Analysis & Commentary
Please Remind Us — Why Keep the UN in New York?
When Moammar Gaddafi came to speak as one of the stars of the United Nations General Assembly’s annual opening debate in 2009, he complained about the rigors of traveling all the way to New York, and offered to move the UN to Libya.
How Many Sunni Corpses Is a Church Worth?
It is true that the Christians of the Middle East are a persecuted minority—like all regional minorities, from the Shiites to the Druze and from the Kurds to the Jews. And the Christians are already suffering at the hands of Sunni extremists in Iraq and Egypt.
Among the Believers
Nearly ten years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many politicians, diplomats, journalists and academics remain reluctant even to name America’s enemies. To take but one example: John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, has argued that America is only “at war...
Assad’s Tribal Miscalculation
Despite the escalation in Arab, Turkish and international condemnation of the Syrian regime following its deadly assault on the city of Hama on the first day of Ramadan, Bashar al-Assad has pressed on with his military offensives against Syrian cities.
Taking Out a Tyrant
These leaders, says Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “will essentially be militia heads, like those who arose during Lebanon’s civil wars.” This leadership will exist alongside notables, sheikhs, doctors, businessmen, and lawyers.
Obama’s ‘Fantasy’ Rejects Bringing Home Envoy from Syria
The Obama administration’s insistence to try to “engage” Assad is a measure of its “fantasy, Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote in Now Lebanon.
Leverage and Legitimacy in Lebanon and Syria
However, as Tony Badran writes in Foreign Policy, “The evolution of the Syrian uprising has presented Washington with a unique opportunity to squeeze Assad. The United States has leverage; it has simply chosen not to use it.”
Mikati’s Probationary Period
The reactions from Washington, Paris and Riyadh following Najib Mikati’s designation as prime minister suggest that we are now in a watchful, wait-and-see period. Everyone is keeping a close eye on where Mikati will stand on the key issues, namely the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)....
Iran’s Road Rules
There’s much white noise surrounding the situation in Lebanon, as several actors stir frantically on the margins. Whether it’s France’s proposal for a Lebanon “contact group,” or the Turkish-Qatari-Syrian summit, or the seemingly perpetual talk about reviving the dead Saudi-Syrian...
The United States, France, and Their Allies Cannot Allow Terror Group Hezbollah to Deny Justice
On Wednesday , Hezbollah brought down Lebanon’s democratic government. The group withdrew its ministers from the cabinet, crumbling the unity government in an impeccably-timed constitutional coup only a few hours before prime minister Saad Hariri was to meet President Obama in Washington....
We Saw It Coming
The resignation of Hezbollah and its allies from the Lebanese government was, in many ways, foreseeable. Hezbollah and Prime Minister Saad Hariri's respective positions on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) were clearly irreconcilable. That is why the hype behind the so-called...
Journalists Keep The Hezbollah Myth Alive
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s speech last week, in which he rehashed an old conspiracy theory featuring former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, offered an opportunity for a critical examination of the harmful effects of Arab political culture and journalism. This...
Prosecute Hezbollah
If the U.N. pins Hezbollah down on Hariri, the verdicts won't stop there. It would criminalize Hezbollah's so-called "political" and "military" wings alike, resulting in further investigations for the murders of Lebanese politicians and political dissenters. The organization would be...
WikiLeaks And The Myth of A “Lebanonized” Hezbollah
The classified military documents obtained by WikiLeaks, which disclose Hezbollah’s role in Iraq under the direct command of the Iranian regime, may not be particularly surprising or even groundbreaking. However, they serve as a reminder of the reality of Hezbollah – all myths aside –...
Dangerous Delusions
Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Mouallem, followed his rare meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday with a typically brazen interview in which he denied that his government was illegally transferring advanced weapons to Hezbollah. However, Mouallem’s denial is hardly...
Moussa Sadr and the Islamic Revolution in Iran… and Lebanon
Last Tuesday marked the anniversary of the disappearance of Shia cleric Moussa as-Sadr—often dubbed the father of the Shia resurgence in Lebanon—during a visit to Libya in 1978. While the view assigning responsibility for his disappearance to the regime of Moammar Qaddafi is a matter of...
The Lebanon Border And Hezbollah’s War Footing
Lebanon’s southern border with Israel came very close to a military conflagration Tuesday, amidst a showdown between the international community and Iran’s regime, which continues to defiantly develop nuclear weapons. Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, has demonstrated to the West that it can...
Look At Who Holds The South Lebanon Trigger
On the eve of last Friday’s mini-Arab summit in Lebanon, the United States quietly, but noticeably, renewed a 2007 Executive Order designating parties deemed to be undermining Lebanese sovereignty.
The Islamic Revolution Is Still Alive
The recent tension in South Lebanon, choreographed by Hezbollah against UNIFIL under the guise of spontaneous protests by villagers, has been used by the party to reassert its equation of “the Resistance, the people, and the army”— the three mutually-reinforcing pillars which,...
The Death of A Marja
The passing of Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah over the weekend marks the end of an era for Lebanese Shiism. What comes next, and who will attempt to fill his shoes as the leading marja (source of emulation), remains to be seen. However, it’s safe to assume that Iran,...
