Current Analysis Pakistan's Dilemma Pakistani media reports indicate that on the evening of September 14 the president, General Pervez Musharraf, met with his cabinet and national security team in a marathon session lasting until the early hours of the next morning. The task at hand was to decide if the Pakistani government should accede Kamran Asdar Ali • 6 min read
Current Analysis Business as Usual in Syria? Over a year after Bashar al-Asad succeeded his father as president of Syria, the Ba'thist regime has proven once again that it can best operate as a closed system. The reversals of political and economic liberalization in February and March of 2001 are not the only indicators. Just Bassam Haddad • 8 min read
Current Analysis Investigating the Cole Bombing The investigation of last October's bombing of the USS Cole in Aden continues to irritate US-Yemeni relations. Last week, the agreement worked out between the Clinton White House and Yemeni authorities in November 2000, in which the FBI was allowed to submit questions to Yemeni investigators and observe Charles Schmitz • 5 min read
Current Analysis Closure As soon as the Israeli army jeep disappears around the bend, a dusty minivan emerges from the grape fields outside Beit Ummar, a farming town in the southern West Bank. Revving the engine as he accelerates into the turn, the driver leans out the window and yells, "Go! Go! Chris Smith • 6 min read
Current Analysis How the Sanctions Hurt Iraq (This article was updated on November 14, 2001.) Colin Rowat • 10 min read
Current Analysis Explaining Egypt's Targeting of Gays Note: Hossam Bahgat, author of this article, was dismissed from his position at the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights two days after it was published. EOHR's secretary-general has commented in the Egyptian press that he won't defend the 52 men arrested on the Queen Boat because Hossam Bahgat • 6 min read
Current Analysis Under the Guise of Security The view from Ahmed Khalil Abu Samra's window is a bleak one. To one side is an Israeli military post. To another, towards the Palestinian town of Dayr al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, lie Abu Samra's wrecked greenhouses and the remnants of uprooted olive and Chris Smith • 6 min read
Current Analysis Smart Sanctions Heated debate in the UN Security Council on June 26 previewed the coming showdown over the US-British "smart sanctions" initiative, designed to "re-energize" the international consensus on sanctions against Iraq. Faced with declining international support for and compliance with the current sanctions, the United States and Marc Lynch • 6 min read
Current Analysis Sudan's Opposition and the US Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent four-nation trip to Africa produced a flurry of press coverage on renewed US interest in ending the 18-year Sudanese civil war. Despite Bush's nomination of a special envoy to spearhead a new peace initiative, the Bush administration's policy Dan Connell • 7 min read
Current Analysis On the Eve of Iran's Presidential Elections After waiting for an hour under the hot sun, sometimes excitedly and sometimes impatiently, to hear President Mohammad Khatami speak, halfway through his speech the crowd began heading for the exits of Tehran's Shirudi Stadium. Both local and foreign media commentators took the mass exit as further proof Naghmeh Sohrabi, Arang Keshavarzian • 4 min read
Current Analysis The Mitchell Report On May 29, Israeli and Palestinian security officials held their first publicly acknowledged meeting since April. The encounter, conducted under CIA supervision, was arranged by William Burns, recently appointed US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, after a series of discussions with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Mouin Rabbani • 7 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon One Year After the Israeli Withdrawal Quiet has apparently returned to the Lebanese-Israeli border after violent incidents last week marked the first anniversary of Israel's forced withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Israeli forces shot two Lebanese men who were throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers across the border, and downed a small plane flying into Israeli As'ad AbuKhalil • 8 min read
