Feel free to post on these topics: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Bahrein, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Burma. Chad, Eritrea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jibouti, Jordan, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunesia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Yemen - add China, the Mongols (incl. Russia), the Muslim Sunni and Shi'a, and Christiandom, - mix all these and, stir and that is why you can see whirl winds raising dust from Tibet to the bleak Akchar desert waste of Mauretania.
A note on format: simply type the nation on which you are commenting, in caps. i.e., AFGHANISTAN.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Regional Summary Jan.4, 2008
A SUMMARY OF HOPE - The Middle East and Central Asia
This briefest of summaries is a round up of events in 2007 and how they augur for the future.
IRAQ stills gaps open like a bad wound. The government of Nur al Maliki has shown signs of widening its constitutencies to include Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Chaldeans, Turcomen and secular Shi'a. But the Iraqi National Party under Iyad Alawi is still outside - and its cold.
This month we will examine how and when the US will withdraw from Iraq. Needless to say there are many in the US who want US troops to remain in Iraq indefinitely. These are the arrogant Republican know-nothings who started the war.
Before we go on, it is necessary to remind everyone that the situation(s) in the Region, and in Iraq in particular, is highly fluid. It changes every week. The Iraq invaded in 2003 is not the Iraq of 2008. If you are often perplexed, maybe it means you are flexible enough to go with the big weekly changes taking place.
IRAN is economically falling apart because it cannot procure spare parts or do any kind of business with non-Iranian companies. Discontent has been steadily rising and now new shortfalls occur - lack of oil, gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, feedstocks, fertilizer, and imported food.
AFGHANISTAN -
This briefest of summaries is a round up of events in 2007 and how they augur for the future.
IRAQ stills gaps open like a bad wound. The government of Nur al Maliki has shown signs of widening its constitutencies to include Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Chaldeans, Turcomen and secular Shi'a. But the Iraqi National Party under Iyad Alawi is still outside - and its cold.
This month we will examine how and when the US will withdraw from Iraq. Needless to say there are many in the US who want US troops to remain in Iraq indefinitely. These are the arrogant Republican know-nothings who started the war.
Before we go on, it is necessary to remind everyone that the situation(s) in the Region, and in Iraq in particular, is highly fluid. It changes every week. The Iraq invaded in 2003 is not the Iraq of 2008. If you are often perplexed, maybe it means you are flexible enough to go with the big weekly changes taking place.
IRAN is economically falling apart because it cannot procure spare parts or do any kind of business with non-Iranian companies. Discontent has been steadily rising and now new shortfalls occur - lack of oil, gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, feedstocks, fertilizer, and imported food.
AFGHANISTAN -
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Middle East Speculum
Speculum is Latin for mirror and today refers to a surgical instrument.
The Middle East Speculum covers all of the Middle East including Central Asia and North Africa.
Our focus is to provide you late-breaking news, with exceptional analysis. I know four Middle Eastern languages. I glean information from short wave broadcasts and from some 25 newspapers and magazines. This MES blog provides concise background context to political, demographic and economic developments.
Readers of the blog are encouraged to submit their observations. If relevant, they will be posted.
In some cases, we proffer solutions which disarm. For example, I ask the Arabs: What? You expect Israel to roll over and play dead.? Why? And I ask Israelis and their sympathizers: "What? Do you expect that the Arabs will just roll over and play dead?
The interests of all nations overlap and converge. Only the extremists in Palestine and Israel want to maintain the status quo. Should we blame it on ideology and religion? You bet.
The Middle East Speculum covers all of the Middle East including Central Asia and North Africa.
Our focus is to provide you late-breaking news, with exceptional analysis. I know four Middle Eastern languages. I glean information from short wave broadcasts and from some 25 newspapers and magazines. This MES blog provides concise background context to political, demographic and economic developments.
Readers of the blog are encouraged to submit their observations. If relevant, they will be posted.
In some cases, we proffer solutions which disarm. For example, I ask the Arabs: What? You expect Israel to roll over and play dead.? Why? And I ask Israelis and their sympathizers: "What? Do you expect that the Arabs will just roll over and play dead?
The interests of all nations overlap and converge. Only the extremists in Palestine and Israel want to maintain the status quo. Should we blame it on ideology and religion? You bet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
