These are strange times. Perennially beleaguered Israel, for instance, was hit all summer long with rockets from Lebanon and Gaza, as the world watched and kept score in an absurd new game of proportionality: Israel was to be blamed because…
read moreWebMemo #1290 Although the Iraq Study Group (ISG) report has been dubbed “the revenge of the realists,” it is unrealistic on two important diplomatic issues. While its recommendation to invite Iran and Syria to play a bigger role inside Iraq…
read moreMILLIONS of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world begin trekking to Mecca for the annual Hajj ceremony next month – and officials in Saudi Arabia, where the “holy” city is located, are on tenterhooks. They fear that Iran’s ultra-radical…
read moreFormer President Jimmy Carter has spent much of his adult life championing Palestinian rights. However, his most recent book will not help the Palestinians. Some Palestinians may listen to Carter. Therefore, his book is a squandered opportunity. Instead of dispelling…
read moreJust this week, about 60 “scholars” from around the world gathered for a conference on Arab soil to debate the veracity of the Holocaust, and to call for more “proof” on the subject. Had Robert Satloff, executive director of the…
read moreNo sensible person is against peacemaking in the Holy Land. Applause and hopefulness would seem the reasonable reaction to the Iraq Study Group’s recommendation that the Bush Administration “act boldly” and “as soon as possible” to resolve the conflict between…
read moreThe Iraq Study Group Report has been hailed as a triumph of the “realist,” fact-based approach of Report co-chair James Baker over the utopian, ideology-driven approach of George W. and his aides. The Report’s first half, a grim assessment of…
read moreMr. Furnish, Ph.D (Islamic History), is Assistant Professor, History, Georgia Perimeter College, Dunwoody, GA 30338. Mr. Furnish is the author of Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, their Jihads and Osama bin Laden (Praeger, 2005). Click here for his website: mahdiwatch.org. On…
read moreMr. Cravatts, Ph.D., a lecturer at Boston University, Babson College, and Emmanuel College, writes frequently on law, religion, social policy, business, and housing development. In the same week that the Iraq Study Group released its own report to determine how…
read moreEditor’s note: SPME prints this letter with the understanding that many of our members may want to respond. There is a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon, albeit daily violated by Israeli overflights. Meanwhile the day-to-day brutality of the Israeli army in…
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