BEIRUT - Taking a cue from the 1968 uprising in former Czechoslovakia, many pundits are wondering whether the new breeze of democracy in various Middle East countries is an Arab spring. The jury is still out on the question, but many hope that the "spring"...

BEIRUT - Ever since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri earlier this month, the radical Shi'ite group Hezbollah has been much sought after by politicians opposed to the Syrian presence. Hezbollah, a group that few took seriously when it...

DUBAI - When conservative Saudi Arabia announced last year that it would hold partial municipal elections in which people for the first time could vote directly, the reaction of many in and out of the country was nothing less than shock. Now reform-minded activists...

DUBAI - While the influential U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan predicts terrorist attacks before the presidential elections next week, he urged investors not to shy away from the war-ravaged country. "Enemies of Afghanistan's success have initiated an effort...

BAGHDAD - The Bible suggests that the Iraqi marshlands were once the Garden of Eden. But the garden, if it ever existed, is long gone, and so, mostly, are the marshlands. These marshlands once spread over 20,000 sq. km (7,722 sq. mi.) in the south of Iraq. They formed...

BAGHDAD - Iraqi leaders and officials are getting jittery over the now-partial elections proposed for January next year. The government of U.S.-appointed prime minister Iyad Allawi has said, with U.S. and British backing, that elections will be held as planned even if...

BAGHDAD - Since the fall of Saddam Hussein and his dictatorial regime last year, one of the clearest signs that a new Iraq is born is the flourishing media business. But their coverage, and that of international Arabic-language satellite channels such as al-Arabiya...

BAGHDAD - Armed groups and foreign terrorists have established new camps in central Iraq as government forces attack rebels in the north and south, officials say. The reports follow an admission by U.S. central command chief Gen. John Abizaid that there are more areas...

BAGHDAD - The new outbreak of violence in Baghdad has shattered ceasefire talks between Shia militants and the Iraqi government. Following a successful if fragile ceasefire in the holy city Najaf, it was hoped that talks in the impoverished Sadr City of Baghdad would...

BAGHDAD – How does a journalist report from a country like Iraq, where the dynamics of the situation and the danger level change so rapidly? That question is put often to journalists. There is no simple answer, but the following words come to mind: flexibility,...