Middle East Policy

Finally, the US has acknowledged the regional active role in Iraq's instability and violence. So, it will activate the regional dimension in the U.S. new Iraq strategy as an essential element. It is quite clear that without foreign support the insurgency in Iraq cannot be sustainable or politically effective. As the Iraq's insurgency has its domestic roots, the foreign (regional) input and intervention were essential in turning its efficacy from the security level to the political level. Here I should remind that the insurgency course in Iraq was in reverse that the violence advanced or led the political issue or problem not the political strife which produced the violence. That indicates that there are external roles and players taking their parts in this whole operation and manipulate the course of events there. So, as we should be totally aware of the domestic roots of the insurgency in Iraq, we should also be aware that it is definitely a regional issue and a deliberate war

Iranian regime, the leader of the Middle East Totalitarian Axis (META), is fighting back after the geo-strategic change in the Middle East through the liberation of Iraq and the semi-liberation of Lebanon and the new regional and international realities associated with the Bush Forward Strategy of Freedom. The Iranian battle is pretty clear in Iraq and in Beirut's streets and somewhere in Gaza, associated with Iranian defiance on the nuclear question strengthened by the status and performance of the META. The picture of the regionally rising Iran and the retreating Western democratic involvement associated with the new Middle East project is not accurate. The real picture is wider and has a different nature should we have a strategic and comprehensive vision. This analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations is helpful to conceive a more comprehensive and realistic perspective. (The unanimously-adopted UNSC resolution 1737 which sanctioned Iran on the nuclear issue can be downloa

After Mr. Baker's funny study which missed its time of pre-9/11 and its world of Cold War and studied not this Middle East but a past Middle East of Mr. Baker's time, Dr. Rice reasserted the U.S. commitment to Middle East democracy. Here is a related report followed by the executive summery of the Baker-Hamilton report (Iraq Study Group): Rice Says U.S. Support for Middle East Democracy Is Nonnegotiable By David McKeeby USINFO Staff Writer 15 December 2006 Washington -- Responding to calls for the United States to engage Iran and Syria to help secure Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said December 14 that even though diplomatic negotiation may be built on artful compromise, Iran and Syria must understand that U.S. support for democracy in the region is nonnegotiable. “If they have an interest in a stable Iraq, they'll do it anyway,” Rice told the Washington Post editorial board, and should not expect “compensation,” such as support for Syria’s hope of internat

Here is the official full text of the statute of the special tribunal approved by the United Nations Security Council for trying all those who are found responsible for the terrorist crime which killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and other Lebanese martyrs of the Cedar Revolution, the Lebanese freedom and independence revolution, followed by the list of attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since 1 October 2004 included in the Secretary-General's report to the Security Council. Hope that 2007 will be the justice year for Lebanon. Statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Having been established by an Agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese Republic (hereinafter “the Agreement”) pursuant to Security Council resolution 1664 (2006) of 29 March 2006, which responded to the request of the Government of Lebanon to establish a tribunal of an international character to try all those who are found responsible for the terrorist crime which killed the former Leban

In the last day in this year, 2006 I want to repost the Freedom House's Worst of the Worst , which is a special report detailing the world's most repressive societies, drawn from Freedom in the World 2006 , Freedom House's annual global survey on political rights and civil liberties. This is for reminding the world of the Suffering of many peoples in the authoritarian and totalitarian countries by one of totalitarianism's victims in one of the most repressive states. Let us hope that 2007 will be better than this year, and let us stand up for that. Happy New Year! Here is the Freedom House report: Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2006 Freedom House, Special Report A special report detailing the world's most repressive societies, drawn from Freedom in the World 2006, Freedom House's annual global survey on political rights and civil liberties. September 6, 2006 Introduction Methodology Table of Independent Countries Table of Related

It is really a new Middle East is emerging. The symbol of Arab dictatorship has gone to the place he deserves, the history dustbin. There was no international tribunal for his crimes against humanity, against his people. It is the Iraqi people, his victims who tried and executed their criminal Nazi Ba'athist dictator. It is the first time in the Arab history and will not be the last. Although I am definitely not a supporter of death penalty, I can not at this time but to congratulate the Iraqi people on recovering their freedom, dignity and self-determination. It is really a very clear message ringing from Tehran to Beirut that freedom and dignity will prevail. Honor and glory to our martyrs and prisoners of freedom from Iraq to Lebanon and elsewhere and shame and disgrace to criminal dictators in this region and elsewhere. Today, I ask all free Arabs and the free world to toast freedom and human dignity with me. Cheers and.... NEXT.

I want to spotlight the heroic action by Iranian students at the Amir Kabir technical university. They gave a freedom lesson to the world and to the "fascist dictator." Is the world listening? And is the free world assuming its responsibility toward them? Reminding the free world: - Iran's Waning Human Rights - About Iran Regime - War on Iran Under Way - Iranian Regime's Tyranny: Ethnic Question - Middle East Totalitarians and Existential Choice - Middle East Totalitarian Axis - Totalitarianism, Violence and Terror Here are two related BBC reports: Iranian students heckle president BBC News 11 December 2006 Iranian students have disrupted a speech President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was giving at a university by lighting fireworks and burning his portrait. Mr Ahmadinejad responded calmly to protesters' shouts of "Death to the dictator", an official spokesman said. The president reportedly described the hecklers as an "oppressive minority" and contin

Here is a recent briefing by the U.S. Institute of Peace on Syria's role in Lebanon. Although this briefing misses many essential points and misses, in my view, the right language to make a transparent and empirical evaluation of this topic (the problem of many US-based studies on the Middle East), it is somehow useful in terms of the general lines. Syria's Role in Lebanon USIPeace Briefing By Mona Yacoubian November 2006 This is the third in a series of USIPeace Briefings on Syria published by USIP's Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention . Written by Mona Yacoubian, it is based on discussions at a recent seminar held at USIP as well as insights gained during a research trip to Syria. The views expressed do not reflect those of USIP, which does not take policy positions. Recent days have witnessed increasing tensions between the United States and Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers. Citing "mounting evidence," the United States accused Hezbollah, S

To understand the recent unjustifiable blow by some Lebanese proxies occupying the downtown Beirut we should search for the international tribunal and keep our attention to the international probe into ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination and to the Iranian nuclear program. Here is a report on the latest report of the International Independent Investigation Commission to the Security Council followed by the latest Security Council presidential statement on the Lebanese situation supporting the legitimate independence government and calling for the disbanding and disarmament of all militias and armed groups in Lebanon: Suspects Identified in U.N. Probe into Hariri Assassination Naharnet 12 Dec 2006 The U.N. probe into ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination has now identified suspects and witnesses and found possible links to 14 other murders or attempted killings in Lebanon over the past two years, chief investigator Serge Brammertz said. Brammertz, a Belgian prosecutor, sai