by Daniel Pipes*

It is the far-flung, easternmost island of Greece, 80 miles from Rhodes, 170 miles west of Cyprus, but just 1 mile off the coast of Turkey. Kastelorizo (in Greek, Καστελόριζο; or officially Megisti, Μεγίστη) is tiny, comprising just 5 square miles, plus some yet smaller, uninhabited islands. Its 430 inhabitants are way down from 10,000 in the late nineteenth century. The Lonely Planet travel guide has picked it as one of the four best Greek islands (out of thousands) for diving and snorkeling. There’s no public transportation from nearby Anatolia, only from distant Rhodes by airplane or ferry.

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by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi and Oskar Svadkovsky*

Among the second wave of Arab Spring uprisings that followed Tunisia, Syria was the most spectacular “out of the blue” that suddenly arose in the face of the media and analytic community. Just days before Deraa exploded with protests last March, some analysts were still scrutinizing Syria’s circumstances and declaring the country to be immune from the Arab Spring. Nor did reporters who visited the country spot signs of a brewing storm.

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By Gary Gerofsky

Iran is quickly becoming the cause celebre and darling of the Left. On a Canadian campus I recently listened to Zafar Bangash, director of the Islamic Society of York Region, make an outrageous defense of Iran and scathing attack on Western civilization — Imperialism, according to Bangash, is the greatest problem in the world, Iran, however, has been assigned favourite victim status by Bangash. He was being sponsored by leftist groups, Islamic students, a Jewish anti-Israel group called Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), and the “Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War.” That last group concentrates on only one country for very special critical treatment — Israel.

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by Daniel Pipes and Cynthia Farahat*

When Egypt’s Lower House convened on Jan. 23, Islamists held 360 out of its 498 seats, or 72 percent. This astounding figure, however, reflects less the country’s public opinion than it does a ploy by the ruling military leadership to remain in power.

In a recent article (”Egypt’s Sham Election,” Dec. 6) we argued that just as Anwar El-Sadat and Hosni Mubarak in the past “tactically empowered Islamists as a foil to gain Western support, arms, and money,” so do Mohamed Tantawi and his Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) “still play this tired old game.”

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by Ali Alfoneh*

In July 2011, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed Maj. Gen. Rostam Qassemi of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as oil minister,[1] bringing the number of former IRGC officers in his cabinet to twelve out of eighteen. Yet the IRGC’s seizure of the Oil Ministry could have far reaching economic, political, and strategic implications.

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By Sara Akrami and Saeed Ghasseminejad

As long as the priority of democratic governments is the establishment of freedom and democracy rather than financial gain, then the roots of authoritarianism will gradually dissolve throughout the world, and equality and justice will replace authoritarianism. Democratic governments must function as role models for authoritarian regimes and provide the hope of freedom and dignity for citizens living under oppressive rule.

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By Fern Sidman

“European countries are asleep and don’t perceive Iran as a danger. They have adopted a Chamberlain-like attitude and are much more sympathetic to Islamist causes that we’ll ever know,” said Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely at a recent speaking date before the south Florida Jewish community. Addressing an audience of over 100 at a Chabad sponsored “Lunch and Learn” in Miami Beach on December 14th, Ms. Hotovely, who sits on the Knesset’s Security and Defense Committee, referenced her recent trip to Belgium where she had attended a meeting of NATO members.

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By Gary Gerofsky

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: Get back to your damn office and do some serious homework! You and your administration have now become the enablers of the worst ideologies that the Middle East has to offer and you are abusing your only reliable ally in the region and throwing Israel under the bus to ingratiate your administration to a dangerous new group of dictators along with the existing miserable bunch.

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By Barry Rubin

Since last February I have predicted that the Muslim Brotherhood would win elections in Egypt. People have thought me very pessimistic. Now the votes are starting to come in and … it’s much worse than I thought. But my prediction that the Brotherhood and the other Islamists would gain a slight majority seems to have been fulfilled and then some. According to most reports the Brotherhood is scoring at just below 40 percent all by itself.

Why worse? For two reasons:

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by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi*

According to a report by the French daily Le Figaro, Bashar al-Assad is apparently aiming to destabilize Turkey, which has been supporting the predominantly Sunni Islamist leadership of opposition groups to the Syrian regime, by seeking to grant greater autonomy to the Kurdish population that primarily lives in the north and north-east of Syria.

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By Alexander Maistrovoy

Political commentaries about the events in the Middle East resemble mythological plots written by an experienced censor.

Myths don’t need facts. Their creators’ adjust the facts to their own paradigm. And ideological mythology is not an exception.

Western journalists’ commentaries on Middle East problems give me a sense of deja vu. It feels as though they have undergone the censorship of the Soviet Political Bureau or rather were written by the editor of Soviet “Pravda”, and then distributed with slight modifications, when actually these were written in The Washington Post, La Repubblica, Israel’s Haaretz and other “trustworthy” publications.

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by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi*

Amid all the debate as to what lies in store for Libya, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Islamism will be the dominant political force in the country.

Indeed, this trend should already have been clear in the treatment of David Gerbi, a Libyan Jew residing in Italy who returned to his ancestral homeland in the summer to fight alongside the rebels against Gaddafi. Yet when he tried to rebuild and reopen the abandoned and desolate synagogue in Tripoli, he faced death threats, intimidation and protests, such that he was eventually deported. The National Transitional Council (NTC) dismissed this matter as one of no importance.

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By Gary Gerofsky

Richard Falk has no problem “put(ting) aside his ethnic identity,” because, in my opinion, he is a Jewish anti-Semite and he proudly carries out his maliciousness while the entire Middle East burns in the fires created by Islamic dictators and fascist religious fanatics.

The people “willing to confront the Zionist furies of Israel” as Falk puts it, are grounded in their vision of a world forced to suffer under terrorism, nuclear destruction, misogyny, oppression, honour killings, Koranic Jew-hate, and revisionist historical propaganda that distorts reality beyond recognition.

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By Barry Rubin

What does theocracy look like? This is what theocracy looks like! *

Many people find it hard to comprehend what the Obama Administration thinks it’s doing in the Middle East. But it’s really very simple if you know the history of the arguments, read carefully administration speeches and documents, watch their actions, and talk to some of those involved.

Leaving aside a number of points I’ve made in a previous article (which would be good to read in conjunction with this one), I want to focus here on one concept: the idea that the U.S. government has outsmarted the Islamists.

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by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi*

Since Nouri al-Maliki first became prime minister of Iraq in April 2006, a recurring talking point about his time in office has been that his days are numbered. Indeed, in a paper I wrote for the Middle East Review of International Affairs quarterly journal in the summer of this year, I cast severe doubt on whether the Iraqi premier would remain in power until the expiry of his second term in 2014.

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