Tag: arabs

Obama Faces Mounting Arab Disillusionment

On the eve of a much-anticipated address by President Barack Obama on U.S. policy in the Middle East, a new survey suggests that disillusionment with both Obama and Washington’s approaches to the region are once again on the rise throughout the Muslim world. The survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project (GAP) found … Continue reading “Obama Faces Mounting Arab Disillusionment”

Where Did All the Fatwas Go?

A week or so ago, a friend of mine noticed a poster taped to a wall inside the rotunda of the Wisconsin State Capitol building, where American demonstrators were camped out. It showed a lone demonstrator walking toward a line of helmeted Egyptian police, holding high a protest sign. Under the photo, a caption said … Continue reading “Where Did All the Fatwas Go?”

Not So Different After All?

On more than a few occasions in the last decade, I have been the recipient of lectures—almost always by people with no discernible hands-on experience with foreign cultures in general, nor the Arab world in particular—about just how different and unlike us “those Arab people” in the Mideast really are. “You know, for them, life … Continue reading “Not So Different After All?”

The Protocols of the
Learned Elders of OPEC

So, you thought the economic crisis we are currently experiencing was caused by loose monetary policy, loose economic regulation, or just plain loose morals by the likes of Goldman Sachs and associated plutocrats? Wrong! It was really all part of a nefarious plot by Ay-rab terrorists – and now we’re heading for “phase three”! The … Continue reading “The Protocols of the
Learned Elders of OPEC”

No Room for Arab Students at Israeli Universities

Measures designed to benefit Jewish school-leavers applying for places in Israeli higher education at the cost of their Arab counterparts have been criticized by lawyers and human rights groups. The new initiatives are viewed as part of an ongoing drive by right-wing politicians in Israel to demand “loyalty” from the country’s large minority population of … Continue reading “No Room for Arab Students at Israeli Universities”

Israel’s Large and Small Apartheids

Author’s note: Below is the text of a talk delivered to the fifth Bilin international conference for Palestinian popular resistance, held in the West Bank village of Bilin on April 21. Israel’s apologists are very exercised about the idea that Israel has been singled out for special scrutiny and criticism. I wish to argue, however, … Continue reading “Israel’s Large and Small Apartheids”

War Guilt in the Middle East

This originally appeared in Left and Right, Spring-Autumn 1967. The trouble with sectarians, whether they be libertarians, Marxists, or world-governmentalists, is that they tend to rest content with the root cause of any problem and never bother themselves with the more detailed or proximate causes. The best, and almost ludicrous, example of blind, unintelligent sectarianism … Continue reading “War Guilt in the Middle East”