Los Angeles Times (November 6)
“President Obama is slowly extricating the U.S. from its Bush-era fixation on the Middle East. But he is turning his attention in the wrong direction. Europe, not Asia, should be his main focus.”
The Times of London (September 17)
“The West is right to seek a diplomatic solution with Tehran to defuse an emerging nuclear threat…. Iran’s nuclear programme is plainly not designed purely to generate electricity. It is also to make atomic bombs and is a threat to already shaky stability of the Middle East.”
Tags: Bombs, Diplomatic solution, Electricity, Iran, Middle East, Nuclear threat, Stability, Tehran, Threat
LA Times (August 10)
The “Arab Spring” may not have succeeded in bringing democracy to the Middle East. But it has provided powerful evidence of a different phenomenon: the illusion of U.S. influence over governments we once considered our clients.”
Tags: Arab spring, Clients, Democracy, Governments, Influence, Middle East, U.S.
The Economist (April 20, 2013)
“The threat of a global pandemic is rising again.” In China, the H7N9 avian influenza is troubling and in the Middle East a SARS-like virus has emerged. Compared with a decade ago, the world is more prepared for the “distant but deadly threat” of a pandemic. “But it needs to be better prepared still, because viruses move a lot faster than governments do.”
Tags: Avian influenza, China, Governments, H7N9, Middle East, Pandemic, Preparation, Risk, SARS
Chicago Tribune (April 12, 2013)
“Imagine a world with not one rambunctious and nuke-emboldened North Korea, but two…. On the day that Iran declares to the world that it has defied Western red lines and is capable of building its first nuclear bomb, the Middle East will become immensely more dangerous and unstable.” The time has come for “a complete banking and trade embargo against Iran.”“Imagine a world with not one rambunctious and nuke-emboldened North Korea, but two…. On the day that Iran declares to the world that it has defied Western red lines and is capable of building its first nuclear bomb, the Middle East will become immensely more dangerous and unstable.” The time has come for “a complete banking and trade embargo against Iran.”
Tags: Iran, Middle East, North Korea, Nuclear bomb
Time (December 10)
“The Middle East today is a complex region that is changing fast. Grand generalizations about it are likely to be undone by events. But it is a more vibrant, energetic and democratic place than it was a generation ago.”
“The Middle East today is a complex region that is changing fast. Grand generalizations about it are likely to be undone by events. But it is a more vibrant, energetic and democratic place than it was a generation ago.”
Tags: Change, Democratic, Events, Generalizations, Middle East
Financial Times (November 23)
“Instead of protecting a revolution,” by usurping power Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi “risks relaunching one.” The largest nation in the Arab world, “Egypt, is the standard bearer for all those who rose up against autocracies.” President Morsi’s “deft handling of foreign affairs has shown that his government can be an effective interlocutor between Middle East and west.” Egypt may help prove the potential of democratic Islam. Still, “as long as there are no checks on his exercise of power, this will be in doubt. The decree should be reversed. Democracy is often noisy, complex and slow. But its processes cannot be usurped.”
Tags: Democracy, Egypt, Islam, Middle East, Mohamed Morsi, Power, President
Time (October 8)
“The Arab Spring has indeed been bumpy…. The days when the U.S. could manage events in the region through a network of local autocrats are over.” Looking ahead, one very real possibility is “regional chaos and, ultimately, a redrawing of the national borders that were imagined by Europeans at the end of World War I.”
“The Arab Spring has indeed been bumpy…. The days when the U.S. could manage events in the region through a network of local autocrats are over.” Looking ahead, one very real possibility is “regional chaos and, ultimately, a redrawing of the national borders that were imagined by Europeans at the end of World War I.”
Tags: Arab spring, Autocrats, Borders, Chaos, Europeans, Middle East, U.S.
The Economist (July 14)
“The fall of the Arab world’s worst two dictators would give a terrific boost to the region.” Half a year into the Arab spring, results are mixed. Perhaps we expected too much, too soon, but we should not forget the remaining potential. “The immediate fate of the Arab spring turns on Libya and Syria, both in the throes of revolution. If either got rid of its dictator, the overall Arab movement towards democracy would enjoy a huge step up.”
Tags: Arab spring, Democracy, Dictators, Libya, Middle East, Syria
Washington Post (February 28)
Will the Jasmine revolution spread to all of the Arab States? Who should the U.S. and other countries back, existing leaders or the protestors? The Post believes, the “direction of events means that, more than ever, the American interest lies in encouraging more rather than less freedom and in reaching out to those Arabs who seek genuine democracy. If that means straining ties with autocratic allies, that is preferable to appearing to back the wrong side.”
Tags: Democracy, Diplomacy, Middle East, Revolution
