Politician’s wives at a rally for the Lebanese Forces and other Christian parties on Wednesday night in East Beirut.
Though Election Day isn’t until Sunday, Lebanon has already gone on holiday to get ready. Many Lebanese are worried that the contest — billed as one of the most important in this country’s history — could turn […]
In referring to conflict and religious wars that have marred relations between Islam and the West over the centuries, President Obama’s Cairo speech mentioned the problems of colonialism and great power rivalries in more recent times. “Tension,” Obama said, “has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold […]
Issa Kamal, a 25 year-old political science student from Beirut, discusses Barak Obama’s speech. The White House may have been hoping for a cultural breakthrough between America and the Muslim world. But in Lebanon, most people seem jaded by American politicians promising change but delivering little. No one was even watching the speech in the cafes […]
President Obama’s speech in Cairo today is the most important address ever given by an American leader about the Middle East. As he told 1,000 people at Cairo University and millions more around the world, everything won’t be solved by a speech. Yet it was an unprecedented reach-out to Muslims and particularly to the Arab […]
President Obama and host President Hosni Mubarak deserve credit for making Egypt the venue for Obama’s address to the Muslim world today. It is a fitting choice, considering Egypt’s pivotal geographical and cultural position and the close relationship the two countries have enjoyed since the Camp David peace accords in 1978. Sentiment against U.S. policies runs […]
Next month, it’ll be 26 years since I first visited Egypt, to spend much of my working life here, and to fall in love with Cairo. I thought I’d share some snapshots, as the city becomes the focus of attention with the arrival of President Obama on Thursday. It seems like he’ll meet with President […]
Why is the nomination of Egyptian culture minister Farouk Hosny to become UNESCO secretary general so important to the Egyptian regime? And why is hard-line Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu indirectly helping Hosny get the post, despite Hosny’s knack for anti-Israel statements? Let’s call it a case of politics trumping principles in the Middle East–despite all […]
Is Obama’s Iran policy doomed to failure? Despite the president’s promise to pursue “honest” negotiations with the Islamic Republic, is he actually following the advice of a senior advisor who instead believes that showing a willingness to negotiate is simply a tactic to build support for a war against Iran? Serious concerns about Obama’s approach are […]
