Middle East Policy

This is the news section of the latest issue of Arab Reform Bulletin (July 2007) Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Headlines: Kuwait: Ministers Resign Bahrain: First Income Tax; Press Law; Truth and Reconciliation Committee Saudi Arabia: Government Critic Arrested Yemen: Opposition Journalist Arrested Morocco: Run-up to Elections Algeria: Electoral Law Amendments Libya: Journalists on Trial Egypt: New Islamist Party; Nour Update; U.S. Considers Conditioning Aid Jordan: Former MP Charged; Run-up to Municipal Elections; Child Labor Code Syria: Student Activists Arrested Upcoming Political Events Contents: Kuwait: Ministers Resign Kuwait's oil and transportation ministers resigned on June 30 over a parliament inquiry into corruption allegations. The parliament had scheduled a vote of confidence for July 9 regarding Oil Minister Sheikh Ali al-Jarrah al-Sabah's alleged involvement in the multi-million dollar Kuwait Oil Tanker Company fraud case. Ten MPs ...

Bush Blocks Property of Persons Undermining Lebanon's Sovereignty and Reinstating Syrian Control Naharnet 02 Aug 07 U.S. President George Bush on Thursday declared a "national emergency to deal with the threat in Lebanon" aimed at undermining Premier Fouad Saniora's government, reasserting Syrian control and undermining state sovereignty. Bush's move was made in an executive order and informed to congress for immediate application. It aims at blocking property of persons undermining the sovereignty of Lebanon or its democratic process and institutions, according to a White House statement. Bush said the move aims at confronting the "threat in Lebanon posed by the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon's legitimate and democratically elected government or democratic institutions, "to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Lebanon, including through politically motivated violence and intimidation, to reassert Syrian contr...

Gulf Region Arms Sales Support Stability U.S. Congress still must approve large weapon purchases By Jacquelyn S. Porth USINFO Staff Writer Washington -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on July 30 announced a military assistance program for Israel, Egypt and the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, that is designed to enhance security and stability in the region. "This effort will help bolster forces of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences of al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran," Rice said in a prepared announcement. Rice said that she and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will talk to officials from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations during a trip to the region that began July 30. The discussions will focus on what types of military hardware best would help them “secure peace and stability.” Military assistance for the Gulf nations is part of a broad strategy to provide $30 billion to Israel and ...

These are the Amnesty International's 2007 reports on the state of human rights in Iran and its ally Syria, the Middle East's totalitarian states. SYRIA Freedom of expression and association continued to be severely restricted. Scores of people were arrested and hundreds remained imprisoned for political reasons, including prisoners of conscience and others sentenced after unfair trials. Discriminatory legislation and practices remained in force against women and the Kurdish minority. Torture and ill-treatment in detention continued to be reported and carried out with impunity. Human rights defenders continued to face arrest, harassment and restrictions on their freedom of movement. Background The state of emergency imposed in 1962 remained in force. A UN investigation continued to indicate high-level Syrian involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, which Syria denied. Syria hosted more than 200,000 Lebanese refugees who ...

Iran’s Assault on Civil Society cfr.org May 31, 2007 The good news is that Iranian civil society is booming. Women’s groups and labor unions, environmental organizations and students groups—even anti-land mine nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—all ply their trade in abundance, in striking contrast to many of Iran’s Arab neighbors. As this new Backgrounder explains, the bulk of these groups took root during the reformist years of former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. But the hard-line regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has brought with it bad news for such groups: a new era of repressiveness, shuttering NGOs and arresting activists. The basij, the Iranian regime’s enforcers of Islamic religious codes, routinely stop women for failing to wear proper headdress, and they and other agents of the regime harass ethnic minorities, bloggers, political activists, and homosexuals, too. Iranian author Nasrin Alavi, writing in PostGlobal, likens it to a “ second cultural revolution ,”...

This is the news section of the latest issue of Arab Reform Bulletin (June 2007) Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Headlines: Egypt: Shura Council Elections and Other Political Developments Jordan: IAF Members Arrested Ahead of Municipal Elections Algeria: Election Results Morocco: Crackdown on Activists Kuwait: Ministers Questioned about Corruption Saudi Arabia: Morality Police under Pressure Qatar: Second Doha Conference on Democracy and Reform Bahrain: Activists Arrested Yemen: Press Censorship Press Freedom: Journalists Criticize Limited Access Upcoming Political Events Contents: Egypt: Shura Council Elections and Other Political Developments In June 11 elections for Egypt's upper house of parliament, 587 candidates competed for eighty-eight seats in twenty-four provinces. According to preliminary results, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won the majority of the seats, the leftistTagammu party won one seat in Alexandria, and the Muslim Bro...

Syria’s Alliance with Iran usip.org May 2007 By Mona Yacoubian Against a backdrop of growing instability in the Middle East, and despite continued pressure from the West, Syria’s alliance with Iran appears to be holding strong and perhaps even deepening. The United States has strongly criticized both Syria and Iran for contributing to the region’s volatility and, in particular, for playing a destabilizing role in each of three regional conflicts: Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. Recent U.S. overtures to both Syria and Iran raise the question of whether either country can be persuaded to forsake their longstanding alliance and adopt a more constructive role in the region. Main Points: Spanning more than a quarter century, Syria’s alliance with Iran has proven to be quite durable. The alliance’s breadth has insured that the bilateral relationship is not merely a tactical "marriage of convenience." Rather, deepening ties in a variety of realms—strategic, political, economic, and c...