MER Article The Containment Myth Among those who direct American foreign policy, there is near unanimity that the collapse of communism represents a kind of zero hour. The end of the Cold War so transformed the geopolitical landscape as to render the present era historically discontinuous from the epoch that preceded it. Policy mak Stephen Hubbell • 11 min read
MER Article The Rise and Fall of the "Rogue Doctrine" Since 1990, US military policy has been governed by one overarching premise that US and international security is primarily threatened by the “rogue states” of the Third World. These states -- assumed to include Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria -- are said to threaten US interests because of Michael Klare • 13 min read
MER Article Al Miskin BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY The US justifies periodic saber rattling against Saddam Hussein by claiming that Iraq is the only country to have employed chemical weapons in battle. Forgotten amidst the propaganda is dissident Iraqi tribes’ first encounter with chemical weapons during an uprising (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article The Political Roots of Famine in Southern Sudan Given that a large contingent of foreign aid workers and UN representatives has been on the scene in Sudan for a decade, why did no one foresee the current famine in southern Sudan, which is affecting more than a million people? Jeff Drumtra • 6 min read
MER Article Rebels and Martyrs A Kenza a yelli / D iseflan neghli / F Lzzayer uzekka / A Kenza a yelli / Ur tru ara (O Kenza my daughter / We have sacrificed our lives / For the Algeria of tomorrow / O Kenza my daughter / Do not cry) —"Kenza," written by Lounès Matoub in 1993 for the daughter of assassinated Kabyle journalist a Paul Silverstein • 6 min read
MER Article So No One Can Say "We Didn't Know" In a world where journalists are increasingly attacked for their work, it is gratifying when an organization of Amnesty International’s stature appreciates a reporter’s work. But there is a more important reason as a journalist to be grateful. Over the past 22 years in the Middle East, I Robert Fisk • 3 min read
MER Article From the Editor (Fall 1998) Five years ago on the White House lawn, President Bill Clinton assumed he had achieved a monumental Middle East policy coup. Since then, the overall situation in the Middle East has worsened, largely due to the ignorance and arrogance that characterize US policy making in the region. In the face of The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 1998) Arat, Zehra F. Deconstructing Images of “the Turkish Woman” (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998). Bengio, Ofra. Saddam’s Words: Political Discourse in Iraq (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). Carapico, Sheila. Civil Society in Yemen: The Political Economy of Activism in Modern Arabia (Cambrid (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Letter I am writing in connection with Eugene Rogan’s article, “No Debate: Middle East Studies in Europe,” which appeared in Middle East Report 205 (October-December 1997). Below, I comment on aspects of that article and contrast several others with the experience expressed in Lisa Hajjar and Steve Niva’s (Author not identified) • 4 min read
MER Article To Clear the Minefield Irene Gendzier, Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). With the February 1998 news that the Clinton administration was preparing unilateral military action against Iraq, sectors of the US public see Karen Pfeifer • 6 min read
MER Article From Schmaltz to Sacrilege Yaron Ezrahi, Rubber Bullets: Power and Conscience in Modern Israel (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997). Rebecca L. Stein • 8 min read
MER Article Tensions in Iran The May 1997 election of Mohammad Khatami as president of Iran was a watershed event in the history of the almost 20-year-old Islamic Revolution. While the current on-the-ground situation in Iran remains confusing, it is not for lack of information. During the last year, the press has blossomed with Olivier Roy • 12 min read
