The Mouth That Roared

The title of this article is not a typographical error. Rather, this was how an acquaintance, an analyst well familiar with the Middle East, referred to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s latest rant last week.

No sooner had U.S. President Barack Obama declared in front of the world a drastic change in U.S. foreign policy, criticizing past dealings with the Arab and Muslim worlds, and announcing that henceforth the Arabs and Muslims would be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, Ahmadinejad refuted the hand of friendship extended from Washington.

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25th Anniversary of Marines Beirut Bombing – CSPAN

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Politics & Policies: Mideast forecast

By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)

The political situation in the Middle East is reaching a dangerous crescendo. The status quo cannot continue; either the comatose peace process shifts into high gear, and all parties concerned become serious about moving toward a peaceful solution – without reservation – or the region faces a serious risk of slipping into greater violence.

As things currently stand, it could go either way in any of the four theaters of conflict: Israel-Palestine, Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon-Syria.

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Analysis: Mughnieh embarrassing Damascus

Imad Mughnieh, most wanted by the FBI and the U.S. State Department, is believed to have been responsible for the attacks on the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Marines compound in Beirut in the 1980s. He was killed Tuesday night in a car bombing in Damascus.His presence in the Syrian capital, however, places the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad in an embarrassing position, given the fact that Mughnieh was wanted by Interpol and by the United States.

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Iran Qods Force infiltrates Iraq

By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)

New information was brought to light Thursday revealing “an overwhelming amount of intelligence indicating a political-military buildup by Tehran’s mullahs, targeting not just the south, but the heart of Iraq.”

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Politics & Policies: Bush’s last hurrah

There was no mention of the “axis of evil” in U.S. President George W. Bush’s final State of the Union address Monday night, although the president did made a point of singling out Iran and al-Qaida as continuing to threaten the advance of democracy in the Middle East.

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Sarkozy’s risky Mideast chess game

By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)

While the world focused on President Bush’s much publicized tour of the Middle East last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy scored a major tactical victory against Iran as the political tug-o-war between the Islamic republic and the West takes on a new dimension.

As Bush tried — some would say unsuccessfully — to garner support from the Gulf states in the U.S.’s face-off with Iran, Sarkozy managed to sign an agreement with the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi giving France a military base in the United Arab Emirates, a mere 150 miles from the coast of Iran.

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Inside Iran’s secretive Qods Force

 By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)

Since 2003 Iran has spent billions of dollars in Iraq, mobilized vast government resources and unleashed the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, all in an effort to spread its hegemony and the Islamic revolution, according to sources in the Iranian resistance.

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Political predictions for 2008

By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)

Are we better off today at the start of a new year than we were 365 days ago? Is the world a safer place at the start of 2008 than it was at the beginning of 2007? And how will the planet fare during the remaining 383 days of the Bush administration?

You be the judge:

There are multiple areas of conflict or potential conflict in the world today with several of those conflicted areas having real potential to erupt into full-scale war, civil war, or a combination of both.

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Kurdish self-determination ‘by all means’

By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)

Geography, history — and geopolitics — has not been very kind to the Kurdish people. Geography has spread Kurdistan across Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Armenia. History has only allowed Kurdistan to exist as an independent nation intermittently throughout the ages.

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