I have returned to my blog here to discuss the various news items emanating from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s impending visit to the United States to take part in the United Nations General Assembly. Ahmadinejad requested permission to lay a wreath at Ground Zero and has been scheduled to speak at Columbia University this coming Monday. Although […]
Ok, this is beginning to make a lot more sense. Via Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post, CNN is reporting that Israel entered Syrian airspace last week and attacked a convoy of Iranian troops intended to reach Hizballah in Lebanon. The report also indicates that a ground operation may have been involved.
If this is true, the […]
Kevin Drum, in his column in Washington Monthly, dismisses “chaos hawks” – those who advocate remaining in Iraq to avoid potentially catastrophic consequences in the wake of our withdrawal. The essential thesis of his article is:
Having admitted, however, that the odds of a military success in Iraq are almost impossibly long, Chaos Hawks nonetheless […]
I spent yesterday at the NJ State Democratic Conference so I wasn’t able to blog about the dangerous and complicated situation involving an alleged Israeli Air Force incursion into Syrian airspace. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the situation, Syrian news outlets reported on Thursday that and IAF jet breached its airspace, dumped […]
Two years ago, Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearshimer published a paper in the London Review of Books about the disproportionate influence of the “Israel Lobby” on US Foreign Policy. Mearshimer and Walt recently published a book-length version of this essay as The Israel Lobby.
William Grimes published a review of the book in the […]
I apologize for my weekend-long absence. A perfect storm of two papers being due and two weddings kept me from my blog. Rest assured, with today’s posts I am back again.
A fairly significant ruling today from the Israeli Supreme Court stipulated that Israel must re-route a portion of the Wall/Fence/Barrier in the village of Bil’in. […]
The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abut Toameh, by far the best writer on Palestinian affairs among any Israeli newspaper, has a very interesting article in today’s online edition about The reopening of a diplomatic process on the status of Jerusalem. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed Adnan Husseini – former head of the Islamic Waqf – […]
As always, a slow news day in the Middle East is a good news day. Therre was one story in the Jerusalem Post when I woke up this morning that I found very interesting. Reports indicate that Hamas has offered to turn over the positions and institutions they seized from Fatah during their takeover of […]
Earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem to work on the so-called “Declaration of Principles” for the international peace conference set for this Fall. Although Israeli sources are reporting that Olmert and Abbas discussed final status issues during the meeting, Voice of Palestine Radio is reporting […]
So far, we’re having a relatively quiet news day coming out of the Middle East. The biggest news by far today is the election of Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to the Turkish presidency. If you will recall, last year Turkish Prime Minister Reciep Tayyip Erdogan first nominated Gul for the presidency – which is […]