Associated Press
April 6, 2013
"Painfully Following Iran in the U.S. Media"
Op-Ed
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
One of the most annoying aspects of spending time in the United States, as I have just done with a month’s working visit there, is to follow the news coverage of Iran in the mainstream American media. Well, calling it “news” coverage is a bit of a stretch, because the mainstream American media is not really reporting news about Iran, but rather repackaged ideological attacks and threats that emanate primarily from the American and Israeli governments.
April 3, 2013
"Why Are Arab ‘National Dialogues’ So Fruitless?"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
It is quite bizarre that in almost every country in the Middle East where a serious political conflict or war is underway, there is also a parallel political “dialogue” either underway or proposed. If the contemporary Arab world is an example of how political dialoguing works, then dialogue will have a very short shelf life as a serious instrument of statecraft. Just look at the evidence in the Arab region.
Wikimedia Commons
March 27, 2013
"Islamists and Secular Nationalists in Syria"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
The fast pace of developments in and around Syria in the past week pushes the country more quickly towards the end of Bashar Assad’s regime that many of us thought was imminent last autumn. He did not fall then, for reasons that are very evident today.
whitehouse.gov
March 19, 2013
"America and the Middle East-II"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
American and other foreign support for Arab autocrats and dictators for over half a century helped to create the conditions of disparity, corruption, and populist despair that ultimately sparked the uprisings and citizen demands for rights that we now witness. The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq has been the single most important stimulus for new terrorists who gravitated to occupied Iraq from many lands, eager to repel the foreign invaders, and who have since seeped out of Iraq to do their dirty deeds in other Arab countries.
Associated Press
March 15, 2013
"America and the Middle East – I"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Much of the discussion in the United States about President Barack Obama’s trip to the Middle East next week centers around whether he will initiate any new diplomatic moves on Arab-Israeli peace-making, and what he might say about Iran and the continuing Arab uprisings. It is also worth viewing the visit from the perspective of the Middle East itself, where perceptions of the United States and its actions in the region are very mixed, and largely negative.
March 12, 2013
"Judge Islamists by Performance, Not Piety"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Rami Khouri asks and answers the following questions: "Are Islamist groups gaining or losing popularity in different Arab countries? Are Islamists of all varieties better at governing with a legitimate electoral mandate, or better at being opposition groups that only serve their narrow constituencies with a variety of social services and organized piety? Do Islamists necessarily do well when engaged in armed resistance to a foreign occupier or a domestic autocrat, and less well when they stop fighting and take on the responsibilities of governing?"
March 8, 2013
"War Fatigue and Fervor Coexist in Washington"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Visiting Washington, D.C. is always a thrill, eliciting in me the same feelings I remember as a child when visiting a really great zoo. This is not a criticism of either Washington, D.C. or zoos, only a descriptive statement about the spectacular, yet also the often wild, nature of the anthropology of power. I am always astounded by the debate in this town -- regardless of the year, the incumbent party or the issues at hand -- about whether or not the United States should use its considerable power in a certain situation around the world. This legacy changes very slowly, and very little.
Pete Souza/The White House
March 6, 2013
"The Diplomatic Serial Failures"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Understandably, Middle East circles in the United States these days increasingly speculate about whether President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry will explore opportunities for re-launching peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Less understandable is why a leading American publication -- the New York Times’ Sunday Review section -- should turn for advice on this issue from former diplomat Dennis Ross, who wrote a full page article in the paper last Sunday offering his 14 points on how Palestinians and Israelis could move ahead towards a successful negotiation.
March 1, 2013
"U.S. Policy on Syria is Naive and Counterproductive"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"The big question people here ask is whether the United States should provide military aid to help the Syrian rebels improve their chances of defeating and overthrowing the Assad family regime. The hesitance of the Obama administration to do this (beyond the military training that is widely assumed to be underway in Jordan) is a classic example of why American foreign policy in the Middle East is so erratic, often leading to the growth of groups that feed off anti-American sentiments."
Wikimedia Commons
February 28, 2013
"When Citizens Claim Sovereignty"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
In the midst of experiencing history being made on a daily basis, as has been the case in many Arab countries during the past two years, it is important now and then to step back from the day-to-day developments and try to understand more clearly the motivations that drive ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Two developments during the past week fall into this category, and give us better insights into why the continuing citizen agitation for human rights and a legitimate political order across the Arab world is likely to go on for some time.
