May 21, 2011

The Middle East Operational Codes: Five Keys to Understanding

Understanding the ME, as tumultuous, anarchist, and violent as it is, does not require complicated pundit analyses and convoluted explanations.  Rather, in light of last month's uprisings, simplicity is the key, with five variables serving as in...

March 27, 2011

Why Gaddafi? -- the U.S. and the March of Folly

At the beginning of her highly acclaimed bestseller, The March of Folly, Barbara Tuchman asserts the following:A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own in...

March 13, 2011

The Middle East Uprising: An Interim Balance Sheet

Popular protests and violence are spreading through the Middle East, leaving all Arab regimes in danger of severe destabilization.  In the current situation, understanding the protesters' motives and methods has perhaps become secondary to addre...

March 6, 2011

John Esposito: Apologist of Islam or Messenger of Islamic Da'wah?

John Esposito is a professor at Georgetown University and the head of the "Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding."  He is considered one of the foremost apologists of radical Islam in American academia.  The te...

February 23, 2011

The Jinn Is Out of the Bottle

Appearing before the House Intelligence Committee to present the annual worldwide threat briefing, the director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, and the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, were caught looking ridiculous and even ignorant conce...

February 20, 2011

The Egyptian Army in Politics

Egypt is a praetorian state.  By praetoriani, one refers to a society with high amounts of military politicization in the political, social, and economic strata.  Practically, the praetorian state is characterized by high intervention and i...

February 16, 2011

Egypt's Putative Revolution

The demonstrations and riots erupted through Egypt, were neither a revolution (a total change in all political, social and economic realms), nor a rebellion (a mass movement upheaval). However, they were an excuse of an successful internal coup d'...

February 8, 2011

Misconception or Betrayal? The U.S., Egypt, and Iran

The similarities between Iran and Egypt concerning U.S. policy are disconcerting.  Is Egypt repeating the 1979 Iranian revolution, led by religious preaching against authoritarian friend of the U.S., the shah, resulting in an Islamic theocracy? ...