Posted in Iran, Israel, Robert O. Freedman, Russia, Syria, Turkey on Aug 27th, 2008 Comments Off on Putin’s war and the Middle East
From Robert O. Freedman At the time of the Russian invasion of Georgia, Russia was following a policy of encouraging the main anti-American forces in the Middle East—Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran—while at the same time trying to cultivate the major Sunni Arab states of the Middle East, especially Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the […]
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Posted in Hezbollah, Lebanon, Michael Young, Syria on Jul 19th, 2008 Comments Off on Behind Druze kisses for Quntar
From Michael Young This report of the return of Samir Quntar to his home village of Abay on Thursday is how you would expect a news story like this one to play in a foreign media outlet.
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From David Schenker This is a great video. The scene: the end of the Bastille Day festivities following the Mediterranean Union meeting in France last weekend. Syrian President Bashar Asad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stand just meters away. It’s an awkward moment.
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Posted in Geopolitics, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Jon Alterman, Lebanon, Steven A. Cook, Syria, Turkey on Jun 6th, 2008 4 Comments »
From Jon Alterman A funny thing has happened in the Middle East: virtually all of the government opposition to the United States has gone away. After almost a half-century of Cold War battles to protect oil fields, deny Soviet access to warm-water ports, and commit hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, the number of […]
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From Jon Alterman It would be nice to think that Israeli-Syrian negotiations represent a key strategic advance. While I wouldn’t rule out such an advance in the future, this all has the whiff of tactical advantage to me.
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Posted in Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Tamara Cofman Wittes on May 21st, 2008 Comments Off on Hezbollah deals
From Tamara Cofman Wittes A Lebanese friend of mine made a close study of the new deal announced today in Doha between Lebanese factions, and didn’t think it was so bad. He argued to me that the deal effectively forbids Hezbollah from using its cabinet representation as a veto on government decisions, and that the […]
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Posted in Barry Rubin, Syria on May 9th, 2008 Comments Off on The unintentional humor of dictators
From Barry Rubin There was a great item on the Harry’s Place blog by the anonymous Davem who spent a long time in Syria studying Arabic. (If you haven’t read his long “Syria Diary” posted on the site some months ago, you have missed what is probably the best piece of first-hand reportage from that […]
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