Archive for November, 2007|Monthly archive page
EDITORIAL: Islamist extremists as unifiers
Filed under: Islam, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, Peace Talks, military intervention, politics, refugees |
Leave a Comment The Annapolis conference, turned into a mega-gathering which ended up bringing together nearly 50 countries and representatives, including Syria and Saudi Arabia, along with Israel – received the full support of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Why? Because for the first time since the end of the cold war the West and Russia share a common enemy – Islamist extremists.The Islamists, contrary to what they were hoping for, ended up acting as a unifier between not only the former cold war warriors, but also pushing the vast majority of the Arab world into the same camp with the Western-Russian alliance who now agree they have a new common enemy.
Lebanon’s election farce
Filed under: Democracy, Lebanon, Middle East, military rule |
Leave a Comment By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)
Talk about a political farce, a charade, a travesty of democracy, a sham, a mockery of the electoral system, an embarrassment to the very idea of a free and fair election. I refer to the Lebanese presidential elections, of course.
The election of the president has already been postponed multiple times, with the ultimate deadline set for Friday, November 23. Well, the deadline has come and gone, and still no president.
The die is cast…
Filed under: Democracy, Middle East, Palestine, Peace Talks, conflict resolution |
Leave a Comment BY CLAUDE SALHANI (View from Washington)
THE die is cast, or as Julius Caesar said when he crossed the Rubicon, alea jacta est. The Bush administration crossed its own Rubicon with the announcement on Tuesday night by the US State Department that it has issued invitations to host 50 countries and organisations — including Syria — to attend a Middle East peace conference with the aim of reviving the stalled peace initiative.
Politics & Policies: Fanatics everywhere
By Claude Salhani
Just for the record the Taliban, al-Qaida and their ilk are far from owning the monopoly on religious intransigence, cultural narrow-mindedness and nationalist fanaticism. Indeed, one might be surprised to learn that there are people, right here in America, who espouse the very same radical ideas.
Problems for former dictators
Filed under: Democracy, Pakistan, military rule, politics |
Leave a Comment By CLAUDE SALHANI
The Bush administration Pakistan by dispatching John Negroponte, its seasoned and second-highest ranking diplomat, to Islamabad this weekend. has kicked into high gear its diplomatic efforts to end the political crisis in Negroponte’s blunt intervention in the crisis comes as a clear indication of the growing concern that the Bush administration has regarding the instability of a major ally in what it calls the war on terrorism.
In the shah’s footsteps?
Filed under: Democracy, Iran, Islam, Pakistan, military rule, politics, terrorism |
Comments (1) Claude Salhani
November 17, 2007
A close adviser to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf promises full democracy will return to Pakistan by February. However, given today’s prevailing political climate, much can happen in the next three months that could either take the country on the road to political recovery or plunge it into greater chaos and potential civil war.
ANALYSIS: What is Washington’s game plan?
Filed under: Democracy, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, politics, refugees |
Leave a Comment By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)
The inevitable question poised on the lips of everyone as a mild autumn gently begins to set upon the Greater Washington area is whether the United States is likely to initiate another war in the Middle East before the George Bush and Dick Cheney ticket runs out in January 2009.
Politics & Policies: Lebanon’s gamble
By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)Lebanon’s pro-independence members of parliament are playing a waiting game in Beirut; a sort of Russian roulette. But in this version of murderous Middle Eastern politics instead of one revolver loaded with a single bullet, the game is played with booby-trapped car bombs and professional assassins out for a kill.
Editorial: Give the money, hold the talk
A close adviser to Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf told the Middle East Times that full democracy will return to Pakistan by February. But February might as well be light years away given the state of turmoil the country finds itself in today.
Pakistan: Security rather than democracy
Ahmad Raza Khan Qasuri is a close adviser to President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, a former member of Parliament, said full democracy will return to Pakistan by Feb. 2008.
