward Sudan. That country’s government, once accused of genocide in the south, is now said to have been doing the same thing in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North Africa, U.S. Policy on the Middle East, Understanding the Middle East

UK-Libya Relations: Release Terrorist, Make Oil Deal, Train…Terrorists?

By Barry Rubin September 14, 2009

ATTENTION WEBMASTERS. You are welcome to post this entire article as long as you give a direct link to the article on our site and to http://www.gloria-center.orgFirst the British government released a Lockerbie terrorist, despite his having killed so many people, as part of an oil deal with Libya. Now, according to a credible report, the British army will be training the elite forces of dictator Muammar Qadhafi, the same man who almost certainly ordered the Lockerbie bombing and many … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, North Africa

How Not to Moderate Radicals: The UK, Libya, Prisoner Releases, and Oil Deals

By Barry Rubin September 7, 2009

ATTENTION WEBMASTERS. You are welcome to post this entire article as long as you give a direct link to the article on our site and to http://www.gloria-center.orgThe scandal of Britain releasing a Libyan terrorist who helped kill 270 people in the Lockerbie bombing in exchange for an oil deal continues to build. But I want to focus on some details of the issue that shed light on…well, just about everything concerning Western relations with the Middle East.First, in a damaging … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, North Africa, Radical Movements, Understanding the Middle East

Blood for Oil: Yes, Britain Did Release a Mass-Murdering Terrorist in Exchange for an Oil Deal

By Barry Rubin September 1, 2009

ATTENTION WEBMASTERS. You are welcome to post this entire article as long as you give a direct link to the article on our site and to http://www.gloria-center.orgOn the face of it, growing evidence that the British government released a terrorist who murdered 270 people in exchange for an oil deal is shockingly loathsome.But that’s not the worst of it.Here’s the worst of it: Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was not a free-lance terrorist but a Libyan intelligence officer. And … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, North Africa, Understanding the Middle East

Middle East Miasma: Denying, Ignoring, or Explaining Away What We See Every Day

By Barry Rubin August 5, 2009

ATTENTION WEBMASTERS. You are welcome to post this entire article as long as you give a direct link to the article on our site and to http://www.gloria-center.org From the marvelous book on Africa by Richard Dowden, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles. This is the kind of thing the "experts" in the West don't understand and the journalists generally don't write about. Dowden goes to the Congo where he meets the secretary-general of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo.The man … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North Africa

Planet Middle East

By Barry Rubin April 14, 2009

Many many years ago I had a research assistant in Washington who told me the following story: He had been an exchange student in a North African country and they made him roommates with the leader of the pro-regime student group (to keep an eye on him of course). One day he came back to the room when he was supposed to be in class to find that his roomate had another student tied up and was torturing him. The roommate looked up and said: "Oops! I didn't expect you back so soon. Barry Rubin is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North Africa, Radical Movements