Middle East Policy

On April 26, 2005, the Lebanese people, backed by the international community, liberated their country and recovered their freedom through ending the Ba'ath occupation of Lebanon. Therefore, Lebanon is the second country kicking the Ba'ath tyranny out after Iraq. In honor of this occasion, I will post the celebrating editorial by the Lebanese martyr and hero, the brave leader and symbol of the liberating Cedar Revolution Gebran Tueni who paid his life for freedom and truth and for his country. Gebran, rest in peace, Lebanon is free and will always be, and you will always be alive in our hearts. Happy anniversary for all! The Dream Came True? And Lebanon is Risen By Gebran Tueni Lebanon is finally free of Syrian military and intelligence presence. On April 27th, 2005 Lebanon recovered its freedom, sovereignty and independence. Today, Lebanon recovered its freedom of decision. Today, after 29 years, Lebanon is liberated. The credit goes to the Lebanese people who resisted, defie...

Here is a recent policy watch of the U.S. efforts and stances concerning democracy promotion worldwide: (Source: International Information Programs , U.S. Department of State.) Bush Says Lebanon Can Be Example of Diverse, Peaceful State Reaffirms commitment to free, independent Lebanon to Prime Minister Siniora By Stephen Kaufman Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- President Bush said Lebanon, as a religiously diverse country emerging from conflict, “can serve as a great example for what is possible” to other countries in the Middle East. Speaking April 18 with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Bush said Lebanon’s recent experience shows that people who are overcoming sectarian conflict can live in peace, and that “it's possible for people to put aside past histories to live together." The president recalled Lebanon’s “great tradition” of serving “as a model of entrepreneurship and prosperity” and described its capital Beirut as “one of the great intern...

Today, Syrians are celebrating the national Independence Day. As a Syrian who condemned to live in this era of "independent Syria," let me define, in brief, the meaning of independence as we are living it in the revolutionary socialist resistant independent Syria (and going now to be the Islamic revolutionary socialist resistant independent Syria according to Saddam's prescription). Looted and ruined country; devastated and enslaved people; lost nation and civilization; flourished totalitarianism, beside the countless accomplishments of the revolution, which no American administration ever could claim it achieved even 10% of them. As these accomplishments exceed my ability of perception, I spent some years after my graduation from the Lebanese University's Political Science faculty (the revolution had forgotten this discipline in the Ba'ath universities, besides my inability to grasp the Ba'ath's genius progressive political vision and literature, which ex...

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 and Political Activists; Opposition Alliance A recent wave of arrests and court sentences has targeted several human rights activists and opposition figures. On April 3, the Syrian State Security Court sentenced Kurdish human rights activist Riad Drar to five years in prison on charges of disseminating false news, inciting sectarian riots, and forming a secret organization. The court also sentenced Abdul Sattar Qattan, a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to 12 years in prison on April 3 and three students accused of being Islamists to 10 years imprisonment on March 28. Syrian authorities arrested four human rights activists in the week of March 20, including the former vice president of the Human Rights Association in Syria Mohammad Najati Tayyara. Two weeks earlier Syrian security forces detained for four days ...

Would the post-Cold War international system survive? After 9/11, the international system underwent a serious failure as regards the international security and stability. The international dangers and threats took a different nature blowing up the so-thought international security after the end of the cold war. The new nature of the international dangers represented by the international terror and its nourishing structure and environments around the world imposed a necessary redefining of the "international border." This redefining is not an option, it is a must. Therefore, the traditional notion and norm of sovereignty would be directly affected as natural integrated complements of the traditional international border perception in the systemic practice pattern within the international relations. Thereby, the Westphalian international system is undergoing a serious challenge; given my thinking that it lost the test through 9/11. The state of the international border drove i...

In honor of this occasion, when the winds of change and liberation began blowing in the Middle East; when the freedom bell began ringing; when the long aspiration for freedom and dignity began its path into reality, I will repost my article Iraq Victory: Middle East Salvation , which had been quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer . IRAQ VICTORY: MIDDLE EAST SALVATION The U.S. will not abandon Iraq. To me, it means that the U.S. will not abandon the Middle East. Some recent stances and statements in the U.S urging to quit Iraq have shocked me. I find it, and I am sorry for this expression, extremely irresponsible, and definitely harming U.S. interests and the Middle East democratization movement. I definitely look positively at any deliberate prospective troops reduction, but setting a timetable of withdrawal, such as U.S. giving up, would blow up the reform movement and the liberal renaissance in the Middle East after Iraq and Lebanon. Furthermore, that would also blow up the American in...

Here is a recent policy watch of the U.S. efforts and attitudes concerning democracy promotion worldwide: (Source: International Information Programs , U.S. Department of State.) State Department Releases 2005 Human Rights Country Reports Democratic countries now better able to address problems, report says Countries in which power is concentrated in the hands of rulers that cannot be held accountable for their actions were among those cited as having the poorest records on human rights in the U.S. Department of State’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released March 8. Such regimes, which include the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea), Burma, Iran, Zimbabwe, Cuba, China and Belarus, seriously restrict fundamental human rights enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion and movement, the State Department said in the introduction to the report. “The gro...