by Michael Rubin*

While the United States has focused its attention on Iranian activities in the greater Middle East, Iran has worked assiduously to expand its influence in Latin America and Africa. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s outreach in both areas has been deliberate and generously funded. He has made significant strides in Latin America, helping to embolden the anti-American bloc of Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. In Africa, he is forging strong ties as well. The United States ignores these developments at its peril, and efforts need to be undertaken to reverse Iran’s recent gains.

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Interview by MEF*

Mohamed Sifaoui was born on July 4, 1967, and spent most of his childhood in Algeria. He holds a master’s degree in political science and studied theology for two years at the University of Algiers and for two additional years at Zeitouna University’s Institute of Theology in Tunis. In 1994, he began work for the Algerian daily Le Soir and survived a February 11, 1996 bomb attack at Le Soir’s headquarters at the Maison de la Presse. In 1999, the French government granted him political asylum after he received death threats both from Algerian Islamists and the military. In Paris, Sifaoui works at the French weekly Marianne. Between October 2002 and January 2003, he infiltrated an Al-Qaeda cell in France in order to research his book, Mes frères assassins: Comment j’ai infiltré une cellule d’Al-Qaïda. (My assassin brothers: How I infiltrated an Al-Qaeda cell).[1]

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By Canadian Coalition for Democracies

Ottawa, Canada - The Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) and members of the Kenyan-Canadian community applaud Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda for their initiative during the post-election crisis in Kenya, and commend the Government for its initial offer of financial assistance to the people.

“We are thankful for Canada’s contribution of $1 million to the Kenyan Red Cross,” said Tegi Obanda, International Coordinator of the Coalition for Constitutional Reforms Kenya (CCR-K). “It is a good start, but more must be done.”

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By Samir Ben-Layashi

This article discusses the social and political context of Morocco’s 2007 parliamentary elections, which brought surprising results. It attempts to explain why the moderate Islamic party, the PJD, did not achieve an overwhelming victory as was expected. It also explores why the formerly undefeatable socialist party, the USFP, lost popularity. Finally, it examines the remarkable comeback of the historically conservative Independent Party, the IP. The article points out that while the PJD may have lost on the national scale, it won in most of the big cites–the political, economic, and intellectual capitals of Morocco. The IP, on the other hand, succeeded mainly in the rural areas, where voting is largely influenced by state propaganda, notables, and family alliances.

The end of summer 2007 marked three important events in Morocco: the beginning of the academic school year, Ramadan, and elections for the lower chamber of parliament.^[1]

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By Walid Phares*

Here are few remarks about the bombings in Algeria today:

An Al Qaeda link?

Most experts in Algeria and the Arab world believe this terror campaign is either inspired or ordered by al Qaeda in the Maghreb. Even if the execution is perpetrated by local Jihadist groups it is part of the Salafist general offensive against Algeria’s Government and an extension to the North African operations by al Qaeda Maghreb in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and possibly later Libya. This attack in Algeria today is linked to the regional strategy of weakening the Algerian Government in general and resuming the 1990s warfare against Kufr (infdidel) institutions, society and Government. But unlike in the past decade, today’s operations are strategically coordinated with al Qaeda central, not in terms of operations but policies and international decision making. However I believe that this particular attack is a response to the recent visit by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to Algeria. It is directed against the number of agreements signed by the Government of Abdelaziz Bouteflika with the Paris presidential delegation. The Jihadist incitement against the Algerian authorities, including mostly via the al jazeera shows, usually indicates the trends to come. Algiers was accused by the Salafi forces as “betraying the Muslim world and associating with French kuffar.” The strikes came in line with this incitement.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Fearless Leader Robert Mugabe sure has devastated his country. But what’s Mugabe got to worry about? He’s rich, safe, and comfortable, and to heck with his own people, whom he calls “filth.” While Zimbabwean “inflation has risen to more than 4500 per cent,” and “250 grams of butter [is] $Z497,000,” Mugabe’s cupboards are full. From The Sydney Morning Herald, entitled “Mugabe’s elite shops in style as a nation starves:”

ROBERT MUGABE’s local supermarket is unlike any other shop in Zimbabwe. Elsewhere there are empty shelves where bread, butter, sugar, meat and the staple maize meal should be.

But at the Spar in Borrowdale Brooke - a suburb of the capital, Harare, near the President’s palatial home - almost anything is available, including focaccia, sun-dried tomatoes and cigars.

The difference typifies a nation where a ruling elite enjoys wealth and privilege, while the vast majority exists in grinding poverty and struggle to survive. …

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A personal, historical vignette

By Cainnech Ó Sullibhain

In December 1963, the ship that I served on was carrying some general cargo destined for Tanganyika, East Africa. The freight was part of an aid package for Tanganyika from the Commonwealth Colombo Plan in Britain.

When we headed downriver and anchored beside an old German fort, I knew we were in the wilds. My first thought was to get ashore somehow and reach a place where I might get some decent food, or so I thought. I got ashore by a small dinghy and made my way through the jungle. This area was well known for lions, so I was a bit wary of where I was going. Coming out of a clearing I reached what seemed like a road and was walking to who knows where, when a big lorry came by carrying some goods for the main town. As it happened the African driver of the lorry stopped and wished me: “Jambo Bwana!” (Greetings Sir!), to which I replied “Jambo” in return. I got a lift with him.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

…The prosecutor says most of the killings were done by the Sudanese army and the janjaweed, Arab militiamen backed by the Sudanese government. Their war on Darfur rebels, which turned against all black African villagers, has become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 200,000 dead and 2.5 million made homeless. …

- AP

When will the government in Khartoum be held accountable for its campaign of ethnic cleansing? Will the atrocities be stopped before the evidence is all covered up? Read on:

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Guaranteed to shock even the tamest of Islamists:

A Nigerian lesbian who “married” four women last weekend in Kano State has gone into hiding from the Islamic police, with her partners.

Under Sharia law, adopted in the state seven years ago, homosexuality and same-sex marriages are outlawed and considered very serious offences.

The theatre where the elaborate wedding celebration was held on Sunday has been demolished by Kano city’s authorities.

Lesbianism is also illegal under Nigeria’s national penal code.

Nigeria’s parliament is considering tightening its laws on homosexuality. …

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Christopher Hitchens points out that the Barbary Pirates of yore — from the “Maghrebian provinces of the Ottoman Empire that conform to today’s Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia” — were not so different from today’s Islamo-fascists. In a historical essay touching on Jeffersonian philosophy and that of our other Founders, Hitchens concludes “that many Americans saw a radical incompatibility between the Barbary system and their own,” and that it is “pleasant when the interests of free trade and human emancipation can coincide.” So here it is, 2007, yet the Islamists are still stuck in the 18^th — or is that the 7^th — century? Jefferson wasn’t stuck anywhere. Read on:

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Leave it to the New York Times to sanitize another Islamist atrocity: “Islamists Bring Fight to Capital of Algeria.” Sounds innocuous, huh? “Fight” meaning some purposeful struggle? Algeria’s Islamists were responsible for the deaths of 200,000 people during the 1990s. Today’s vicious attacks by al-Qaeda-backed fascists killed at least 30 and wounded 162. The Islamist “fight” is for the creation of a world-wide, totalitarian Islamic caliphate and societal regression into the Stone Age.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

It wasn’t enough that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had opposition party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, beaten up. Tsvangirai refused to be intimidated, and pushed forward with a planned news conference. So Mugabe had Tsvangirai arrested. What’s Mugabe got to worry about? He’s rich, safe, and comfortable, and to heck with his own people, whom he calls “filth,” and who are suffering badly:

Zimbabweans are grappling with the world’s highest inflation - 1,700% a year - while unemployment and poverty are widespread.

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By Douglas Farah*

The news out of Somalia is again grim. The Islamist groups, capitalizing on the incompetence and inability of the government to do anything and its unwillingness to try to give a broad swath of the population a true stake in the government, are on the rise. The government’s already-weak support is evaporating.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Wow. Robert Mugabe’s out-of-control insanity against his own people in Zimbabwe is “finally pushing [his] African neighbors away from ‘quiet diplomacy’ into tepid protest.” Hold meetings to talk about future meetings? A definite maybe? These nations are hesitant to do anything about Zimbabwe because of — you guessed it — the race card. When might Africa finally graduate from post-colonialism into true self-determination? Life moves on. In its simplemindedness, the extreme Left would have you believe that opposing Mugabe means you support Apartheid. But the West is willing to help this time, not dominate.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

What did Freud call it when criticism hits too close to home, and the neurotic person lashes out? Projection? Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has a bad case of it. When faced with condemnation of his beating up opposition party members, he responded that Western critics can “go hang.” Very eloquent, and quite consistent with his previous behavior. He’s expropriated the homes of his own people, whom he calls “filth,” and has created quite a paradise in his homeland:

More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.

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