By Barry Rubin
What is the definition of insanity? Repeating the same behavior and expecting different results.
What is the definition of Middle East policy insanity? Intensifying the same behavior that has already failed and expecting a better result.
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.
by Sara Akrami and Saeed Ghasseminejad
When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, its leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, formed a notorious organization called the “Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.” Its major goal is the protection of the country’s Islamic system of government, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) works to prevent any uprisings or internal dissent. It has also been linked to terrorist activities around the world and it supports terrorist organizations. In recent years, especially under the government of the inhumane and Holocaust-denying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the IRGC has taken over many aspects of Iranian society. It has influence in the political, social, military, and especially economic systems. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has turned into a business empire in Iran and is known as one of the wealthiest organizations after the National Iranian Oil Company.
By Fern Sidman
Just hours before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna released their much awaited report confirming Iran’s “development of a nuclear explosive device”, this very topic was vigorously addressed at a forum at the 92nd Street Y on Manhattan’s upper east side. Excerpts from the powerful 2011 documentary, “Iranium” (which documents the genesis of Iran’s nuclear threat, beginning with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the ideology espoused by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini until today) was screened before the 200 audience members. Simulcast to a variety of venues around the country, the distinguished panel members had the opportunity of answering questions from audience members who were not present at the location.
Time to wake up to reality. How can Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas believe in peace with Israel when he doesn’t believe that Israel exists as a country? He claims all of Israel as part of his proposed “Palestinian” state:
by Damla Aras*
The referendum held on January 9, 2011, was a milestone for Sudan. With an overwhelming majority of 98.3 percent, southerners decided to secede from the north and to create Africa’s youngest state — the Republic of South Sudan. While this momentous development was expected to end Khartoum’s decades-long struggle with the southern Sudanese rebels, it has set off a number of ticking time bombs and exacerbated existing conflicts. On top of Sudan’s financial problems and the wider impact of the Arab upheavals, President Omar Bashir’s government is now facing a number of pressing issues in the post-referendum era. With the rise of new disputes and the escalation of protracted conflicts, is Bashir’s Sudan on the verge of further instability?
by Daniel Pipes*
That Gilad Schalit has been released after five years of captivity by Hamas brings joy to anyone who watches the Israeli soldier’s reunion with his parents and the ecstatic welcome he received by his countrymen. It also reminds one of the Israel Defense Forces’ noble purpose in doing all it can to stand by its men.
by Steven Plaut*
Israel is under assault from within and not just from the usual suspects. Its legitimacy and, in many cases, its very existence are being attacked by a domestic academic fifth column. Hundreds of professors and lecturers, employed by Israel’s state-financed universities, are building careers as full-time activists working against the very country in which they live. And the problem is growing. Fortunately, the Israeli public has become aware of the problem and is increasingly demanding that something be done about it. A not inconsiderable part of the credit for this belongs to the Middle East Quarterly, probably the first serious journal to discuss the problem a decade ago, sparking a debate that continues to challenge the Israeli academy’s offensive against the Jewish state.
by Adam Turner*
Kudos to American television comedian David Letterman! On June 5, 2011, Letterman smiled and drew his finger across his own throat on his CBS program “Late Show with David Letterman” to celebrate the U.S. military’s reported killing of Ilyas Kashmiri, an Islamist terrorist who apparently was the head of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami and a senior al-Qaeda leader. Kashmiri reportedly was one of the leading organizers of the deadly November 2008 Mumbai attacks in India, which killed 164 innocent people and wounded at least 308. He was also recently indicted in U.S. federal court for conspiring with other terrorists to plan a Mumbai-style attack in Denmark, directed at the newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that had published the infamous Mohammed cartoons. For good measure, Letterman also insulted Osama bin Laden during the same broadcast.
by Steven Shamrak
On September 28th, the world was supposed to celebrate, but conveniently forgot the anniversary of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, widely known as the Oslo Accords. Three political stooges, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Perez received the Nobel Peace Prize for signing this worthless piece of paper, which was based on fake promises made by Yasser Arafat in a letter to then Israeli Prime Minister Rabin on September 9, 1993.
By Fern Sidman
In his much awaited speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas officially asked the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state to rounds of applause, except for US Delegate Susan Rice and the Israeli delegation, in the automatically pro-Arab body.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, UN Ambassador Ron Prosor, and later Minister for Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein, left the room.
Abbas started his speech by referring to Israel as “an occupying power who has committed ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, pushing them away from their ancestral homeland,” ignoring UN recognition of the state of Israel in 1948.
Words matter. They can enlighten or confuse us.
Despite what the western mainstream media say, Muslim terrorists are not merely “militants.”
An armed terrorist is not an “activist.”
Contrary to myth, an Israeli “settler” is not a “colonizer” — although many Muslims, who have “settled” in Europe and who have created hostile, violent, and separatist enclaves, (”no go zones”), are essentially “colonizing” Europe in order to establish a European Caliphate.
By Fern Sidman
Autumn in New York City will never be the same. The traditional atmosphere that marks this time of the year such as cooler temperatures, changing leaves and post-season play for major league baseball have been abruptly usurped by the menacing tone of geo-political realities. As most of us are already aware, the United Nations General Assembly will be convening for its annual session. In addition to hosting a veritable rogues gallery of assorted miscreants such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and playing chief sponsor to yet another round of infamous Israel bashing as manifested in the Durban III conference, this year the international spotlight is on the unilateral Palestinian bid for statehood.
On September 16, 2011, the New York Times actually used the word “Islamist” in a front page story — not as often or as prominently as the word “militant” but still, there it was — and in an article titled “At White House, Weighing Limits of Terror Fight.”
For all those who are invested in the Lie that the infidels (i.e. Western civilization} are not under attack, allow me to point out that the anti-Israel and anti-American Paper of Record had, altogether, three articles on the front page about Afghanistan, Bahrain, and about “Islamist militants in Yemen and Somalia” as well as about “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, and the Somalia-based Shabab;” “Al Qaeda operating in Afghanistan … and in the tribal regions of Pakistan.”
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