Middle East Policy

After the laughable direction of the futile play of the Egyptian presidential elections, Mr. Mubarak is doing his best to maintain the current system in the Middle East, which I believe that is based on the authoritarianism and relies on the interdependence of the Middle East regimes to maintain stability. This stability in their Middle East system means the regimes' security and lastingness. That is a very important point must be considered in the Middle East policy-making process. The despot makes his foreign policy on the considerations of his interior policy. He knows the necessity of the interior and foreign policies to be consistent because they belong to and represent the same decision-making system and intend to enable it as the intrinsic dynamics of the regime in power. And knows the indispensability of the compatible foreign context for his rule's integrity. The motives of Mubarak's Middle East recent initiative are understandable, but the nature of his initiative...

The President of Iraq has made it clear what Iraq wants and what is his perspective of the situation. It is important to be read interestedly. Following is an article by Mr. Jalal Talabani the President of Iraq has appeared in The Times : Iraq's message to Mr Blair: we still need the troops that saved us from tyranny Jalal Talabani The Times October 10, 2005 EVENTS OF recent weeks have reaffirmed the need for the alliance between the new Iraq and Britain. The lesson of the ghastly drumbeat of terrorism, the rioting in Basra and the vile murder of the leadership of the Iraqi Anglican Church is that the battle of Iraq cannot be won by retreat or compromise, but by the vision and determination for which Britain is renowned. Above all, Britain owes no apology for delivering the enslaved people of Iraq from the hands of a callous tyranny. The challenge is to show fortitude in the face of horror so that we can finish the job that began in 2003 of uprooting dictatorship and implanting a ...

As I believe, the Middle East is stirring. Because that many relevant objective conditions are existent now or evolving, including media, communication, knowledge availability and the more integration and interdependent with the world, with a special attention to the change in the international input in the Middle East as a key factor. As a result, the nature of the relation between the state -which symbolized and reduced to the ultimate ruler- and the society has lost its stability and is undergoing another and sometimes different causes. I intentionally avoided talking about the relation between the state –actually the regime- and the single individuals, and this is a very important consideration. Actually, because it is somewhat early to talk about that as regards the Arab societies. The individualism is somehow an advanced thought and ideology for the Arab publics and the political individualism is something almost absent in the Arab common sense, as a direct effect of the authorit...

I previously posted an opinion on the Iraq's federalism " On Iraq Integrity " represents the Sunni stance and criticizes adopting federalism in the new Iraq. Here is an opinion of different viewpoint: Iraq's federalism ensures justice By Ali al-Awsi 13 October 2005 aljazeera.net Since the establishment of the Iraqi state in 1921, there has been little improvement in democratic conditions for ordinary Iraqi citizens. Successive regimes have failed to get to grips with many issues, the main one being the discrimination among Iraq's regions, and this underlines the need for federalism as a solution to these persistent problems which have left Iraqis living under injustice and discrimination. Iraqis and Arabs alike have been living with values inherited from successive tyrannical regimes which left behind suffocating legacies and robbed the people of their will. That legacy has been based on consolidating the one-man-rule and establishing a climate of fear in which th...

The Iraqi draft constitution has been adopted by the free will of the people of Iraq. Iraq is democracy now –in the narrow meaning at least- and the Iraqi people are free institutionally and by the force of law; the Iraqi-made law not just by the will of some other nations. This is a historic milestone in the Middle East history; the statue has been broken now and an Arabic people chose his destiny. The Middle East politics would undergo structural changes; the rulers would be frightened of the new reality, reflecting on their ability to cope with that besides their enabling resources, and the peoples of the Middle East would be inspired by democratic liberties and rights they don not have but they know that they can claim it now. Because the U.S. attitude has changed and even the Middle East has serious changes inside. It was easy to maintain a regional stable system in the Middle East, mainly a status quo, when it has not to bring prosperity and has the same essence across the differ...

I have previously posted the Dr. Rice remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee explaining the U.S. strategy on Iraq. Here is the New York Times report on the entire hearing including Dr. Rice's key answers: Rice, in Testy Hearing, Cites Progress in Iraq New York Times 10/20/2005 By STEVEN R. WEISMAN WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, facing tough questions about Iraq from Republican and Democratic senators, asserted that progress was being made in securing the country but declined to predict when American forces could withdraw or to rule out widening the war to Syria. In three and a half hours of hearings at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ms. Rice was both conciliatory and combative, rebutting the gloomy assessments from senators of both parties but at the end offering a weary concession to Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois. "I understand that, yes, it might not work," Ms. Rice told Mr. Obama, referring to American pl...

Dr. Rice laid out a three-part political-military strategy for achieving success in Iraq in her Remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As usual, she was realistic, methodological and competent as a scholar and a skilful diplomat. She is aware of historical context of some disagreements between Iraqi sects ( I talked about that in a previous post) and aware of the de facto troubling points and has a comprehensive vision of healing toward a stable democracy; actually toward a de facto democratic representative system as a political way and framework toward the stable democracy. She stresses on the importance of building state institutions and infrastructure besides the responsibilities of the Iraqi government in her pursuit to introduce a comprehensive and realistic U.S. strategy; a strategy relies on surveying on-ground realities and action plans more than rhetoric. Her refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq is the right sign to the Iraqi ...

The United States is working to replace the U.N. Commission on Human Rights with a new, legitimate and effective body. That is truly a necessary task. I see the efforts for combining the human rights into the international order as a deliberate pursuit to vitalizing the international order by providing extraordinary foundations may replace the chaos of the post-cold war international order. The United States and the European Union must do their best, including practicing pressure, to impose preliminary foundations of the authority of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. It is not enough to have an auxiliary U.N. human rights body. It must have a competence and some mandate albeit this mandate, in its scope, is subject to the evolving of the international order. Here are some details on the U.S. initiative: (Source: International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State .) U.N. Human Rights Body Must Exclude Violators, U.S. Official Says Supports doubling funding for Office of Hig...

Moving forward in the Middle East peace process is an important matter. The region needs the congestion to be relieved somewhat. That will ensure an improved environment more proper for the new deal in the Middle East. It is important to know that is extremely important to focus on administrating this conflict in the context of the peace process. Actually, the mere focus on settling this long conflict was neither productive nor realistic. Restricting the use of force is essential and entails U.S. and European engagement. Without effective international engagement, I doubt any settlement or progress would be achieved. Moving directly from the crisis to the settlement is unrealistic policy and may be counterproductive. My evidence on that is the Clinton administration policy and what it yielded. It is necessary, in my view, for the U.S. to adopt a policy targets relief accompanied with improving security and economic conditions for Palestinians, and ensures Israeli commitment to a powerf...

Saddam's trial is a milestone in the Middle East history. The monster is in the cage. that is simply rightful and just. Actually, the first comment I wrote was "the dictator in the cage, freedom outside." It is simple but meaningful comment. My colleagues in the free world have written thousands of pages on democracy's possibilities and deficits in the Middle East. They introduce a lot of status analysis, case studies, historical analysis and policy recommendations. With my respect to their work outcomes, I think it is necessary to make a point clear; in the democratization process the first target is the power (the ruler). The first wall faces democracy march in the Middle East is the regimes (the de facto political power). This is due to one fact, we perceive a western difficulty in well grasping of, -almost because they did not experience the totalitarian state. This fact is that the political power (the regime) dictates the entire political game with its rules i.e...

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has an active project on the Middle East reform theme. This project includes The Arab Reform Bulletin "Objective, timely, and incisive analysis of political reform in the Middle East." I will quote the news section of October issue: Jordan: National Agenda for Reform A 27-member government-appointed steering committee for the Jordanian National Agenda is expected to release soon its final report, which will outline a vision for comprehensive economic, social, and political reform over the next ten years. Among the most contentious elements so far is a proposed change in the electoral law from the unpopular one-man one-vote system, in which each citizen may vote for only one candidate although multiple seats are contested in each district. The new law is expected to institute a mixed system combining district candidates and proportional lists on the national level, with the long-term goal of electing a lower house entirely on th...

The Arab Reform Bulletin (October 2005) of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has included an article on the political dynamics in Iraq before the parliamentary elections in December. It makes a good briefing for whom have no clear idea on this subject. Following is the full article: Iraq: Political Dynamics in Advance of Parliamentary Elections Zaineb Naji and Daud Salman Whether the Iraqi constitution is approved or not in the October 15 referendum, there will be new elections in December for the National Assembly and party alignments are beginning to emerge. The broad political coalitions that scored a clear victory in the January 2005 elections are attempting to expand and diversify their constituencies to ensure that they remain relevant to the Iraqi political scene. The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the Shiite coalition that won more than half the parliamentary seats in January, might lose as many as 20 to 30 percent of its members due to the withdrawal of Muqtada Al...

It is obvious that Iraqi Sunnis have some legitimate grievances about the Iraqi constitution but they also have to know other important matters: When you make a mistake you have to pay for, and they are paying for their refusal to vote in the previous elections. This constitution is not the end of game, hence they have to deal with this question deliberately and constructively to heal the situation they consider unacceptable. What Islamic party did is a one step in the right road. They need to know clearly and unequivocally that their indifference about the violence tide in Iraq is an irresponsible and unwise stance. And the most important matter that this stance is interpreting into more and more political advantages to the current major political parties in power specially of Shiite. The Sunnis must begin to fight terror in Iraq especially in their regions alongside a proper political process or context to be adopted at the national level encourages the Sunnis. That is extremely impo...