Regional

A Brave Rape Victim in Tahrir Square and a Brave Egyptian Actor Teach Us All How to Behave Properly

By Barry Rubin February 6, 2012

President Barack Obama will probably be defeated in November by people voting for the Republican candidate who will then tell their friends that they voted for Obama. For them, that will be a compromise between responding to the reality they see as opposed to being in fashion and not being called nasty names by one’s peers. It is like the story told by the latest Western woman to be sexually assaulted by a mob in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Listen carefully to what she says: “Heather … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media Coverage of the Middle East, Regional, Understanding the Middle East

Arab World: Taking Center Stage

By Jonathan Spyer February 5, 2012

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The diplomatic route to change in Syria is firmly blocked. Russia, for its own reasons, is refusing and will continue to refuse to allow any resolution promising serious action against the regime of President Bashar Assad to pass in the United Nations Security Council. The US, as was made clear by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks this week, will do all it can to avoid embroilment in a new Middle Eastern war. The status of 2012 as a presidential election year will serve … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Regional, 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

Rebels Against The Pasdaran

By Jonathan Spyer January 2, 2012

In July, 2011, as the world focused on the bright hopes raised by the Arab Spring, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps launched a large-scale assault across the Iran-Iraq border. Their intention was to wipe out an armed challenge to the Islamist regime in Teheran. The target was PJAK (Party for a Free Life In Kurdistan), an Iranian Kurdish organization engaged in both political and military struggle against the regime. PJAK, closely aligned with the PKK, maintains bases in the southern Qandil … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Regional

Syria: No Longer Revolution, It is A Civil War, A Guide to the Battle

By Barry Rubin November 20, 2011

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The only honest answer to the question of what will happen in Syria is: No one knows. After an eight-month-long battle in which more than 3500 people have been killed, there’s no telling who will be ruling Syria when the dust settles, or even when the dust will settle. A regime victory is quite possible—perhaps most likely—and its overthrow might--but not necessarily--bring an Islamist regime. But what do we know about Syria? Here’s a guide. 1. Don’t overrate Iran’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media Coverage of the Middle East, Radical Movements, Regional, Syria

Why Did Sarkozy and Obama ‘Dis’ [Disrespect] Bibi?

By Barry Rubin November 17, 2011

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During a conversation when they thought nobody was listening French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama said nasty things about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A lot of the analysis about what this tells us I think is rather misleading. Regarding Sarkozy, French-Israel relations have been good and there have not been major problems with Sarkozy. On one hand, Sarkozy has been far friendlier to Israel than his Gaullist and Socialist predecessors. True, he is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, Israel-Palestinian Issues, Media Coverage of the Middle East, Regional, U.S. Policy on the Middle East

A Saudi Writer Explains the “Muslim Brotherhood Spring”

By Barry Rubin November 17, 2011

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It’s always fascinating to read the work of genuine Arab moderates (or that of non-Arab Muslims) to see how much it differs from the Western-celebrated false moderates and radicals so often prominently featured in the mass media and academia. Indeed, people like the following writer can never be found as heroes of the official West because they tell the inconvenient truths about the Middle East. Consider a young Saudi named Mshari al-Zaydi. He is the opinion page editor of Al-Sharq al-Awsat, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Radical Movements, Regional, Saudi Arabia

U.S. Political Engineering in the Middle East: Its Already Created Disaster Once Before

By Barry Rubin November 13, 2011

Few realize how U.S. policy at the start of the radical Islamist era in Middle East history parallels that prevailing during the beginning of the previous, Arab nationalist, era that began in the 1950s. Briefly, American policymakers at that time believed that Arab nationalist military officers would be moderate, pro-Western, enhance stability, and fight totalitarianism. Today, the policymakers expect that revolutionary Islamism will do the same thing. More than a half-century ago, though, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Regional, Regional Security, U.S. Policy on the Middle East, Understanding the Middle East

Islamists in Power; What Could Go Wrong?

By Barry Rubin November 9, 2011

The New York Times has run an op-ed entitled, ‘The Overblown Islamist Threat.’ Big surprise: There’s no Islamist threat! They’re all moderates! Just like in 1979 Iran or in Turkey more recently. Do you think we might see an oped in The New York Times entitled, ‘The Islamist Threat is Very Real?’ Of course not. But the real surprise is the author’s identity. It’s former Jordanian foreign minister Marwan Muasher. Huh? Jordan’s policy on Islamism has been based precisely on the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Regional, Regional Security, Understanding the Middle East

A Parable of Middle East History: The Well-Intentioned Arab and the Malicious Genie

By Barry Rubin November 5, 2011

One day in 1952, a young Arab intellectual was walking along the shore of the Nile when he spotted something glinting in the sun. He picked it up and saw that it was a small brass lamp. Thinking that he might have found an attractive antique he took it home and brushed off the sand with the sleeve of his jacket. Suddenly, there was a bright flash that knocked him over. When he stood up and regained his senses he saw a large genie glaring at him. “I am the genie of the lamp,” it said, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Regional, Understanding the Middle East