In early March, eight men and women attacked the central train station of Kunming, the capital of the southwestern province Yunnan. Armed with knives, these people slaughtered 28 civilians and left 130 injured in what the Chinese media have dubbed “China’s 9/11.” As pressure mounts on Beijing to react swiftly, Islamabad must do all it can to ensure that Beijing, its most powerful ally, does not lose faith but remains, in the words of former President Pervez Musharraf, a “time-tested and all-weather friend.”
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While most Palestinians yearn for the birth of a new Palestinian state, and regardless of the fact that they do not enjoy the same privileges as their Jordanian counterparts, many Palestinians do not have any intention of migrating to a future “Palestine.”
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Christians and Muslims may pray to the same God, but can this God protect both peoples? Jordan’s Christians hope they never have to find out.
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These powerful developments emanating from the Middle East demonstrate a region constantly disturbed by sectional interests and polarizing ideologies. Is there a solution?
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The face of Walid al- Moallem, Syria’s foreign minister, appears on television: “Syria always keeps its promises,” he says to Ban Ki-moon. The scene cuts out, and immediately cuts back into an image of Syrian warplanes raining hellfire down upon the Syria landscape. Explosions, smoke, and misery ensue.
Read MoreIdeas and ideologies carry large weight, especially if one takes the Arab world in political context. As citizens of the twenty first century, we often overlook the cause of the Arab region’s political distress and tension that seems to be so ubiquitous.
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One thing is certain: Pakistan is the only state even capable to promoting regional stability. Despite its political maneuvering and manipulation, Pakistan is the most important actor in the peace process.
Read MoreIraq lacks confidence. Irreversible changes have done more harm than good. New forms of violence may well continue in the future. Iraq’s security is mostly fragile without a concrete method to chase suspected perpetrators, and the result is ongoing civil war—a sort of no man’s land.
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For progress to be made, Lieberman must get over his distaste for Abbas, who is Israel’s best chance for a peace partner, and continue to craft unprecedented proposals. Ultimately, Prime Minister Netanyahu must show a willingness to negotiate on West Bank settlements if he desires a comprehensive peace.
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To be frank, with recent tectonic shifts of the political and social terrain in the Middle East, Israel can’t afford another ground war and occupation of Gaza. The Israeli position now is not as secure as it once was four years ago. The Middle East of 2008 is not the Middle East of 2012, and the Hamas of 2008 is not the Hamas of 2012.
Read MoreReworking the Strategy towards Iran. Netanyahu is becoming infamously impatient, and the reactors keep spinning (despite false claims to the contrary last week; I doubt we’ll ever really know what is actually going on in those nuclear plants). The current strategy cannot continue.
Read MoreBut regardless of whether it is openly discussed or not, as long as the world’s economy runs on oil, as it seems will be the case for at least the next few decades, Middle Eastern conflicts will continue to have a disproportionate impact on the global economy.
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Within the story of the MEK lies the greater story of the ways in which the ideology and activity of a given entity can change, sometimes for worse and sometimes for better.
Read MoreImpotent or not, Orwell teaches me, it is writing about the hard topics, speaking out on Syria, that automatically breathes life into my words. Political purpose, it turns out, is nothing less than a writer’s very oxygen.
Read MoreCertainly an organization representing a global unified body would have the most legitimacy. The UN was formed with the core principles of peace and security in mind, but a lack of unity of member states only allows magnifies the problems on the ground.
Read MoreDespite changing governance in the region, the United States will uphold its policies of the past three decades so long as it continues offering aid to the Egyptian military and the military respects its peace treaty with Israel.
Read MoreThe crux of Waltz’s argument is that “power begs to be balanced.” He suggests that “Israel’s nuclear monopoly has long fueled instability in the Middle East." I’m no fan of Israeli nukes, but I don’t think the warheads are the primary source of Israeli unpopularity.
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NATO took a step away from Pakistan was taken when it reached an independent deal with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan to open a transport route to ship military equipment out of Afghanistan. Circumventing Pakistan may very well become the norm in the region as the US, hopefully, begins a bona fide search for a new regional partner.
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