Middle East History

Pakistan-U.S. Relations and the War on Terrorism

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 13:03:52 -0400

Zamir Akram, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, delivered remarks at the Middle East Institute regarding relations between Pakistan and the United States on the War on Terror. His comments covered a brief history of the relations between the two countries, emphasizing a “trust deficit” that has developed over the past 30 years. According to Akram, the future of this relationship should lie in a more substance-based strategic relationship built on long-term interests.

Iraq in Need of Unification, not Partition

Louay Bahry, Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0400

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc651.html

Help Lebanon Control the Camps

Graeme Bannerman — Wed, 6 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0400

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc654.html

Neutralizing Palestine to Better Focus on Iran

Clayton Swisher — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:00:00 -0500

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc611.html

The Implications of Iraq

Edward Walker — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:00:00 -0400

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc572.html

Peacekeeping in Lebanon

David Mack — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:00:00 -0400

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc557.html

This Time, No Deal

Edward S. Walker, Jr. — Tue, 4 Oct 2005 12:00:00 -0400

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc430.html

In 1984, when President Ronald Reagan withdrew US forces from Beirut after a suicide attack killed 244 marines, the conservative Republican and sometime presidential candidate Pat Buchanan said, "It is dangerous to be America's enemy, but fatal to be America's friend."

Since then, the people of Lebanon have had good reason to recall those words. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush traded Lebanese sovereignty for President Hafez Assad's support in the first Gulf War. Kuwait was freed, Lebanon was ceded to Syria.

Why Is Federalism Rare in the Middle East?

Michael C. Dunn — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 12:00:00 -0400

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc412.html

The completion of an Iraqi constitution has been delayed in large part because of a debate over whether the state should be a federal one, as the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) had defined it, or a unitary one. Kurdistan has enjoyed autonomy since 1991 and remains insistent on a federal system. But, many Sunni Arabs fear that too much federalism would undermine the unity of the state and exclude them from sharing the oil revenues from the fields located in Shi‘ite and Kurdish regions.

...And Saudi Votes That May Count

Thomas Lippman — Sun, 16 Nov 2003 12:00:00 -0500

http://66.223.107.101/articles/doc133.html

It was entirely predictable that the Arab world would respond with skepticism and derision to President Bush's appeal for democratic reform in the Middle East. In the culture of cynicism that has crippled political development in Arab countries for decades, the president's vision was easy to dismiss as meddlesome or naive, especially coming from a leader who sent troops to occupy an Arab country and -- as every Arab knows -- has described Ariel Sharon as a "man of peace."

The Refugee Issue

Richard B. Parker — Fri, 6 Jun 2003 15:02:56 -0400

Perhaps the most difficult single issue confronting the parties to the Arab-Israel conflict is that of the Palestine refugees, who are insisting on their right to return to their former homes in what is now Israel. It has resisted solution since its creation in 1948 and shows no signs of abatement. It has already reared its head in the discussions held prior to the June 4 summit at Aqaba.

The penultimate paragraph of the Road Map that President Bush hopes to implement reads in part as follows: