Speaking for Islam – A Series on Link TV

The big think series offered by CNN hit a mass audience, but tend to be more generic; PBS does a fine job but has an even narrower audience.  On the sparse end of the audience spectrum is a worthy interlocutor in the programming offered by Link TV—especially this wise series asking “Who Speaks for Islam?”  Don’t miss BYU Kennedy Center featured author, Reza Aslan , among others in a fascinating discussion on how Islam is portrayed, the relationship between religion and violence (especially relevant and important for Latter-day Saints on historical and current issues, such as frontier violence and social policy debates), and other points at Who Speaks for Islam? | Link TV

 

 

 

Diplomatic Football Spat Between Algeria and Egypt

The Egyptian government has recalled its ambassador to Algeria following complaints about violence toward football fans, reports say.

The move comes hours after Algeria's ambassador in Cairo was summoned to the Egyptian foreign ministry.

via BBC News – Egypt recalls Algerian envoy as football row deepens.

Memo From Riyadh – Influence of Egypt and Saudi Arabia Fades – NYTimes.com

 

 

Fascinating analysis of the respective strategic postures Middle East countries are taking regarding negotiating positions:

“If there is no peace, then all those who bet against peace are winning,” said an Egyptian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid increasing tensions with the United States or Saudi Arabia. “And all those who act and bet there will be peace are losing, like us. We are losing because we are putting this bet.”

via Memo From Riyadh – Influence of Egypt and Saudi Arabia Fades – NYTimes.com.

 

Regarding Egypt:  “They have been challenged by Iran, opposed by much smaller Arab neighbors, mocked by Syria and defied by influential nonstate groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Regarding Iran/Syria:  “Even while Iran has been focused on its domestic political crisis, and Syria has struggled with an economic and water crisis, their continued support for Hamas and Hezbollah has preserved for them a strong hand in matters like the formation of a new government in Lebanon and efforts to reconcile Palestinian factions, officials and analysts said.

The flagging peace process: Is Israel too strong for Barack Obama? | The Economist

Has Obama fever met its match in the Middle East conflict?

Five months after Barack Obama went to Cairo and persuaded most of the Arab world, in a ringing declaration of even-handedness, that he would face down Israel in his quest for a Palestinian state, American policy seems to have run into the sand. The American president’s mediating hand is weaker, his charisma damagingly faded. From the Palestinian and Arab point of view, his administration—after grandly setting out to force the Jewish state to stop the building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land as an early token of good faith, intended to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiation—has meekly capitulated to Israel.

via The flagging peace process: Is Israel too strong for Barack Obama? | The Economist.

A Tale of Two Headlines

Consider the two leads introducing Secretary of State Clinton’s initiatives in the Middle East Peace Process:

• Clinton Denies Easing Pressure on Israel Over Settlements – NYTimes.com.
• Clinton Reasserts Her Role in U.S Foreign Policy:  Secretary of State Takes on a Complicated Mission in the Mideast as Obama’s ‘Engagement’ Diplomacy Comes Under Pressure – WSJ.com

What does that tell you about media influence, perspectives, and modes of interpretation?  How about after you read the stories?

News Analysis – Both Iran and West Fear a Trap on Uranium Deal – NYTimes.com

To negotiate a standoff, you must understand both sides:

That struggle — pitting Iran’s fears of falling for a Western conspiracy to neutralize its “strategic reserve” against the West’s fears of being lured into an Iranian plot to buy time for a secret nuclear bomb program — lies at the heart of the complex set of moves and countermoves now being played out around the globe.

via News Analysis – Both Iran and West Fear a Trap on Uranium Deal – NYTimes.com.

Need to Know | The Lone Cleric, Mehdi Karroubi, Refuses To Be Silenced

Hero from the Islamic Republic, the “Lone Cleric”:

But for all its success at preserving authority, the government has been unable to silence or intimidate Mr. Karroubi, its most tenacious and, in many ways, most problematic critic. While other opposition figures, including Mr. Moussavi and two former presidents, Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, are seldom heard now, Mr. Karroubi has been unsparing and highly vocal in his criticism of the government, which he feels has lost all legitimacy.

via Lone Cleric, Mehdi Karroubi, Emerges to Defy Iran’s Leaders – NYTimes.com.

News Analysis – Painful Mideast Truth – Force Trumps Diplomacy – NYTimes.com

Where we are at on the Israel/Palestinian conflict–force trumps talk:

The payoff from the use of force in the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is evident. It was only after the first Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s that Israel recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization and started to consider a two-state solution, and after the second — and very bloody — uprising that it left Gaza in 2005.

Meanwhile for many Israelis, the past decade looks like a model of the primacy of military action over diplomacy.

via News Analysis – Painful Mideast Truth – Force Trumps Diplomacy – NYTimes.com.

Furor Sends Palestinians Into Shift on U.N. Report – NYTimes.com

The Palestinian “street” pushes back on the Goldstone report, and Palestinian UN delegates reverse course.  Altogether, not a step toward the peace talks that George Mitchell is hoping to restart next Wednesday:

But after pushing for the United Nations Human Rights Council to endorse the report and forward it to the Security Council, the Palestinians relented to American pressure last week and agreed to drop the issue for six months. Both the United States and Israel had warned that pursuing the accusations would abort attempts to revive the peace process.

Now the Palestinians are grappling with a domestic and regional uproar, with angry street protests at home and condemnation pouring in from Doha to Damascus.

via Furor Sends Palestinians Into Shift on U.N. Report – NYTimes.com.

Think Again: Lawrence of Arabia | Foreign Policy

Want to learn about counterinsurgency?  Skip the textbooks.  Forget the foreign pol blogs.  Consider a book published in 1917 by none other than Lawrence of Arabia:

The work he produced is nothing less than a new way for Western nation-builders to look at the world. A century ahead of his time, Lawrence realized that without the political backing of the Arab population, he could not win — but with their support, he could not lose. Lawrence describes not only how to run a successful insurgency but how to create a nation. Sounds awfully similar to U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s mantra that protecting the Afghan people — and thus winning their hearts and minds — is the key to success for the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

via Think Again: Lawrence of Arabia | Foreign Policy.