Uncategorized

Best wishes to Ted Kennedy and his family in the aftermath of his diagnosis with brain cancer. Analysts are pointing out that the Democrats need Kennedy more than ever, as a party wise man who could help heal it after a divisive primary. Kennedy has been among the more effective legislators of his generation and […]

Some telling video clips for a lazy Sunday: Via Josh Marshall’s TPM Veracifier: John McCain says the US will have to negotiate with Hamas at some point, since they are the government. (They are still the government in Gaza.) Obama replies to Bush’s ‘appeasement’ crack in Israel: Condi Rice says she will meet the Iranian […]

I’ve been traveling again and so only just saw Edward Luttwak’s ridiculous column about Barack Obama being considered an “apostate” in the Muslim world. It is just so discouraging that such an ignorant and illogical comment was made by a prominent American pundit, and that the New York Times leant its pages to this complete […]

As I was setting off for some conferences in the UK last April, I got an invitation from Tim Sebastian to come participate in the Doha Debates on April 29. Sebastian for years ran a hard hitting interview program on the BBC. More recently, he has hosted the Doha Debates in Qatar. The debates are […]

The bombings that shook Jaipur and killed 80 innocents are not immediately legible as ordinary politics. Most previous such bombings (Bombay, Hyderabad) have been in areas that have important Muslim minorities, or have been connected to separatist movements such as in Assam. Some appear to have been the work of Muslim radicals and intended as […]

As if Iraq was not enough to worry about, some important political developments in Lebanon, and even in the Yemen have raised the temperature of the Middle East . . . A roadside bomb targeted Abu Qutaiba, a local leader of an Awakening group a U.S. sponsored militia, in Al Lehaib area north east of […]

My column, “Clinton and Obama on Aljazeera,” is just out in Salon.com. It is based in part on an interview I did with the editor-in-chief of Aljazeera during my recent trip to Qatar. Excerpt: ‘ Many Americans incorrectly think of Al-Jazeera’s Arabic-language network as al-Qaida Central because it occasionally broadcasts excerpts from videotapes of the […]

AFP reports that on Friday an aide to junior cleric Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr lashed out at Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani over his silence at the attacks on Sadr City (a Shiite slum) by the US and the government of PM Nuri al-Maliki: ‘ “We are surprised by the silence in Najaf where the highest Shiite […]

The USG Open Source Center analyzes the Lebanese press on the crisis between the Seniora government and Hizbullah, suggesting that despite their harsh words, they have left wiggle room for a resolution. OSC Report: Lebanon — Both Sides Take Tough Line, Leave Room To ManeuverLebanon — OSC ReportFriday, May 9, 2008 . . . Lebanon […]