Middle East Politics.Net » Uncategorized http://middleeastpolitics.net Facts, News, Trends, Analysis Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:56:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Dubai’s Unique Role in the ME http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/09/08/dubais-unique-role-in-the-me/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/09/08/dubais-unique-role-in-the-me/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:38:32 +0000 davidhulme http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=4093 Juan Cole’s blog has a guest writer today, Jim Crane, author of City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism. A paragraph from the guest blog notes, “In short, Dubai is an open city, a Hong Kong-style trading entrepôt with all the spies, smugglers and schemers inherent in that role. It just happens to service the world’s most dangerous region.”

David Hulme

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/09/08/dubais-unique-role-in-the-me/feed/ 0 Turkey and Water to Iraq and Syria http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/09/08/turkey-and-water-to-iraq-and-syria/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/09/08/turkey-and-water-to-iraq-and-syria/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:33:29 +0000 davidhulme http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=4089 September 4, 2009 Turkey had a change of mind on how much water it could release to its neighbors, Iraq and Syria.

David Hulme

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/09/08/turkey-and-water-to-iraq-and-syria/feed/ 0 Collective Despair Over Gaza http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/02/09/collective-despair-over-gaza/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/02/09/collective-despair-over-gaza/#comments Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:43:57 +0000 davidhulme http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=4076 People around the world, among them journalists, commentators, bloggers, scholars and government leaders have decried the Israeli attack on Gaza. International Herald Tribune and New York Times columnist Roger Cohen writes in The New York Review of Books (February 12 issue), “I have never previously felt so despondent about Israel, so shamed by its actions, so despairing of any peace that might terminate the dominion of the dead in favor of the opportunity of the living.” Reflecting on the peace and reconciliation that France and Germany, and Germany and Poland have achieved in the years that have followed WWII, Cohen wonders why it is that Israelis and Palestinians cannot make the same turn in their collective thinking.

More on this at Vision.

David Hulme

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/02/09/collective-despair-over-gaza/feed/ 1 Muslims and the Nobel Prize http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/01/27/muslims-and-the-nobel-prize/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/01/27/muslims-and-the-nobel-prize/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:41:15 +0000 davidhulme http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=4032 Gordon Fraser has written Cosmic Anger: Abdus Salam- The First Muslim Nobel Scientist (2008). He’s blogging about it too at Oxford University Press USA.

David Hulme

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2009/01/27/muslims-and-the-nobel-prize/feed/ 1 Chinese To Join Other Navies in Gulf of Aden http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/25/chinese-join-other-navies-in-gulf-of-aden/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/25/chinese-join-other-navies-in-gulf-of-aden/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 06:20:30 +0000 davidhulme http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/25/chinese-join-other-navies-in-gulf-of-aden/ According to the NYT Dec 26, 2008, “The Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said Friday that 110 ships have been attacked in the gulf [of Aden] this year, and 42 have been hijacked. Fourteen ships are still being held for ransom.” This is part of the reason that China is sending warships to protect Chinese vessels carrying 60% of its oil imports and also raw materials from Africa. Both kinds of cargo cross the Gulf of Aden, the area suffering most from Somali pirate infestation. Chinese warships have not ventured outside of the Chinese region since the 15th century. They will join international efforts by other navies against this current form of piracy.

David Hulme

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/25/chinese-join-other-navies-in-gulf-of-aden/feed/ 0 Saudi Council Considers Important Issues http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/20/saudi-council-to-consider-important-issues/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/20/saudi-council-to-consider-important-issues/#comments Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:27:07 +0000 boyunliu http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=4010 On Saturday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a 150-men council met to discuss important issues such as water, real estate investment, adoption of international agreement on oil pollution, infrastructure development, and employment issues. The council heard from the Water and Electricity Minister, among other officials of the Saudi bureaucracy.

Replace ‘the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’ with, for instance, the State of Connecticut, and the paragraph above would still read just fine, which is remarkable. Okay, I concede that the decisions of the council are no more than recommendations to His Highness and must be implemented by feet-dragging bureaucrats. However, with the Kingdom growing ever more complex and an independent judicial system in place, the council is well poised to take on a much larger role in Saudi politics.

Called Majlis al-Shura, which translates roughly to the Consultative Council, the quasi-legislature was formed in 1992 and is in its fourth term. The representatives are all commoners rather than royals; they include tribal representation from the likes of Rashid, which is quite the equivalent of a Cherokee seat in the US House. What’s more, members also include Shi’ites, who enjoy(ed) similar political legitimacy as Communists during the Red Scare.

Skeptics will hurry to point out that the members of the Majlis are all appointed by King Abdullah. But considering His Highness is actually older than the Kingdom itself, appointing “rebels” and “heretics” to give him advice is progressive to say the very least. I am among the optimists who believe the Majlis holds great potentials for representation for groups traditionally marginalized in the Kingdom. You know the word I’m alluding to.

Bo-yun Liu

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/20/saudi-council-to-consider-important-issues/feed/ 0 Clinton Took How Much From Saudi Arabia?! http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/19/clinton-took-how-much-from-saudi-arabia/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/19/clinton-took-how-much-from-saudi-arabia/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:55:15 +0000 boyunliu http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=4006 Today, Bill Clinton, in an unprecedented move, disclosed the names of donors to the Clinton Foundation. The move was meant to give transparency to the foundation as Hillary awaits confirmation for her appointment as the Secretary of State.

Among the most controversial donors are the government of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei and Oman. The pundits are now questioning Hillary’s ability to stay independent of external influences when it comes to making decisions on her would-be job.

What I find interesting is that donors like Norway, Jamaica, and Italy barely caused a stir, even though Norway is run by communists, Jamaica smokes funny things, and Italy was the bad guy in WWII.

In all seriousness, how influential can Saudi Arabia’s donation to a book shed in Arkansas be? Do the Clintons desperately need to start Clinton Foundation 2.0 that they would try to please all 205,000 donors any way possible? Come on, America, it’s just charity and good will.

Besides, how many of us think twice about the Chrysler Building? ‘Cause that’s owned by Abu Dhabi.

Bo-yun Liu

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/19/clinton-took-how-much-from-saudi-arabia/feed/ 1 Released Palestinian Prisoners Return to West Bank http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/released-palestinian-prisoners-return-to-west-bank/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/released-palestinian-prisoners-return-to-west-bank/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:31:05 +0000 pshapiro http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=3975 Early Monday morning, December 15, more than 220 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israeli authorities arrived in the West Bank. They were greeted by a crowd that seemed to be overjoyed with the release, a move that Israel has termed a gesture of goodwill towards Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. However, comments made by Palestinian prisoners minister Ashraf al-Ajrami seemed to detract from the action, accusing Israel of taking unilateral action with regard to which prisoners were released rather than heeding to Palestinian demands, saying “The Israelis decided to release these prisoners without any negotiation or any connection with the Palestinian side.” Al-Ajrami seemed to be implying that Israel’s true motivation in the release was merely the illusion of diplomatic efforts on an international stage, as opposed to a genuine desire to adhere to Palestinian requests. Such accusations hinge on the estimated 10,000 Palestinian prisoners who remain in Israeli custody.

Paul Shapiro

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/released-palestinian-prisoners-return-to-west-bank/feed/ 0 Poll Shows Palestinians Oppose Extended Abbas Term http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/poll-shows-palestinians-oppose-extended-abbas-term/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/poll-shows-palestinians-oppose-extended-abbas-term/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:19:28 +0000 pshapiro http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=3961

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has garnered little support for his rumored plan to extend his term in office by an additional year. A recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research indicates that almost two-thirds of Palestinians believe that Abbas’s term should end in January, rather than be extended without new elections, as some have suggested he may do. However, the same poll shows that Abbas’s secular nationalist Fatah party is enjoying a slight lead in popular support over rival organization Hamas.

Paul Shapiro

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/poll-shows-palestinians-oppose-extended-abbas-term/feed/ 0 Saudi Arabia Cuts Interest Rates http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/saudi-arabia-cuts-interest-rates-2/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/16/saudi-arabia-cuts-interest-rates-2/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:55:38 +0000 boyunliu http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=3951 The central bank of Saudi Arabia reduced key policy rates by 50 basis points to help boost banking sector liquidity.

Charging or paying interest is forbidden by the Sharia, which, technically, should be the law that governs the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is feeling the effects of the international financial crisis. One of the country’s flagship development projects, King Abdullah Economic City, is definitely feeling the pressure from the drying up of investments.

Bo-yun Liu

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