by Barry Rubin*

After Iraq’s military defeat in 1991, many in the West and in Arab states hoped that changes in the world and region would produce a new Middle East of pragmatism, reform, democracy, and peace. Given the Soviet Union’s collapse, growing democracy elsewhere, and U.S. emergence as sole superpower, a better world seemed imminent. A generation of Arabs had experienced defeat, tragedy, and stagnation. Surely, they would recognize what had gone wrong and choose another path.

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by Douglas Farah*

Several developments towards the year’s end show what a good few months it has been for the worldwide jihadi movement. These are not marginal shifts in the success of the Salafist military project, but significant gains that demonstrate some of the contours of the growing, armed movement that would like to eliminate us.

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by Bill Levinson

A liar, a thief, a rapist, and a murderer. That’s not a man. Take it away.

- Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, regarding the deserter Obadiah Hakeswill.

While Kofi Annan is admittedly not a rapist or murderer, he is a liar who may have knowingly tolerated theft, murder (genocide in Darfur and Rwanda), and child rape during his tenure as Secretary-General. He is not anything that a decent person would recognize as a man, and it is high time for him to be taken away as well.

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by Barak, IRIS Blog

Former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick has passed away, a servant of her nation who honored it with her courage and moral clarity. In memory, here is her classic 1979 article Dictatorships and Double Standards, considered “one of the three most famous essays in the history of American foreign policy.” (Here is a summary as well.)

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by Patrick Clawson*

As Western diplomats debate ways to counter Iran’s nuclear program, the strategies they devise must take Iranian motives into account. If Iranian leaders see their nuclear program as essential to defending Iran’s existence—as the Israeli[1] and Pakistani[2] governments view their nuclear programs—then economic considerations would make little difference to Iran’s calculations. But defense is not the principal factor behind the Iranian nuclear program. Rather, Tehran seeks prestige and influence. Iranian leaders consistently present the nuclear program as an accomplishment of Iranian science and as evidence that Iran is an advanced industrial power.[3] They also argue that international opposition to Iran’s nuclear ambitions is motivated by a Western effort to prevent the country from assuming its rightful place as a regional leader. They play to Iranian national pride, not to the idea that Iran is so threatened that it must take desperate measures to defend itself. If the West is to convince the Iranian leadership to change course, therefore, it is necessary to persuade the Iranian leadership that its nuclear program will not advance Iranian influence. Economic instruments can play a role in this regard though they are by themselves unlikely to be sufficient.

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By Kamal Nawash

Over the past two years the Free Muslims Coalition has published several critiques of the path to a stable Iraq. With the release of the Iraq study Group’s report we think it is helpful to summarize our analysis of how to achieve stability in Iraq.

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by Asaf Romirowsky*

As ex-president Jimmy Carter’s new book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” hits the stores, it’s worth looking into the infamous UN resolution 242 that he quotes so frequently.

Reading Carter’s words gives no indication that Israel was the party that actually accepted 242 and the Arabs and Palestinians were the ones who rejected it.

In fact, after Resolution 242, the Arabs issued the equally infamous three “no’s”: No peace, no recognition, no negotiation.

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by Joseph Puder*

Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), spoke at Philadelphia’s Union League last Tuesday, as a guest of the Middle East Forum/Bob Guzzardi Lecture Series.

Marcus, a resident of Efrat, Israel, is on a U.S. tour to acquaint Americans with the hate education produced and delivered by Palestinian Authority (PA) to its people - with a particular focus on children. His powerful presentation was accompanied by vivid images and words of Palestinian clerics, children and political leaders.

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by Steven Shamrak

1. Before 1990, Security Council passed 175 resolutions, 97 were directed against Israel (It is 55% of all resolutions).

2. Before 1990, UN General Assembly voted on 690 resolutions, 429 were directed against Israel (It is 62% of all resolutions).

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Claim that imams who acted suspiciously were “discriminated against”
by Bill Levinson

We will say up front that, based on Debra Burlingame’s “On a Wing and a Prayer” (Wall Street Journal, 12/06/06, A16), the imams were damned lucky. There are prominent signs in airports that remind travelers that “jokes” about bombs, hijackings, and so on are taken seriously by law enforcement personnel and can get the “joker” into serious trouble. We would say that chanting “Allahu akbar” could, especially given its context during the 9/11 attacks, (in combination with the display of a weapon like a seat belt extender with a heavy buckle) put bystanders in “reasonable fear for their lives”–the legal prerequisite for the use of deadly physical force if a nonviolent response (like getting off the airplane and asking to be rebooked on another flight) is not available.

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by Michael Rubin*

Speaking at the National Endowment for Democracy on February 4, 2004, President George W. Bush declared, “True democratic reform must come from within. . . . When the leaders of reform ask for our help, America will give it.”[1] Less than a year later, at his second inauguration, he reiterated his freedom agenda: “It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”[2] While many dissidents welcomed his words, the administration became bogged down on how to implement them. At the heart of the foreign policy debate was the question of whether U.S. embrace of and support for dissidents helps or hurts them. Does moral or financial support advance reform or impede it?

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

So Gwyneth Paltrow thinks Americans are too “capitalist” and not “intelligent and civilized,” but that doesn’t keep her from signing $10 million dollar contracts with Estée Lauder… I guess her riches and hypocrisy (and stupidity) are just minor details. But while Paltrow could just quit working and live off her fortune for the rest of her life, reality goes on for the rest of us plebeians. The American “lifestyle” which Paltrow claims to disdain, but which is the source of her wealth, continues to show amazing resilience:

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by Steven Shamrak

The term “Palestinian” is itself a masterful twisting of history. To portray themselves as indigenous, Arab settlers adopted the name of an ancient Mediterranean tribe, the Philistines (”Invaders” in Hebrew), that disappeared out over almost 3000 years ago. The connection between this tribe and modern day Arabs is nil. Romans, in order to conceal their shame and anger with rebellious regions, changed the references to Judea and Samaria by naming them Palestine.

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by Daniel Pipes*

An effective counterterrorism strategy must focus on the fact that terrorism by Muslims in the name of Islam presents the strategic threat today to civilized peoples, whether Muslim or non-Muslim.

On the low end, this threat involves lone individuals seized by the Sudden Jihad Syndrome who unpredictably set off on a murder spree. At the high end, it involves an outlaw organization like Hamas running the quasi-governmental Palestinian Authority, or even Al-Qaeda’s efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. In all, were terrorism by Muslims halted, this would be a major advance toward winning what some call World War IV.

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by Michael Rubin*

According to the New York Times, the Baker-Hamilton Commission will call for a drawdown of U.S. military presence in Iraq albeit without a timeline. The proposition is lose-lose. The logic that an imminent withdrawal of troops will force the Iraqi government to be more responsible is nonsense. Iraqis will side with strength; they will interpret withdrawal, promised or actual, as weakness. Nor does a creating a vacuum provide a solution to a security problem. If the president accepts the report, it will confirm U.S. defeat in Iraq. Inside-the-Beltway spin and diplomatic word parsing are irrelevant. What matters is street perception. And, even if the president does not accept the report, its very presence will embolden Iraqi insurgents and militias. Any doubter need only listen to the recent rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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