Celebrities and celebration take their toll
BEIRUT (IPS) In the dark streets across from the main Hamra road, one of the major commercial arteries in the Lebanese capital Beirut, light streams from behind the drapes of a first floor apartment. A politician's speech blaring from a TV resonates loudly in the night. As music cues the closing credits of the show, sudden...Israel detains Fulbright scholars in Gaza
Gaza City Zohair Abu Shaban graduated at the top of his 2007 class in electrical engineering at the Islamic University here and after a lengthy application process, he was awarded the U.S. State Department's prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study in Connecticut. But first Mr. Abu Shaban has to get out of Gaza. So far, that's...Israeli attack looking more likely
JERUSALEM (IPS) The likelihood of a large-scale Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip has crept closer as more rockets continue to land in southern Israel and another Israeli was killed by a mortar shell, further hardening attitudes amongst senior ministers against a proposed truce with Hamas. Speaking to reporters aboard...Ahmadinejad faces heavyweight foe in Larijani
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) This week, Iran's new speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, proposed forming two joint committees of the legislative and judiciary branches in an effort to reconcile new legislation with the Islamic penal code. The step is viewed as part of Larijani's enthusiasm to build strategic alliances within Iran's...
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under U.S. control
June 6th, 20080 A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq....When the kettle calls the pot black
I cannot say that I ever liked Ehud Olmert. But now I almost feel sorry for him. It is not pleasant to see how they pounce on him, like jackals and hyenas fighting over a carcass. And that also raises some questions. Was Olmert the only fallible human being in this paradise? Not at all. The stories about the envelopes stuffed with...Lebanon is back on track – but for how long?
Lebanon has undergone intense changes over the last two weeks. What are those changes and what brought them about? Over the last three years Lebanon has lost almost all of the post-civil war recovery that began in 1990. In these three years, Lebanon has witnessed over a dozen political assassinations, a devastating war...Investment conference a success?
BETHLEHEM Amid lavish settings and tight security, hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs from around the world last week gathered in the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem to discuss and plan joint business ventures. Palestine Authority (PA) officials described the "Palestine Investment Conference" as a "mega event" in light...Israeli prize winner gives to Bir Zeit
The American mathematician David Mumford, co-winner of the 2008 Israeli Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics, announced upon receiving the award that he will donate the money to Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah, and to Gisha, an Israeli organization that advocates for Palestinian freedom of movement. "I decided to donate my...Iraqis questioning U.S.-Iraq deals
WASHINGTON (IPS) Iraqi parliamentarians are increasingly concerned that they are being left out of talks between Iraqi and U.S. officials over a strategic deal to determine the future relationship between the two countries, at a time when the U.S. Congress failed to include a provision in a bill to fund the Iraq and Afghan wars...Why Qatar is emerging as Middle East peacemaker
Doha This tiny Gulf state emerged this week at the forefront of regional diplomacy, successfully shepherding the negotiations between feuding Lebanese factions to end months of political turmoil and violence. With regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, aligned behind rival players in Lebanon, Qatar is uniquely suited to...
Siniora to head Lebanon government
May 30th, 20080 The U.S.-backed March 14 bloc nominated Fouad Siniora as prime minister Tuesday, although members of the Hizbullah-led opposition signaled they were unhappy with Siniora becoming head of the new cabinet. President Michel Sleiman's office made the announcement on Wednesday, following the president's meeting with legislators and the...
Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’
May 30th, 20080 NEW YORK The George W. Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently. Two key U.S. senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition...Will the U.S. negotiate with Hizbullah?
Editor's note: This is the fifth and final installment of Franklin Lamb's series on Hizbullah, reprinted from counterpunch.org. What the Bush administration wants from Hizbullah A public announcement of, and adherence to, a Hizbullah policy that separates Islam from terrorism in the minds of the Western public, i.e. between...American Palestinians move from al-Nakba to organizing
WASHINGTON In the past few weeks, Palestinians around the globe have commemorated the 60th anniversary of al Nakba, or the catastrophe, that led to their displacement from their homeland. Israel's establishment in May 1948 continued and accelerated the forcible Palestinian exile at the hands of Israel's founding pioneers.......
Syria sees influx of Arabic language students
DAMASCUS Syria may be a largely closed society, but students from Europe and America are flocking there to study Arabic. They're drawn by the inexpensive tuition and housing rates, as well as the relative purity of the Syrian dialect, which is considered close to classical Arabic. At Damascus University, not far from the heart...No evidence to prove U.S. claims against Iran
WASHINGTON (IPS) Early this month, the George W. Bush administration's plan to create a new crescendo of accusations against Iran for allegedly smuggling arms to Shi'a militias in Iraq encountered not just one but two setbacks. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to endorse U.S. charges of Iranian......
Iraq’s antiquities garner international attention
Across southern Iraq, large stretches of terrain resemble a moonscape, the earth pocked by dozens of untidy craters. The man-made holes have been dug as part of the looting of Mesopotamia's archaeological sites that experts say is robbing Iraq of its ancient heritage. The looting not only funds unscrupulous dealers of...U.S. allies picking up the pieces
WASHINGTON (IPS) As the White House agenda for the Middle East continues to unravel, events over the past 24 hours seem to suggest that U.S. allies in the region are determined to construct a new edifice based on diplomacy, with or without Washington's help. In spite of efforts by President George W. Bush's administration to...Will U. S. policy in Lebanon and the Middle East ever change?
"Absolutely not! Without a credible deterrent force, there is no real Lebanese sovereignty. Israel came very close to getting nearly all it wanted with the 1983 May 17th agreement. Had Hizbullah not prevented this, Lebanon today would be colonized with near confederation status with Israel. The Bush administration's democracy and...
A victory for Lebanon
May 23rd, 20080 The agreement gives Hizbullah and its opposition allies enough control in the government to have veto power over legislation. Beirut After 18 months of living on the streets in an encampment that has paralyzed this city's downtown, Lebanon's opposition supporters started going home Wednesday. They dismantled their......
Bush’s Middle East policy in tatters
May 23rd, 20080 Last Tuesday, while United States President George W. Bush was setting out from Washington on a five-day tour of the Middle East, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad as hinting that Tehran might consider a cut in oil exports. Of course, Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari quickly...When will Arab oil translate into political power?
Arab oil producers are awash in wealth. They have never been so rich. But the paradox is that, in spite of their great and growing wealth, their political weight in the world remains small, even derisory. They have not or at least not yet converted their wealth into political influence on a global scale. This is......
Refugees, peace activists mourn
As Israel celebrates 60 years of statehood, Palestinians worldwide mourn the loss of their homes and homeland. While one people Jews fleeing persecution in Europe gained a country, another people the land's indigenous Palestinians lost nearly everything they had. In 1948 hundreds of...Lebanon’s Sunni bloc built militia, officials say
The Future Movement used a security firm to assemble a private force, officials say. But the fighters were no match for Hizbullah. BEIRUT For a year, the main Lebanese political faction backed by the U.S. built a Sunni Muslim militia here under the guise of private security companies, Lebanese security experts......