Posted in Books, Democracy, Tamara Cofman Wittes on Apr 30th, 2008 Comments Off on ‘Freedom’s Unsteady March’
MESH invites selected authors to offer original first-person statements on their new books—why and how they wrote them, and what impact they hope and expect to achieve. Tamara Cofman Wittes is Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy of the Brookings Institution, and a member of MESH. Her […]
Posted in Iran, Israel, Jon Alterman, Lebanon, Michael Young, Syria on Apr 25th, 2008 4 Comments »
From Peter W. Rodman The idea of splitting Syria from Iran seems like a no-brainer. This is the most important strategic argument that is often made for trying to improve the U.S. relationship with Syria. The idea has been around for a long time, however—25 years or so, in fact, since the Syrian-Iranian alliance took […]
Posted in Geopolitics, Israel, Jordan, Palestinians, Robert Satloff on Apr 23rd, 2008 3 Comments »
In an April 16 op-ed entitled “Back to the Jordanian Option,” Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s National Security Council, argued that an Israeli-Palestinian final status agreement is “unfeasible in the foreseeable future.” He asked: “So what should we do?” We should reshuffle the cards and try to think about other solutions as well. One […]
Posted in Chuck Freilich, Iran, Josef Joffe, Mark N. Katz, Nuclear, Russia on Apr 22nd, 2008 3 Comments »
From Chuck Freilich Is it too late to dissuade Iran from developing nukes? A nuclear Iran does increasingly loom as the likely outcome, not because it is too late, but due to lack of sufficient resolve. Iran is at least two and probably more years away from an operational capability. France has taken a firm […]
Posted in Academe, Culture, Philip Carl Salzman on Apr 21st, 2008 Comments Off on Uncle Sam wants you!
From Philip Carl Salzman “He must be a spy,” said the visiting Baluch, bearded, turbaned, and baggy in long shirt and trousers. My fellow camp mates of the Dadolzai shrugged. They had accepted me and were past wondering exactly how I got there. “Sure,” I replied; “the government”—whether Iranian or American was left unspecified, “they […]
Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Maps, United Nations on Apr 19th, 2008 Comments Off on South Lebanon: who reigns?
From MESH Admin Last week, as Israel conducted countrywide civil defense and military exercises, UNIFIL increased its patrols on the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Beirut Daily Star reported: On the Lebanese side, hundreds of UNIFIL and LAF [Lebanese army] patrols—on land and in the air—were met with the complete absence of Hizbullah fighters. But Hizbullah was […]
Posted in Andrew Exum, Counterinsurgency, Culture, Intelligence, Military on Apr 17th, 2008 Comments Off on Gates calls for truce (with academia)
From Andrew Exum Be sure to read the speech given on Monday by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Association of American Universities in Washington. Since 9/11, the U.S. and its allies have been involved in two prolonged counter-insurgency campaigns in both Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars are low-tech conflicts in which anthropological skills […]
Posts+Comments
Posts+Comments
Posts+Comments
Posts+Comments