| In Lebanon, Salafists are on the move |
| By Rami G. Khouri | May 25, 2013 12:26 AM |
| The sudden escalation of fighting in the north Lebanese city of Tripoli is troubling on two fronts and noteworthy on a third. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| March 14 drifts away from the state |
| By Michael Young | May 23, 2013 01:00 AM |
| From the start of the debate over a new election law months ago, Hezbollah had a strategic objective, which it defined as a consequence of the fighting in Syria. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By David Ignatius | May 23, 2013 12:59 AM |
|
It’s a rule of thumb in Middle East conflicts that whenever peace talks are announced, each side steps up the fighting so it can grab as much territory as possible before the cease-fire lines are drawn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Rami G. Khouri | May 22, 2013 12:58 AM |
|
The most fascinating aspect of the war in Syria this month – and perhaps also the most significant in terms of long-term regional geopolitics – is the direct involvement of Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite party and resistance group that is closely allied to Iran and Syria.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Rami G. Khouri | May 18, 2013 12:33 AM |
|
An important but unclear aspect of the ongoing Arab uprisings has been how more democratic and legitimate Arab governments would impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Political hypocrisy
|
| May 25, 2013 12:25 AM |
|
The Interior Ministry in Beirut hosted a steady stream of visitors Friday, all coming to pay their respects to the notorious “1960” parliamentary election law.
|
|
|
Weary words
|
| May 24, 2013 01:05 AM |
|
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry conceded upon landing in occupied Jerusalem Thursday that there has been some skepticism, pessimism and disappointment in the Arab world concerning the so-called peace process.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scandal fever hits the Obama administration hard
|
| By David Ignatius | May 16, 2013 12:57 AM |
|
At a time when Congress can’t pass a budget and the president can’t win approval of any important legislation, the public is indignant about the threat of an overreaching.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Washington blunders yet again in Syria
|
| By Michael Young | May 16, 2013 12:57 AM |
|
It is not reassuring that we know next to nothing about the details of the international conference on Syria that has been endorsed by the United States and Russia.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
New rules for an evolving Arab order
|
| By Rami G. Khouri | May 15, 2013 01:03 AM |
|
The worsening war in Syria has heightened regional and international concerns that the situation there may destabilize the entire Middle East region.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Not a breakthrough on Syria, but a start
|
| By David Ignatius | May 13, 2013 01:48 AM |
|
It shouldn’t have been this hard, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has finally gotten Russia to back the peace plan on Syria that it endorsed in principle last June.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China’s intriguing Palestine proposal
|
| By Rami G. Khouri | May 11, 2013 12:41 AM |
|
It might be coincidental timing or just a really bad case of mean-spirited in-your-face aggressive Israeli diplomacy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Culture clashes can be moveable beasts
|
| By Michael Young | May 09, 2013 12:45 AM |
|
It is a fact that the notion of a clash of civilizations, first popularized by the American academic Samuel Huntington, is more relevant than ever in the minds of many people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Look at the bigger picture in Syria
|
| By Rami G. Khouri | May 08, 2013 12:41 AM |
|
The big question being asked by many in the international, especially American, media is whether the United States will now respond and engage militarily in Syria, due to the reports of the use of chemical weapons there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A key Syria partner is frustrated by US caution
|
| By David Ignatius | May 03, 2013 12:44 AM |
|
Gen. Salim Idriss, the commander of rebel forces in Syria, complained late Tuesday that President Barack Obama’s desire “to wait and wait for more evidence” that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons is encouraging their continued use – and that these attacks will only stop if the United States and its allies impose a no-fly zone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arab troubled transitions are normal
|
| By Rami G. Khouri | May 01, 2013 12:47 AM |
|
As various countries across the Arab world navigate difficult transitions from former dictatorships to new forms of governance, much remains unclear in terms of exactly how much citizen participation and government accountability will prevail.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Israel is enjoying a period of relative quiet
|
| By David Ignatius | April 29, 2013 01:00 AM |
|
It’s a measure of the relatively quiet time for Israel these days that the sharpest argument at a big national security conference in the country was between an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who wanted “autonomy” for his fellow believers and secular Israelis in the audience who shouted out denunciations of what one called his “apartheid” plan.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A lesson from Birmingham for the Arabs
|
| By Rami G. Khouri | April 27, 2013 12:42 AM |
|
One of the most troubling aspects of recent developments in several Arab countries has been growing domestic polarization based on an interplay of ideology, religion and ethnicity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hezbollah’s mad gamble in Qusair
|
| By Michael Young | April 25, 2013 01:15 AM |
|
It’s still too early to tell whether Hezbollah will succeed in its bid to clear the area of Qusair of Syrian rebels, in that way assuring Syrian regime control over the passage between Damascus and the coast, via Homs, and between the coast and Lebanon’s Hermel region.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|