MER Article North-South vs. East-West The new US-Soviet agreement banning intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe appears to signal a new period of dialogue and cooperation between the two superpowers. It seems that the intense hostilities of the early Reagan era have given way to a more relaxed and constructive relationship b Michael Klare • 11 min read
MER Article The Great Powers and the Middle East The December 1987 Reagan-Gorbachev summit raised once again the issue of linkage between Third World conflicts and East-West relations. Two broad questions are involved. First, how does the nuclear arms race intersect with social and political upheaval in the Third World? The second question involve Fred Halliday • 10 min read
MER Article From the Editors (March/April 1988) The adversarial relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, the two great powers of this era, is key to understanding Washington’s and Moscow’s policies in the Middle East. In the Persian Gulf, for instance, Washington’s secret arms sales to Iran and subsequent naval buildup were bo The Editors • 4 min read
MER Article Bahbah, Israel and Latin America Bishara Bahbah, Israel and Latin America: The Military Connection (New York: St. Martin’s Press with the Institute for Palestine Studies, 1986). Milton Jamail • 1 min read
MER Article Lamb, The Arabs David Lamb, The Arabs: Journeys Beyond the Mirage (New York: Random House, 1987). More accessible than academic or political studies, journalism has long been the vehicle for most popular knowledge of the Middle East. Recently, with the increase in the number of foreign correspondents writing full- Lee OBrien • 1 min read
MER Article Halsell, Prophecy and Politics Grace Halsell, Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War (Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill, 1986). While there is nothing particularly new about Christian fascination with the Biblical “holy land,” Grace Halsell provides an important contemporary portrayal of the means by wh Mary Neznek • 2 min read
MER Article Ferguson and Rogers, Right Turn Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers, Right Turn: The Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics (New York: Hill and Wang, 1986). Where the United States chooses to intervene actively, as in the Middle East, Central America and southern Africa, American politics can be a matter of life Bill Farrell • 3 min read
MER Article Michalak and Salacuse, Social Legislation in the Contemporary Middle East Laurence Michalak and Jeswald W. Salacuse, eds., Social Legislation in the Contemporary Middle East (Berkeley, CA: IIS, 1986). Peter Gran • 5 min read
MER Article Sinai for the Coffee Table Dani Rabinowitz, Ru’ah Sinai (The Sinai Spirit) (Tel Aviv: Adam Publishers, 1987). [Hebrew] Ever since Israel occupied the Sinai desert in 1967, that piece of earth has consistently made Israeli headlines. Its media presence was only enhanced after Camp David and Israel’s withdrawal in 1979 and 198 Smadar Lavie • 13 min read
MER Article From Tel Aviv to LA The Manhattan telephone directory, like that of any major American city, reflects the United States’ melting pot in action. Flipping through its pages and browsing through the names of a million individuals, one realizes quickly that some of them do not melt very readily. Comparing the directory of Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi • 11 min read
MER Article Orientalism Revisited Edward W. Said, a contributing editor of this magazine, is Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. His 1978 book, Orientalism, has had an enormous impact on Western understanding of the Middle East. His most recent book, with Jean Mohr, is After the Last Sky. Jam Edward Said • 17 min read
MER Article The Egyptian Left After the Debacle The debacle suffered by the Egyptian left at the polls in 1987 -- 2 percent of the vote as compared to 4.5 percent in the 1984 parliamentary elections -- provoked a soul-searching debate in Tagammu‘, the legal party of the left. Mohamed Sid-Ahmed • 4 min read
