President Obama is being criticized by the discredited neo-conservatives - who took the US into war in Iraq in 2003 - for not doing enough in Iran. But he has the right policy. Obama knows that the Iranians have a long memory of US intervention in Iran - even if most Americans have long forgotten that history. The overthrow of the Iranian government just over 50 years ago was the first secret operation by the Central Intelligence Agency outside of the Cold War. It was one of the CIA's most successful operations and became one of the standards against which... Full article »

Posted by: Webeditor at 9:46 PM Comment

Tags: America, Asia, business, Middle East

Barack Obama's Cairo speech this month has been one of the important of his speeches this year. He has tried to set a new tone for US relations with the Islamic world. Of course from a cynical point of view, one could question why any speech on Islamic democracy should be made in Egypt - which is far from being a democracy. The problem is that there is no country in the Arab world which is a democracy! At least it could be argued that Egypt is the most populous Arab country. Egypt is also interesting because it is undergoing... Full article »

Posted by: Webeditor at 5:49 PM 1 comment

Tags: Africa, America, law, Middle East, peace

The opposition forces are continuing their campaign. They feel robbed of a fair election. Iran is now gripped with the biggest internal crisis since the 1979 Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the Shah and the installation of the new type of government Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was first elected president in 2005 and last Friday stood for re-election. The ruling religious elite knew this would be a close election but they expected their candidate to get back in. By late Friday it was clear that he was in great trouble - polling booths were having to stay open late to cater... Full article »

Posted by: Webeditor at 2:46 PM Comment

Tags: law, Middle East

It is quite extraordinary that so many people are bemused by goings-on in the Middle East. It's all quite simple really. There are many theories as to how the US became so heavily involved in the Middle East. One US president thought it was a district of New York but the real breakthrough came when a US petrol retailer realised the virtues of a totally integrated supply chain. The invasion of Afghanistan has been brilliantly successful at driving the Taliban out of the country. Unfortunately it has driven them into Pakistan, which is now in imminent danger of being renamed... Full article »

Tags: Asia, entertainment, Middle East, security

I don't normally comment on movies but a political blog on world affairs should have something to say about the Oliver Stone "W" movie, starring Josh Brolin. Full article »

Tags: America, conflict, Middle East, security

US President Barack Obama has ordered an end to US combat troops in Iraq as from August 31 2010. About 50,000 troops will remain until the end of 2011 (down from the current 142,000) to assist with training. Then all the US troops will be out entirely. The President is honouring an election commitment. He was an early critic of the war. His initial views have been vindicated because the war turned out every bit as unsuccessful as he predicted. His great advantage over the then Senator Clinton was that she was already in the US Senate and went along... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 5:22 PM Comment

Tags: America, Middle East

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A French tourist has just been killed by a bomb explosion in Cairo. Another 17 people (also mainly foreign tourists) have also been wounded. Full article »

Tags: Africa, America, Asia, law, Middle East, religion, security

Is peace possible in the Middle East? Jimmy Carter discusses this in his interview with AlJezeera's Riz Kahn Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 6:00 PM Comment

Tags: media, Middle East, religion

If you are still confused as to what caused the current crisis in the Gaza strip listen to the following podcast from today's interview with Perth radio station 6PR Newstalk. The interview with presenter Bob Maumill aired at 2.30pm  this afternoon and runs for 17 minutes (for those on a tight time budget)! Follow this link for the interview: The Origins Of Conflict.  ... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 9:47 PM 1 comment

Tags: conflict, Keith Suter, media, Middle East

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                                With troops continuing to march across the Israeli border into Gaza  and the death toll now topping 900 a resolution to this conflict seems as far away as ever. Yudit Ilany is an independent photographer and designer based in Jaffa, Israel. She is also works passionately for human rights causes while still finding time to doccument the events of her home town Jaffa in her blog: occupied.  This photograph is copyright protected by Yudit who can be contacted via her blog. How many more children will die?  What does the future hold for Gaza? Read Yudits blog post here:... Full article »

Tags: conflict, Middle East, peace

Today Israeli ground troops entered Gaza  in what has become a dangerous escallation of violence in the region. The European Union and the United Nations have called for an end to the offensive with the United Nations urging Israel to do all that it can to protect civilians living in the region. The motivation behind Israel's move and the likely implications were discussed today in a phone interview broadcast on 2GB on the Luke Bonner Show. To listen to the podcast follow this link: Ground Troops enter Gaza.... Full article »

Tags: conflict, Middle East, religion

East Timor has now been welcomed into the international community. This is the first country of the new millennium. How many other new countries we will see in the coming years? On the day East Timor came into existence I was interviewed by a radio station that wanted to know how many countries there are. The answer is not all that clear. The United Nations has a membership of 191 countries (including both East Timor and Switzerland, its two latest members). But there are many other potential countries. The Palestinians obviously hope that eventually they will be able to... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 10:29 PM Comment

Tags: Asia, Australasia, Middle East

There is increasing debate over whether the United States will attack Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein. How has the US got itself into a position where a further war seems to be the only answer? Back in 1991, when the US successfully drove Iraq out of Kuwait, the US was obliged to have limited war aims - and getting rid of Saddam Hussein was not one of them. The US achieved what it set out to do - it liberated Kuwait. The US very wisely decided not to drive on to Baghdad. It could then have been sucked... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 6:43 PM Comment

Tags: America, conflict, Middle East

The United States is currently mediating a dispute over water between Israel and Lebanon. This is an indication of how disputes in the Middle East may occur as easily over water as over oil. The Earth Policy Institute in Washington DC has just issued a report entitled "Water Deficits in Many Countries". Its author, Lester Brown, explains that the world's shortage of water has been, until recently, an invisible crisis. The over-pumping of water from underground and the falling water tables are not easily seen. Unlike burning forests or invading sand dunes, these developments cannot be easily photographed. Indeed, the... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 6:03 PM Comment

Tags: America, charity, environment, Middle East

It has been a bloody weekend in the Gaza strip with 280 dead and over 600 wounded during the Israeli offensive against Hamas targets. Israeli tanks and personnel carriers line the border  as Hamas continue to hit back with rocket attacks. This worrying escalation in violence was discussed in a  radio 2GB interview with Luke Bonna,  broadcast on Monday 27th December. Israeli Air Strikes. Picture below sourced from Wikipedia. Hamas militants with Yasin Rocket propelled Grenade... Full article »

Tags: conflict, Middle East, religion, security

There is a great deal of attention to the prospect of war in Iraq and the continuing violence in Afghanistan. But it is worth recalling that there is an entire region that is in crisis. I have just returned from the annual conference of The Club of Rome, the global think tank. This year's conference took place in Turkey, at the country's first private university - the Bilkent University. With all the debate in Australia over private higher education, it is worth noting that this new university is already one of the country's finest and it is one of the... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 10:15 PM Comment

Tags: Asia, Europe, Middle East

There still seems to be a high risk of war against Iraq in the next few months. I have just been reading a report on what war has already done to Iraq and what it could do in the next round. MEDACT, based in London, is an organization of health professionals that exists to highlight and take action on the health consequences of war. It is the British affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (which won the Nobel Peace Prize a few years ago). MEDACT has issued a report entitled "Collateral Damage: The Health and... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 9:31 PM Comment

Tags: America, conflict, health, Middle East

One of the features of the Iraq crisis has been all the public debate over whether there should be the use of force, and if so what should be done. The public's right to know has been accepted as a fact of life and no one has suggested otherwise. But it has not always been like this. There is now so much public debate over all sorts of issues that it is very easy to assume this has been a constant factor in politics. But before World War I in 1914, there was not a single non-governmental organization dealing with... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 8:07 PM Comment

Tags: America, conflict, law, Middle East

With the progress made so far in the Iraq war, so the attention is now being focussed on what will be necessary to rebuild the country. There are many lessons to be learned from the relief operations in other countries. International Alert has published a discussion paper entitled "More Than Implementers: Civil Society in Complex Emergencies", written by Mick Quinn. International Alert, based in London, is an independent non-governmental organization which analyses the causes of conflict within countries, enables mediation and dialogue to take place, sets standards of conduct that avoid violence and helps to develop the skills necessary to... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 7:47 PM Comment

Tags: conflict, Middle East, peace, sociology

The controversy over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is simply the most recent in a long line of events in the troubled history of chemical and biological warfare. The world's first anthrax bomb was invented by the British and dropped on a Scottish island. If the rest of the project had been carried out, then parts of Germany would remain contaminated to this day. The story of Britain's anthrax experiments in World War II did not come to light until about forty years after the experiments had been conducted. To this day, there is some hesitation about visiting "Anthrax Island"... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 5:50 PM Comment

Tags: conflict, Europe, Middle East