Barry Rubin

http://www.gloriacenter.org/submenus/articles/2008/rubin/8_26_11-52.asp The Italian government, it has just come to light, let Palestinian terrorist groups operate freely in its country from the 1970s onward as long as they promised not to attack Italians. As former President Francesco Cossiga explained, the agreement…

http://globalpolitician.com/25104-israel-west-bank-settlements The AP falsely reported that Israel is building a new settlement on the West Bank and linked this to a wrong-headed spin on an important national leader visiting Israel. No, not Obama! He’s still just a candidate. I’m referring…

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331047042&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull The number-one mistake people make trying to understand the Middle East is refusing to believe folks here think differently from themselves. As Captain Ahab hunted the white whale, as prospectors hunt for gold, as… well, you get the idea,…

http://www.gloriacenter.org/index.asp?pname=submenus/articles/2008/rubin/7_22.asp The number-one mistake people make trying to understand the Middle East is refusing to believe folks here think differently from themselves. Virtually every development in the Middle East should remind us of this reality. Yet as Captain Ahab hunted…

http://www.gloriacenter.org/index.asp?pname=submenus/articles/2008/rubin/7_15.asp Here’s what Israel thinks: Since Iran’s regime is thoroughly radical and deeply committed to its destruction, Israel can’t accept Tehran having nuclear weapons. Unless sanctions and pressures can stop this program Israel must attack in order to defend itself.…

Each day we’re told that radical Islamists, terrorists, and assorted extremists are going to moderate, so why not negotiate with them, appease them, defuse their grievances, have dialogue, and then everything will be okay. But, those who are doubtful, argue,…

http://www.gloriacenter.org/index.asp?pname=submenus/articles/2008/rubin/7_2.asp Here’s the most important thing I can tell you about the Middle East. For more than a half-century, the region’s politics revolved around Arab nationalism. Individual states sought to have influence, leadership, or just to survive. The Arab-Israeli conflict…

Today, journalism students, in our course, “Absolutely Introductory Basic Rules of Journalism, we will discuss the absolutely introductory basic rules of journalism. I don’t think I’m an old fogey but in my hazy memories of the good old days I…

http://www.gloriacenter.org/index.asp?pname=submenus/articles/2008/rubin/6_9.asp Suppose that debate over the world’s most obsessive issue is based on nonsense. Consider if the policy options of governments, discourse of universities, and rivers of word in the media on this matter are clearly illogical. What if thousands…

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668667620&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull It’s become fashionable to match the celebration of Israel’s founding (part of the media can’t even admit that Israelis are celebrating) with Palestinians’ marking of their 1948 “nakba,” or catastrophe. Yet whose fault is it that they didn’t use…