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{ Monthly Archives } January 2008

Reformists Barred from Iran Polls

Name: Tad Bezerra [...]

2008 01 31 Tad_Bezerra Iran Comments (0)

Resources to Accompany “Focus the Nation”

In support of our school’s participation in “Focus the Nation,” here is a list of resources to accompany our discussion in class of the politics of Middle Eastern oil.
1.  Victor Davis Hanson, “Blood and Oil,” The Salt Lake (City) Tribune, Nov. 29, 2006
2.  Michael Klare, “Mapping the Oil Motive, Tompaine.com, March 18, 2005
3.  Jane Bryant [...]

2008 01 29 Ted Thornton Economic Issues
Natural Resources
Oil Comments (0)

Head Scarves May Be Returning to Turkey

See Sabrina Tavernise, “In Turkey, A Step To Allow Head Scarves,” New York Times, Jan. 29, 2008. 
Additional Note (1/30/08):  See also, Sabrina Tavernise, For Many Turks, Head Scarf’s Return Aids Religion and Democracy,” New York Times, Jan. 30, 2008
(More including links to background)

2008 01 29 Ted Thornton Turkey Comments (0)

Hussein was surprised the US invaded

According to an FBI agent Saddam Hussein wanted the world to believe that he had weapons of mass destruction to intimidate Iran. It was critical for Hussein to appear as the same strong, defiant Hussein because he was afraid of what Iran might do. He anticipated that the US would launch an aerial attack and [...]

2008 01 28 thomas_blackmore Iraq Comments (0)

Afghanistan’s Hazara People

The February 2008 issue of National Geographic  magazine is running an article on Afghanistan’s mostly Shiite Hazara people. 

2008 01 28 Ted Thornton Afghanistan Comments (0)

France Reasserting Itself in the Middle East

France under President Sarkozy has begun reasserting its influence in the Middle East.  See Elaine Sciolino, “A New France in the Middle East,” New York Times, Jan. 27, 2008. 

2008 01 27 Ted Thornton Middle East
Trends Comments (0)

Radical Palestinian Nationalist George Habash is Dead

George Habash, a medical doctor who founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has died in Jordan.  Habash, a Christian by faith, was a Palestinian secular nationalist whose group became best known for airplane hijackings in the 1970s.  His cause became increasingly sidelined with the rise of Islamist Palestinian militancy in the [...]

2008 01 27 Ted Thornton Arab-Israeli Conflict
Christianity
Palestinians Comments (0)

Crisis on the Egypt-Gaza Border

For the past several days in class, we have been discussing the ongoing breach of the border wall between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah.  The BBC is running  a good background piece on all this supplemented by maps and charts.

2008 01 26 Ted Thornton Arab-Israeli Conflict
Egypt Comments (0)

Amos Elon Writes About the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Prominent Israeli writer Amos Elon provides an up-to-date synopsis of the situation of Palestinians and Israelis and the choices they face:  Amos Elon, “Olmert and Israel: The Change,” The New York Review of Books, vol. 55, no.2, Feb. 14, 2008.  (More at the course study guide)

2008 01 26 Ted Thornton Arab-Israeli Conflict Comments (0)

Walter Russell Mead on Extremist Muslim Movements

In his recent review (in Foreign Affairs, Jan-Feb, 2008, 173f.) of a recent book by Walter Russell Mead, Owen Harries writes:
“Mead expresses qualified optimism concerning the future of the West’s relations with Islam. The extreme Wahhabi and Salafist movements of today, he observes, bear a striking resemblance to some of the radical Protestant groups of [...]

2008 01 25 Ted Thornton Islam and Politics Comments (0)