Iranian Interior Ministry Leaks On Election Outcome?
The Guardian is reporting that, according to unnamed sources in Iran's Interior Ministry, Friday's election results were the result of a computer program asked to elicit a "plausible result" and were prepared prior to the election.The figures have been accompanied by claims from unnamed interior ministry sources that fake statistics were fed into a software program and then distributed to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 15, 2009 11:31
Iranian Mullahs Order Election Probe
I'm going to write up a longish piece trying to make sense of the Iranian elections for New Atlanticist later today. Since comparisons to happenings in America seem to be the blogospheric rage de jour, however, I will just note that I have received the news that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the Guardian Council to "look into ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 15, 2009 08:58
Friedman the Scholar
Thomas Friedman begins his latest column thusly: Twenty years ago, I wrote a book about the Middle East, and recently I was thinking of updating it with a new introduction. It was going to be very simple — just one page, indeed just one line: “Nothing has changed.” It took me two days covering the elections in Beirut to realize that I ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 15, 2009 08:37
Iranian Politics 101
As background for some our posts on the Iranian election, it is probably helpful to have some information about Iran's political system. Helpfully, The Red Pill at Cadillac Tight has a lengthy primer on the design and workings of the Islamic Republic's various directly-elected and appointed political bodies. As Dave Schuler points out below, the Iranian political system, as currently ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 15, 2009 01:54
Robert Oakley on Somalia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
Few Americans know more about Africa and the Middle East than Robert Oakley, whose distinguished diplomatic career included stints U.S. ambassador to Zaire , Somalia, and Pakistan;Special Envoy to Somali; director of State's Office of Combatting Terrorism; and Assistant to the President for Middle East and South Asia. With help from my colleague Shuja Nawaz, director of the Atlantic Council's new ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 15, 2009 08:36
Bow? Wow!
The conservative media and blogs have been having a field day parsing the bow that President Obama gave before Saudi King Abdullah in London last week. Some see it as a sign that he is submitting in fealty to Saudi Arabia. Others find 'coded messages' about how the US will submit to Islam. His act stirs up the canard that ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 7, 2009 19:01
Quote of the Day – Bernanke Edition
"Y'know, you can't wish these things into being." - Dan Drezner, commenting on Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's "eliding of the international dimension of policymaking." Much of the commentary I'm seeing on responding to major crises -- whether we're talking about the global financial crisis, energy, climate change, or Middle East peace -- these days ignores rather rudimentary international or domestic political ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 10, 2009 14:10
Major Reforms in Saudi Arabia
Saudi King Abdullah announced a major shake-up in his government over the weekend. Among the changes was the naming of the first woman to a high government office, Deputy Minister for Girls' Education. The promotion of a woman in a country that generally treats women as second class citizens is indeed a big step. More interesting--and important--were changes he made in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 16, 2009 12:27
Netanyahu Loses, Right Wins
The incumbent Kadima Party did surprisingly well in yesterday's Israeli elections, apparently winning more votes than favorite Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud. But, as I argue in my New Atlanticist piece, "Israeli Election: Netanyahu Loses, Right Wins," that doesn't mean that the forces of sanity won out. Ironically, given that Lieberman holds the whip hand here, the most likely result is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 11, 2009 08:04
Obama’s Al Arabiya Gambit
[caption id="attachment_30684" align="alignright" width="300" caption="In an image made from a video provided by Al-Arabiya, President Barack Obama is interviewed in Washington by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya cable network Monday Jan. 26, 2009. It was the Obama"][/caption] In my New Atlanticist essay, "Obama's First Interview Goes to Al Arabiya," I assess the domestic fallout, international optics, and foreign policy implications of President Obama ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 27, 2009 12:03
Israeli High Court Overturns Arab Party Ban
The Israeli Supreme Court has overturned the ban on Arab political parties which was enacted earlier this month.Israel's Supreme court overruled on Wednesday a parliamentary panel which had decided to bar Israeli Arab parties from running in next month's parliamentary election. The court issued its decision in response to an appeal filed by Arab politicians against the ban. A spokesman ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 21, 2009 13:10
Iraq Willing To Allow Early US Troop Withdrawal
The Iraqi government has indicated that it is ready to assume security over the country in the event that U.S. troops are withdrawn prior to the 2011 date agreed to by the Bush Administration.Obama promised during the campaign to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. The new president said in his inaugural address ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 21, 2009 10:51
So, Has Rev. Warren Become Muslim?
I don't think I'm the only one who noticed that during his invocation, Rev. Rick Warren used the phrase, "You, the merciful one; You, the compassionate one'. That phrase, the heart of the bismillah, was not accidental, I believe. The bismillah is the prayer that is used to start nearly anything done by a pious Muslim, even appearing at the top ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 20, 2009 15:02
Hamas Security Chief Killed
Finally, an Israeli strike that hit its target: Hamas officials are confirming that an Israeli airstrike killed the Hamas interior minister, who oversaw thousands of security agents in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike. Hamas television says Interior Minister Said Siam was killed in a strike that flattened a home in Gaza City. A top aide, Siam's brother ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 15, 2009 13:28
Israel Bombs UN Headquarters (Updated)
Oops. [caption id="attachment_29989" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="United Nations workers and Palestinian firefighters work to try and put out a fire and save bags of food aid at the United Nations headquarters after it was hit in Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009. Israeli forces shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, setting the compound on ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 15, 2009 08:58
