MER Article The Media and the Polls In the relationship between public opinion and government decision-making, the trajectory of influence goes from top to bottom. Policymakers try to mold public opinion to suit their needs, not mold policies to suit the public. On many controversial foreign policy issues, there is often a gap between informed public (Author not identified) • 8 min read
MER Article Muhammad al-Saqr on Kuwait's Press Muhammad al-Saqr has been editor-in-chief of the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas since 1983. Although he has a business background, the paper’s reputation for balance and accuracy has grown under al-Saqr’s leadership. Al-Saqr was detained and interrogated a week before he received a Press Freedom Award from (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article "Giving Good Bite" Network researchers who book “experts” say they look for someone who can “give good bite.” Two of the most conspicuous prime-time sound bite experts during the war against Iraq were Anthony Cordesman and Fouad Ajami. These sketches were prepared by Sandrine Bretonniere. Anthony Cordesman: “We Must (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article The Other Palestinians Responding both to the Palestinian intifada and long-term developments within their community, Arab citizens of Israel have increasingly asserted their national identity as Palestinians. Israeli nationality is not an option for them, as this is not a recognized legal category. The Israeli bureaucracy officially acknowledges the Arab nationality of (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Document: One World, No Rivals Excerpts from the Pentagon’s February 18, 1992 draft of the Defense Planning Guidance for Fiscal Years 1994-1999. DEFENSE STRATEGY OBJECTIVES Our first objective is to prevent the reemergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on t (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Letters to the Editor CALLING ARAB FEMINISTS I am gathering materials for an anthology of writings by Arab feminists. If you are Arab-American, Arab-Canadian or of Arab/Middle Eastern origin and now living in the US or Canada, please consider contributing to this book. It will be published by Kitchen Table: Women of Col (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Letters ARAB WOMEN AT THE MARGIN? Here we are again! It is 1991, but Arab women researchers and writers continue to be placed at the margin of the theoretical enterprise, to borrow a metaphor used by African-American writer Bell Hooks to describe how women of color are ghettoized by white feminists, who re (Author not identified) • 6 min read
MER Article Letters “America’s Egypt”: A Flawed Critique Tim Mitchell’s article “America’s Egypt” (MER 169) offers a sweeping critique of USAID, World Bank and other development agencies’ perspectives on and programs for Egyptian agriculture. Although he makes a number of interesting and useful points, his analysis of (Author not identified) • 15 min read
MER Article Letters SAID’S WAR ON THE INTELLECTUALS Edward Said’s interview with Barbara Harlow (MER 171) is an attempt to “dislodge” an array of opponents, ranging from “scholar-combatants” and “instant experts” to “native informants.” An important focus of the interview is the war’s repercussions on “the intellectua (Author not identified) • 18 min read
MER Article The Fall of BCCI Aga Hassan Abedi, the founder of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), talked a lot about starting an “ordinary” bank with an extraordinary mission. He never tired, and still does not, of expounding on his vision and ambitions, which became the bank’s credo and one that many (Author not identified) • 5 min read
MER Article Letters WHAT ABOUT WOMEN? I have your November-December 1990 issue and your special packet, “Crisis in the Gulf.” They are both excellent but they do not have much on one very important area of concern: women. In particular, I would like to see an article on the women of Iraq. In Sisterhood Is Global, Rob (Author not identified) • 3 min read
