In the Shadow of 1914: The Current Situation

With each passing day, the political landscape across the globe looks increasingly like August 1914. Then, it took only the assassination of an Austrian archduke by a Bosnian-Serb nationalist to ignite the First World...

Shia-Sunni schism: A challenge to world peace

http://dawn.com/news/1057412/shia-sunni-schism-a-challenge-to-world-peace The recent violence in Rawalpindi or the bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut are not the only manifestations of the intra-Muslim sectarian discord. The inability of Muslims to settle a 7th century dispute...

Israel – The American Interest

The question of whether Israel is or is not an asset to the United States is one we rarely bother to ask ourselves. Time and again, we see prominent Americans -- presidents of the...

Aid for Palestinians: Breaking Down Walls or Building Them Higher?

http://www.brownpoliticalreview.org/2013/10/aid-for-palestinians-breaking-down-walls-or-building-them-higher/ A photo of a UNRWA school in Gaza after it was shelled by Israeli forces. Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international...

The corruption at the head of Hamas

http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-the-corrution-at-the-head-of-hamas-1000956048 1.8 million people live in the Gaza Strip, most of them refugees. They endure an unemployment rate that reaches 40%, shameful poverty, rock bottom wages, and, to top it all, an apparently corrupt regime,...

The Middle Eastern Cold War

There are many cracks in the Arab Street.

A cold war is "the key to understanding the Middle East in the 21st century." So argue Yigal Carmon and three of his colleagues at the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) in a recent study, "An Escalating Regional Cold War."They have identified a major confrontation that the media has somehow missed - and which is the more important for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's just having been re-designated as president of Iran.

News Analysis

A recent column, "Just Knock It off," by Tom Friedman, writing in the NY Times. refers to Israel as a "spoiled child" for not acceding to Obama's demands for a continuation of the freeze. Israel,...

The Two-State To Nowhere: Another Futile Attempt At Appeasement

Dr. Alex Grobman is a Hebrew University trained historian. His is the author of a number of books, including Nations United: How The UN Undermines Israel and The West and a forthcoming book on...

Dr. Kedar replies to question: Small Homogeneous States Only Solution for Middle East –...

Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: An IMRA reader raised the following question regarding Dr. Mordechai Kedar's recent article (repeated below): Do you see the members of small homogenous states that have the misfortune that they are...

President al-Assad Gives an Interview to Kuwaiti Newspaper of al-Anba

With regard to the possibility of war with Israel for the restoration of occupied Golan, the president said: "Syria expects an Israeli aggression at any time, and Syria knows that Israel has a powerful...