Middle East Policy

Here is a recent policy watch of the U.S. efforts, stances and statements concerning democracy promotion worldwide, especially in the Middle East: (Source: International Information Programs , U.S. Department of State.) Headlines: Bush: U.S. Military Committed to Freedom and Liberty Throughout World Security Council Urges Syria To Set Up Better Ties with Lebanon Bush, British Prime Minister Pledge Support for Iraq's Government Zoellick urges Arab countries to stay committed to economic, political reforms U.S. Wants To Help Emerging Democracies "Find Their Own Voices" State's Zoellick urges Egypt to move forward on political reform plans Bush Says New Iraqi Government a "Decisive Break with the Past" Bush Bans Travel to U.S. by Belarusian Dictator, Associates Volker Defends OSCE’s Democracy And Human Rights Work State’s Boucher Discusses U.S. Policy in Central Asia Bush: U.S. Military Committed to Freedom and Liberty Throughout World "And we learned an i...

The Freedom House released a report on the freedom of the press in the Middle East and North Africa. As usual, the report is informative and the data is very important. The report's rankings, charts and country narratives are available here . The Committee to Protect Journalists has released its special report of 2006 “ 10 Most Censored Countries .” The Middle East countries included in the 10 Most Censored Countries list were LIBYA and SYRIA . I really miss Iran; do not you? The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has published a backgrounder on the oppression of the press in the Muslim world. It is actually about the Arab Muslim world. Here is the press release of the Freedom House: Press Freedom Must Continue to Improve in the Middle East and North Africa New York, April 27, 2006 Despite overall improvements in press freedom in the Middle East and North Africa over the last several years, the region continues to rank the lowest for press freedoms in the world, accordi...

This is the news section of the current issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace : Syria: Crackdown on Human Rights Activists; Election Law Committee The wave of arrests and trial of human rights activists and opposition figures in recent past months is continuing: On May 14, Syrian authorities detained prominent writer and activist Michel Kilo days after he signed a petition calling on the government to improve relations with Lebanon. Kilo has long called for reform in Syria and has criticized the government's involvement in the political affairs of Lebanon. On April 30, security agents arrested Fateh Jammous, a prominent member of the Communist Labor Party and a member of the broad coalition of Syrian opposition figures known as the “Damascus Declaration,” upon his arrival at Damascus airport from a trip to Europe where he met with other Syrian opposition figures. Jammous served 17 years in prison on charges of belonging to th...

I will quote here from the weblog of Professor R.J. Rummel whose writings are interesting, informative and reliable as I find them. Middle East Authoritarianism IS Getting Better—Look At The Data By R.J. Rummel I have been pointing out that the invasion of Iraq, the struggle for democracy there, and the democratic election of a national government was having a pro-democratic impact on other Middle Eastern Muslim countries. Since my view was at sharp variance from what some realists and other foreign policy experts have been saying, I decided to test this. I used Freedom House ratings, 1973-2005 (see below the map on the page), and tracked the year-by-year change in ratings for Muslim Middle Eastern (ME) countries. These ratings are on civil liberties (CL) and political rights (PR), and vary from 1 for the best (labeled FREE), to 7 for the worst (Not Free). I averaged these two ratings for each ME country for each year 1972-2005, and included the latest for 2006 (see above link). I ...

The Middle East dictators' system is under serious pressure after Bush's announced Forward Strategy of Freedom. Nevertheless, let it always be clear that the key and indispensable factor for change toward freedom and democracy in the Middle East is the civil society and the first target must be the status quo and stagnancy maintained by the regimes. The Arab NGOs are moving: Calling upon the United Nations to Deny Anti-Human Rights Arab States Membership to Human Rights Council 8/5/2006 "A Joint Press Statement of 44 NGOs in 14 Arab Countries" On 9 May 2006, the UN General Assembly will be holding the first elections for choosing 47 world states to the membership of the recently-established Human Rights Council. So far, around 65 states across the different world continents have announced their candidacy, eight of which are Arab within the Asian and African candidate lists. Human rights organizations signatory to the statement consider proclamation of the new council ...

Here is a recent policy watch of the U.S. efforts, stances and statements concerning democracy promotion worldwide: (Source: International Information Programs , U.S. Department of State.) United States Highlights Continued Syrian Interference in Lebanon Ambassador Bolton calls for U.N. Security Council resolution By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- U.S. Ambassador John Bolton wants the Security Council to consider a resolution on Syria's failure to stop interfering in Lebanon. "The U.S. has concluded [that] another resolution by the Security Council is warranted to highlight the continuing Syrian failure to comply with the requirement of [Resolution] 1559, possibly also to take into account its obligations in connection with the Hariri assassination under [Resolution] 1595," Bolton said April 26 after a briefing by U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen. Such a resolution, the ambassador said, "would be important to show the cou...

Reporters Without Borders has released its annual report on world press freedom. On the terrorist attacks against the free journalists in Lebanon, I quote: "... in Beirut, journalists live in fear of being attacked. Two senior journalists, Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni, of the daily paper An-Nahar, were killed in car-bomb attacks during the year and a star presenter for the TV station LBC, May Chidiac, was seriously wounded in another. Lebanon has the best record for press freedom in the Arab world but is now moving towards self-censorship. The best-known political commentators are moving about carefully and no longer dare to openly criticise neighbouring Syria, which is accused by many of being behind the attacks. Others have gone into exile, to France and elsewhere." Here is the Middle East report : Introduction North Africa and the Middle East - Annual Report 2005 Press freedom shrinks Informing the public in North Africa, the Middle East and Iran is a very risky business...