MER Article Shootout in the Horn of Africa A second round of fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia in February found the political positions of the former allies little changed from their opening salvos the previous June, but overwhelming Ethiopian numbers -- troops and arms -- finally forced the Eritreans to accept an American-backed “peace Dan Connell • 6 min read
MER Article Arcs of Crises Between the confrontations with Iraq in February and November, and the Cruise missile salvos directed at Afghanistan and Sudan in August, 1998 has been rather busy for the gunboat section of the US diplomatic corps. Twice, the UN secretary-general averted US military action by securing promises that The Editors • 6 min read
MER Article Short-Circuiting the Media/Policy Machine Media coverage of the February 1998 showdown with Iraq highlighted subtle but significant changes in the relationship between the mainstream media and US foreign policymaking. Although the major media -- despite some alleged soul searching by media professionals [1] after the Gulf war -- have change Sam Husseini • 10 min read
MER Article Points of Difference, Cases for Cooperation In discussions between American and European scholars about Western policies towards the Middle East -- an issue of increasing importance for trans-Atlantic relations -- Europeans are often asked to explain why their policymakers and pundits criticize US Middle East policies instead of accepting a f Volker Perthes • 9 min read
MER Article Between Clash and Cooptation As the specter of Communism has receded with the end of the Cold War, few international developments have generated more anxiety in US public imagination than the perceived threat of "Islamic fundamentalism" in the Middle East and elsewhere. Samuel Huntington’s warning of a coming “clash of civilizations” Steve Niva • 12 min read
MER Article Arab Perspectives on US Hegemony in the Middle East Since the Gulf war, the Arab Middle East has experienced a sustained trauma. The Arab world is back where it began a century ago, when Great Britain was the uncontested master of the Arabs’ destiny. Today, the United States dominates the region and bluntly dictates its will to most Arab Georges Corm • 8 min read
MER Article Oil and the Middle East The contemporary international political economy of oil presents a puzzle: political instability in regions where oil is found coexists with steadily falling prices. This combination of continuing political conflict and uncertainty in the Middle East (particularly the Gulf), and the continuing slide Simon Bromley • 13 min read
MER Article "Praise God and Pass the Ammunition!" Analyses of the US-Israel relationship usually focus on the question of influence. Is the pro-Israel lobby more powerful, or are Washington’s strategic thinkers in charge? In fact, neither question is particularly useful. Rather, Israeli and US interests intersect in the political and strategic aren Phyllis Bennis • 9 min read
MER Article The Containment Myth Among those who direct American foreign policy, there is near unanimity that the collapse of communism represents a kind of zero hour. The end of the Cold War so transformed the geopolitical landscape as to render the present era historically discontinuous from the epoch that preceded it. Policy mak Stephen Hubbell • 11 min read
MER Article The Rise and Fall of the "Rogue Doctrine" Since 1990, US military policy has been governed by one overarching premise that US and international security is primarily threatened by the “rogue states” of the Third World. These states -- assumed to include Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria -- are said to threaten US interests because of Michael Klare • 13 min read
MER Article From the Editor (Fall 1998) Five years ago on the White House lawn, President Bill Clinton assumed he had achieved a monumental Middle East policy coup. Since then, the overall situation in the Middle East has worsened, largely due to the ignorance and arrogance that characterize US policy making in the region. In the face of The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article To Clear the Minefield Irene Gendzier, Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). With the February 1998 news that the Clinton administration was preparing unilateral military action against Iraq, sectors of the US public see Karen Pfeifer • 6 min read
