Posted in Gal Luft, Oil and Gas, Saudi Arabia on May 16th, 2008 Comments Off on Bush begs Saudis (again)
From Gal Luft Four months and thirty extra dollars a barrel later, President Bush is again in Saudi Arabia trying to persuade the Saudis to open the spigot and increase OPEC production. Last time the answer was a resounding no. Not even a gift of 900 precision-guided bombs helped convince the Saudis to show more […]
Posted in Israel, Philip Carl Salzman on May 14th, 2008 Comments Off on The rules of war
From Philip Carl Salzman Let us imagine (in the style of political philosophers) that a small country, for illustration let’s say Paraguay, is deemed by its neighbors to be a usurper and illegitimate. Further, that on numerous occasions, Uruguay to the southeast, Bolivia to the southwest, and Chile to the far west, mount military campaigns […]
Posted in Books, Israel on May 12th, 2008 Comments Off on ‘The Rise of Israel’
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. Jonathan Adelman is professor at the Graduate School of International Studies of the University of Denver. His new book is The Rise of Israel: A History of a […]
Posted in Culture, Lebanon, Philip Carl Salzman, Terrorism on May 11th, 2008 Comments Off on Clashes in Beirut
From Philip Carl Salzman After modest initiatives in recent days by the Lebanese government to restrict the independent operations of Hezbollah, fighters of Hezbollah and Amal flooded into the streets of west Beirut, attacked and dispersed government fighters, set up road blocks, and occupied government and media offices. The Druze and Christian militias did not […]
Posted in Iran, Raymond Tanter on May 9th, 2008 Comments Off on Illicit money trail leads to Central Bank of Iran
From Raymond Tanter When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton declared, “That’s where the money is.” Following the money trail has led to U.S. and UN sanctions on Iranian banks involved in the financing of terrorism and WMD technology purchases.
Posted in Barry Rubin, Syria on May 9th, 2008 Comments Off on The unintentional humor of dictators
From Barry Rubin There was a great item on the Harry’s Place blog by the anonymous Davem who spent a long time in Syria studying Arabic. (If you haven’t read his long “Syria Diary” posted on the site some months ago, you have missed what is probably the best piece of first-hand reportage from that […]
Posted in Books, Counterinsurgency, Iraq, United Kingdom on May 8th, 2008 Comments Off on ‘Spies in Arabia’
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. Priya Satia is assistant professor of modern British history at Stanford University. Her new book is Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain’s […]
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