Current Analysis Deflating Middle East Extremism President Bush and many other supporters of the current Israeli assault on Lebanon and its reoccupation of the Gaza Strip justify these military actions on the grounds that Hamas and Hezbollah do not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Negotiating with “terrorists” is impossible, they claim, because Joel Beinin • 4 min read
Current Analysis Foreboding About the Future in Yemen Within days of Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih’s departure in January to Germany for medical care, the regime’s next most prominent personality, Sheikh Abdallah bin Hussein al-Ahmar, left for Saudi Arabia. At the Sanaa airport, al-Ahmar, speaker of the Yemeni parliament, head of Islah, the country’s most Sarah Phillips • 14 min read
Current Analysis Bush's Flawed Flypaper Theory Forget for a moment how shamelessly President George W. Bush tried to manipulate Americans’ emotions by invoking September 11 six times during his recent prime-time sales pitch for staying the course in Iraq. There is no need to recall the reports finding no connection between that day’s terrorist a Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis Killing Live 8, Noisily The organizers of Live 8, the week-long, celebrity-driven musical campaign for increased aid and debt relief for poverty-stricken nations, plugged their July 6 concert in an Edinburgh stadium as “a celebration of the largest and loudest cry to make poverty history the world has ever seen.” By rush hour the Sheila Carapico • 8 min read
Current Analysis Mystery Surrounds Tashkent Explosions Four days of mysterious explosions in Uzbekistan, from March 28 to April 1, have once again belied the country's desired image as an island of stability among the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia. For some years, in fact, Uzbekistan has been one of the least stable and secure Alisher Ilkhamov • 11 min read
Current Analysis The Death and Life of Jarallah Omar News of the shooting deaths of three American health professionals working for a Southern Baptist mission hospital in Yemen follows closely on the heels of the very public murder of a highly regarded figure in the Yemeni opposition. Jarallah Omar, deputy secretary general of the Yemeni Socialist Pa Anna Wuerth, Lisa Wedeen, Sheila Carapico • 7 min read
MER Article My Hairdresser Is a Sniper Two months ago, my hairdresser confessed to me that he was a sniper. During his last trip to downtown Jerusalem, Jake told me, he had seen sharpshooters on top of all the buildings. "I had never noticed them," I admitted. "How did you know they were there?" "Well, if you really want to know," he s Shira Robinson • 5 min read
Current Analysis The Band Played On On May 8, a bomb blast rocked central Karachi, killing at least 14 people, including a number of French nationals. This suicide bombing comes on the heels of the brutal murder of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, allegedly by Islamist extremist groups who had recently fallen out of the Kamran Asdar Ali • 8 min read
Current Analysis Desperately but Deliberately, Turkey Joins Bush's War On November 1 the Turkish government, relying on an October 10 parliamentary decision "to deploy troops in other countries and host foreign troops in Turkey," lent a flesh and bone dimension to its rhetorical support for the US-led war in Afghanistan. Ankara's decision to send " Ertugrul Kurkcu • 6 min read
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 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 Yemen and the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army One of the leads investigators are following into the October 12 Aden harbor bombing of the USS Cole is an obscure network known (or perhaps formerly known) as the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army. Terrorism experts are familiar with this group's past missions, including attacks on Yemeni socialists prior to Sheila Carapico • 5 min read
