Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Michael Rubin, Nuclear on Dec 21st, 2007 Comments Off on Iran: Did coercion work?
From Michael Rubin Dilip Hiro, a London-based author who focuses on Iran and Iraq and a frequent commentator in The Nation, addresses the question “Why Iran Didn’t Cross the Nuclear Weapon Road” in a recent essay (YaleGlobal Online, Dec. 11, 2007) he wrote for the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
Posted in Hillel Fradkin, Islamism, Jon Alterman on Dec 20th, 2007 1 Comment »
From Hillel Fradkin Jon Alterman, in a piece for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (also here), addresses what he sees as a growing number of obituaries for political Islam. Alterman’s judgment about this trend is sober and reasonable: It is far too soon to tell. Although Alterman does not cite by name those […]
Posted in Geopolitics, Maps on Dec 18th, 2007 Comments Off on Remodeled Middle East
From MESH Admin Over the past year or so, drawing maps of a reconfigured Middle East has become a pastime of journalists and experts. Here is an early exercise that’s been overlooked, but that seems to have anticipated them all.
Posted in Bernard Haykel, Geopolitics, Saudi Arabia on Dec 16th, 2007 Comments Off on Saudis united
From Bernard Haykel “Lines in the Sand” (Vanity Fair, January 2008, not online) describes a parlor game undertaken by four Middle East specialists (Kenneth Pollack, Daniel Byman, David Fromkin, and Dennis Ross), in which they imagine what the borders of the Middle East would look like if they were to reflect “underlying contours.” In their […]
Posted in Israel, Maps, Palestinians on Dec 15th, 2007 Comments Off on Israeli targets within range of Gaza
From MESH Admin This map is from the December 2007 report “Rocket Threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007,” by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center (IICC).
Posted in Egypt, Geopolitics, Michele Dunne on Dec 12th, 2007 Comments Off on A dated division of Egypt
From Michele Dunne “Lines in the Sand” (Vanity Fair, January 2008, not online) describes an intellectual exercise in which four Middle East specialists (David Fromkin, Dennis Ross, Kenneth Pollack, and Daniel Byman) are asked to redraw boundaries to reflect the region’s actual social and cultural landscape as opposed to the political borders set largely by […]
Posted in Iran, Nuclear on Dec 12th, 2007 Comments Off on Iran and nukes: common sense trumps ‘intelligence’
From Raymond Ibrahim Much of the current debate surrounding Iran’s nuclear aspirations is informed by the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report which “judge[s] with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.” While such reports tend to be accepted as authoritative—witness the ongoing political maelstrom caused by it—it is imperative to […]
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