Articles : Conflicts Forum. A Geo-Political Oracle.

14/10/2009 Article

Will Fatah – as Much as Israel – be the Target of the next Intifada?

A seriously aggravating factor in Fatah’s internal crisis has been the failure of the peace process to deliver even minimum Palestinian rights.

/ Ben White

Tags: Fatah

1 comment

For the best part of half a century, Fatah dominated Palestinian politics. Israeli attempts to extinguish the movement failed; rivals were co-opted or sidelined. But

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09/07/2009 Article

Tehran Troubles

The troubles that followed the Iranian Presidential elections have been misread by the Western press and policymakers.

/ Alastair Crooke

Tags: Iran

4 comments

An edited version has been published by the LA Times syndicate and also appears in The New York Times. The troubles that followed the Iranian

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07/07/2009 Article

Meshaal Delivers Speech on Obama’s Position on Peace Process

/ Khalid Meshaal

Tags: Hamas, Obama administration

2 comments

On June 25, Khalid Meshaal, head of the Hamas Political Bureau gave a televised speech in Damascus and said, in part: “… The Obama administration

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20/06/2009 Article

Liberty Leads the People, Even in Tehran

America did not elect Obama simply because we hoped he would be a realistic president. We elected him because he talked in ideals.

/ Mark Perry

Tags: Democracy, Iran

1 comment

Bitter Lemons, June 18, 2009 We in the “the West” have a special place in our traditions for anniversaries. We celebrate two important ones just

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11/06/2009 Article

The Essence of Islamist Resistance: A Different View of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas

/ Alastair Crooke

Tags: Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Islamists

4 comments

Article posted in New Perspectives Quarterly, June 2, 2009 Most Western analysts of political Islam make the same mistake. They instinctively assume that conflict with

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30/04/2009 Article

The Answer is Always Clausewitz

That war takes lives is not pertinent; organized killing is a specious fact undampened by good intentions.

/ Mark Perry

Tags: Iran, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, Obama administration

5 comments

Bitter Lemons, April 30, 2009 The wry and oft-repeated saying among senior American military officers is always good for a laugh: “no matter what the

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22/04/2009 Article

‘Resistance’ is the Essence of Islamism

We are fortunate to have available a new book that provides one of the most comprehensive, accurate and useful analyses of the core philosophy and motivating political principles of political Islamism available to English-speaking readers.

/ Rami G Khouri

Tags: Islamists

3 comments

The Daily Star, April 22, 2009 Once in a while a wave of ideas sweeps across societies and countries, and when combined with political and

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19/04/2009 Article

Power, Humiliation and Torture

By using the term “interrogation” the issue of sadistic retribution was effectively screened out of consideration.

/ Paul Woodward

Tags: Bush Administration, War on terrorism

2 comments

War in Context, April 19, 2009 In the wake of 9/11, no phrase more succinctly projected the upwelling of popular jingoism across the United States

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19/03/2009 Article

The China Syndrome

Is it wise to follow a policy that, without being effective against Hizballah, leaves Iran as her only friend?

/ Mark Perry

Tags: Dialogue, Hezbollah

1 comment

Bitter Lemons, March 19, 2009 The late historian Barbara Tuchman was an accomplished writer, but her reputation rests more properly on her insights. Her seminal

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