Current Analysis Torture and the Lawless “New Paradigm” The president who campaigned on a pledge to “restore honor and dignity to the White House” has now been compelled to declaim: “We abide by the law of the United States, and we do not torture.” In the closing months of 2005, President George W. Bush has been forced to repeat this undignified denial s Lisa Hajjar • 14 min read
Current Analysis Impunity on Both Sides of the Green Line As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon strode up to the podium at the UN General Assembly on September 15, 2005 to deliver a speech recognizing the Palestinians’ right to statehood, government officials back in Jerusalem were preparing to draw a firm line under unfinished business from the start of Jonathan Cook • 12 min read
Current Analysis Banning Torture Affirms America's Humanity Torture, as President George W. Bush clearly knows, is against the law. The administration keeps reasserting this point because the US torture saga keeps deepening. Under fire for the “enhanced interrogation techniques” employed in secret CIA jails and at Guantánamo Bay, Bush rejoined that the US f Lisa Hajjar • 2 min read
Current Analysis The Mehlis Report and Lebanon’s Trouble Next Door The UN-authorized investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, now well into a second phase of heightened brinkmanship between Damascus and Washington, also has Lebanon holding its collective breath. Marlin Dick • 12 min read
Current Analysis Urban Violence in France Dorénavant la rue ne pardonne plus From now on the street will not forgive Nous n’avons rien à perdre car nous n’avons jamais rien eu We have nothing to lose for we have nothing Chantal Tetreault, Paul Silverstein • 18 min read
Current Analysis West Bank Road vs. Peace Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's brokering of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on border crossings into the Gaza Strip is a good step for the economic development of Gaza and a positive sign of American engagement in the peace process. But the real test for the U.S. administration’s commitment Stephanie Koury • 3 min read
Current Analysis Iran’s Nuclear File After almost a week of contentious meetings, on September 24, 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution without precedent in its lengthy file on the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a split vote, the agency’s Board of Governors found that Iran’s “failures and breaches…constitute Farideh Farhi • 19 min read
Current Analysis Forecasting Mass Destruction, from Gulf to Gulf While internally displaced Americans were piled into an unequipped New Orleans sports stadium, the question on everyone’s lips was: where were the Louisiana National Guard and its high-water trucks when Hurricane Katrina struck? One answer, obviously, was that at least a third of the Guard’s human a Sheila Carapico • 9 min read
Current Analysis Signpost in Somaliland’s Quest for Sovereignty A year after its inception, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia remains in disarray. The interim president, Abdullahi Yusuf, lingers north of Mogadishu, amassing weapons and recruiting troops for his return to the capital. His 91-member cabinet and 42 ministries, forged in exile, are scattered across the globe. Meanwhile, on Nathalie Peutz • 11 min read
Current Analysis Israeli Settlements Illegal and Getting Worse On his way to the UN summit in New York, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said to reporters, “Building is continuing there [West Bank settlements]; we will build as much as we need.” Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz proclaimed the day before, “We have to make every effort to direct resources to the d Stephanie Koury • 3 min read
Current Analysis Egypt’s Election All About Image, Almost The skies of Cairo are cluttered with strips of cloth daubed in red, blue and green. Hanging in crowded squares and stretching across streets before traffic lights, almost all of the banners proclaim the enthusiastic support of “So-and-So and his family” or “such-and-such shop or hospital” for Husni Mariz Tadros • 10 min read
Current Analysis The Ceasefire This Time “The aim of the Turkish armed forces is to ensure that the separatist terrorist organization bows down to the law and the mercy of the nation.” Thus did the Turkish chief of staff, Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, brusquely dismiss the one-month ceasefire announced on August 19, 2005 by the Kurdistan People’s Cong Evren Balta • 12 min read
