Tag - middle-east

 
 

MIDDLE EAST

COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2014
Sykes-Picot drew lines that blood is washing away
The highly centralized authoritarian rule of Syria and Iraq has broken down, probably irrevocably. That doesn't mean both states will disappear; they are likely to stumble on for some years.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2014
Why the world shouldn't write off Iraq's army
There is little reason to think that the Iraqi army that the U.S. trained and equipped was professionally incompetent or unable to fight Islamic State forces recently. It simply chose not to fight.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2014
The U.S. has done enough damage in the Middle East
The notion that Iraq will 'destroy' the Islamic State at American behest is an illusion, and so is the notion that the U.S.-formed coalition can do it. Only Muslims themselves can resolve the Islamic crisis overtaking the Middle East.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2014
The war against Islamic State
History says an asymmetric war has never been won by air power alone. So who does U.S. President Barack Obama think is going to fight Islamic State?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2014
Obama is no 'reluctant warrior'
When it comes to killing members of the Islamic State, U.S. President Barack Obama is anything but a reluctant warrrior. To the contrary, he makes former President George W. Bush look like a dirty peace hippie.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2014
Turkey seeks a broader solution to Islamic State
Turkey basically disagrees with the U.S. on the threat the Islamic State poses. While the U.S. is approaching the Islamic State as the Middle East's most pressing problem, Turkey views the group as a symptom of deeper pathologies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2014
Iran has its dissenters on intervention in Iraq
Iran — already struggling to manage a decrepit economy and tricky nuclear negotiations with the international community — now worries about getting in over its head by intervening in Iraq.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Alliance invites a hollow laugh
A U.S. senator has gone on record touting Syria and Iran as having, together, the means, ability and motivation to wipe out the Islamic State. But President Barack Obama and State Secretary John Kerry — as well as both parties in the U.S. Congress — are not interested.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Obama picking targets while missing the point
Even if President Barack Obama cobbles together a plan to destroy the Islamic State, the problems bedeviling the Persian Gulf, and the greater Middle East more broadly, won't be going away anytime soon.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Obama must get Congress to approve conflict
Today's issue for the U.S. is not whether the president should declare war but only whether he should even seek congressional authorization, for the protracted use of force against the Islamic State.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Parliaments need a say on war
Democracies urgently need to modernize procedures and structures for going to war with parliamentary debate and sanction, instead of by government fiat based on the instincts of a strong-willed prime minister or president.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 12, 2014
Ted Cruz booed for praising Israel at Christian gala
Sen. Ted Cruz abruptly walked off stage at a gala for Middle Eastern Christians after he was booed for urging the audience to stand behind Israel and Jews.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2014
Can Palestine win the peace?
The tremendous sympathy and support Palestinians received from international observers because of the high price they paid during their 51-day war with Israel will be useless if the leaders of Hamas and Fatah fail to maintain a united front.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2014
New sanctions on Iran to hurt peace prospects
New U.S. sanctions recently announced against Iran are aimed at making life difficult for Mahan Air and other entities. But the limitations are unlikely to move Iran to freeze its nuclear program and will instead damage prospects for peace.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2014
The Middle East crack-up
The horror stories emerging from northern Iraq, as well as the continuing slaughter in Syria's civil war, point to the unraveling of the state system established after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire almost 100 years ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2014
Three timelines shaping Mideast developments
To shape an effective strategy in the Middle East, it is essential to understand three distinct timelines that are shaping developments: the short-term timeline of daily struggles, the medium-term timeline of geopolitical shifts, and the long-term timeline of sociocultural transformation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2014
The spawning of Islamic State
It took just two years for Syria to descend into a Somalia-style failed state under the weight of the international jihad against Bashar Assad. This helped the Islamic State not only to flourish but also to use its control over northeastern Syria to stage a surprise blitzkrieg deep into Iraq this summer.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2014
When Europe slowly surrenders to intolerance
One unfortunate truth to emerge about the nature of the global anti-Israel movement this summer is that many protesters are challenging Israel's very right to exist, not its policies in the territories that it came to occupy in 1967.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2014
Danger from loose nukes in volatile countries
The inherent danger in possessing nuclear assets becomes far more acute in a combat zone, such as today's Middle East, where nuclear materials and weapons are at risk of theft, and reactors can become bombing targets.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2014
The less Muslims and Jews know each other, the more hatred grows
The memory of Jews has been rubbed out through much of an Arab world that has become less cosmopolitan in the past half-century. So when an imam calls for 'death to Jews' these days, it is a call most easily pronounced by those who know nothing of those they wish to see dead.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’