Amid another day and night of widespread protests in Egypt, and rumours of a massacre of protesters in Suez, Western governments’ policy toward the Middle East is tottering and is now one dictator’s plane flight away from collapsing altogether.
Middle east
Crikey Says: Rethinking the Middle East
Why the Palestine Papers matter to the peace process
Why do al-Jazeera’s Palestine Papers matter so much? Well, because they puncture the central fictions upon which the so-called peace process has always depended.
How online media humanizes Middle Eastern people
While western mainstream media coverage continues to perpetuate myths and stereotypes about the Middle East, online media - particularly blogs - have emerged as powerful tools to show the faces and personalities of everyday people, writes Daz Chandler.
IDF lawyer: the problem isn’t with international law, it’s fighting terrorism
In light of the recent Gaza flotilla disaster, the Goldstone report and ongoing global attempts to hold Israeli officials to account for alleged war crimes, this seminar on terror and laws of war was well timed.
Richardson: where to now for mid-East peace?
The fact that some members of the aid convoy had been filmed singing pro-Hamas songs is being treated in all seriousness as a justification for killing them.
Headbanging against oppression
Forget hip hop or folk, the latest protest songs from Morocco, China and Palestine are coming from an active, underground heavy metal scene. But what happens when metal goes mainstream? asks James M. Dorsey.
Will Israel attack Iran?
Israel is getting fed up with America’s dithering over Iran, and its trigger-finger is getting increasingly itchy. Will — and can — it “go rogue” on the nuclear nation?
How Mossad would deal with bin Laden: Tarantino-style
If Mossad captured Osama bin Laden, it would go all Inglorious Basterds on his arse, writes Abe Novick, in a rather twisted revenge fantasy that culminates in the US being so grateful, it happily lets Israel attack Iran.
rumour 
Obama’s next project: peace in the Middle East?
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius claims Obama is “seriously considering” proposing a peace plan for the Middle East. Ditto the NYT. As Politico says: it may be BS, but it’s clearly what the White House wants Netanyahu to think.
Is Lady Gaga more offensive than Israeli settlements?
The US’s support of Israel may be partially fueling anti-Americanism in the Muslim world, says former Jerusalem Post editor Bret Stephens — but they’re far more offended by tarty pop stars like Lady Gaga and Madonna.
The child-brides of Yemen
Over half of girls in Yemen are married off by their fathers before they’re 18, usually to men at least a decade older than them, with girls as young as 10 becoming mothers — and that’s if they’re lucky enough to survive the pregnancy.
A step-by-step guide for Israel on attacking Iran
Former US policymakers and intelligence officials have come together to “imagine” an Israeli airstrike on Iran, and the NYT has helpfully put together an illustrated blueprint of exactly how it could/would go down.
“My father founded Hamas; now I work for Israel”
A fascinating interview with Mosab Yousef, the Christian, former Israeli spy son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, who has just released a tell-all book about growing up in the world of Islamic extremism.
How Dubai cracked the Mossad assasination case
A fascinating look at how Dubai police used “a mixture of high-tech razzle-dazzle and old-fashioned investigative work” to identify the spies behind the now infamous assassination of a Hamas commander.
Why Iran’s nuclear weapons aren’t all bad
With news that Iran is enriching its uranium stockpile, the West has got into a tizz over potential nuclear weapons. But there are benefits to Iran building a nuclear bomb, explains defence analyst Adam B. Lowther.
Meet the “Palestinian Nelson Mandela”
Israel is willing to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for the return of kidnapped Israeli sodiler soldier Gilad Shalit, but there’s one they won’t give up: Marwan Barghouti, the man many Palestinians see him as the leader who can finally reunite them.
Settlers rally against Netanyahu, peace, whatever
Israeli policy seems to be stuck in a sphere of unreality where a two-state solution is officially proclaimed as the goal, but there is a taboo on any discussion of measures.
leaked The EU plan to split Jerusalem
Hareetz has got its hands on a document drafted by the European Union calling for the division of Jerusalem between Israel and a future Palestinian state, indicating it would support a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood.
Dubai was already bankrupt: morally and financially
Dubai may have Western fast food chains, impressive skyscrapers and designer fashions, but beneath its modern facade, it is a dictatorship built by slaves, with the highest per capita carbon emissions on Earth says Johann Hari.
Letter from...: Dubai: the march towards conservatism
Amongst expatriates in Dubai, the gossip mill grinds on with reports that Abu Dhabi is putting the pressure on the government to become more conservative as it helps bail it out.
Turkey debates a deal with terrorists
Turkey’s government is showing that an “Islamist” party can become a force for democracy and progress, challenging so many of our usual assumptions about Muslims, terrorism and the Middle East.
The case for a nuclear Iran
Gasp! Iran could be building “The Bomb”. Yep: just like Pakistan has bombs, Israel has bombs and North Korea has bombs. Does another one really matter? asks Aetius Romulous
Iraq: where the bloody hell are you?
Iraq may be war-torn and rife with crime, bombings and insurgency, but that’s not holding it back from going on a global tourist drive, hoping to attract European and American travellers to sites like the Garden of Eden and Babylon.
Commentary / Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Sure Dubai has its problems (the dictatorship and slave labour, for instance), but it also serves as a model of development and just how much an Arab Muslim country can achieve when it opens up its economy and keeps religion out of politics, says Michael Totten.