This Blog is intended for use by students in the Islamic Middle East course at Northfield Mount Hermon School and guest students and teachers from other participating schools.
The New York Times
November 1st
Representatives from Iraq and the United States met on Saturday, November 1st, to discuss ways to stimulate the Iraqi economy. With oil prices as low as they are, Iraq is struggling to find new sources of income, given that 95 percent of Iraq’s revenue comes from oil exports. American officials stressed [...]
BBC News October 23, 2008
Summary: Economists survey the Middle East’s challenges of their global financial system. Robert Mabro, an energy economist and former director of Oxford Institute for energy studies, comments on the challenges that the Middle East will face, if they are not already. It is said that such crises like financial and associated [...]
Article found in the Economist:
This current event briefly gives an overview of the state in which Yemen is in right now. Yemen is located in the south of the Arabian Peninsula west of Oman and south of Saudi Arabia. Recentl, two car bombs went off outside the American embassy in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital. This attack [...]
I already posted my WMR, but I just found this really interesting article on the CNN website “Hundres Face Saudi Terror Trials” http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/21/saudi.terror.trials/index.html
Here is the CNN Story Summary:
“991 suspects were rounded up in anti-terror raids
Rights group asks Saudi govt. for permission to send observers to the trials
Says some of those arrested in sweeps have little [...]
The Middle East in the News - WMR 2
Your Name and Date: Victoria Wilmarth 10/12/08
Title of Article: Russian-Georgian Conflict Impacts the Middle East
Source of Article: World Press http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3247.cfm
Article Summary
Time: Summer – Fall of 2008
Place: Georgia and Middle East
Key People: Russia, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, NATO
Vocabulary: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (B.T.C.) is the second longest oil pipeline in the [...]
Faced with a high inflation rate due to the country’s enormous financial growth, Saudi Arabia is experiencing a large increase in food and housing prices. In an effort to lower prices, officials are proposing to buy land in other developing countries, like Thailand, to produce crops such as rice and soybeans. This might increase the food [...]
The six Arab Gulf Cooperation States (GCC) have condemned Iran for setting up offices on three disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s oil is shipped. The islands - Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb - are claimed by both Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The GCC [...]
Yesterday in class, Dick told us about the marshes in southern Iraq, the culture they spawned, how Saddam Hussein drained those marshes in an effort to destroy that culture, and how the marshes are now being allowed to fill back in.
The United Nations has decided to list those marshes as a world heritage site.
Story at the [...]
Israeli P.M. Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have held talks in Jerusalem aimed at moving the peace process forward.
Story from the BBC with links to historical benchmarks in the process and other resources (such as borders, the status of refugees, and water)
IME Course Study Guide for the Arab-Israeli conflict
BBC Middle East