Archive for October 21, 2010
Iran and Saudi Arabia
I have learned that Saudi Arabia has spent close to $1 billion in the last Lebanese parliamentary election, while Iran spent around $100 million. Syria set aside $50 million to spend but was snookered by the Saudi government which urged Syria to …
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad
Saudi reforms
“Yet the changes remain, in many ways, cosmetic. King Abdullah has championed international dialogue between religions, for instance. But when Saudi schools reopened in September, parents were surprised to find that in the new, “reformed†religion …
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad
“Moderate Arab regimes”: King PlayStation
“Here too, electoral rules tilt the playing field, in this case in favour of loyalists to the ruling Hashemite family. In particular, the rules for electoral districting give greater representation to thinly populated rural constituencies than to dense…
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad
Religious laws in the US
“In the United States both secular and religious arbitration are firmly established, operating under a Federal Arbitration Act that gives robust standing to the procedure but also allows the parties to counter-appeal to ordinary courts on certain groun…
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad
Actuality–to use the language of Hegel–of the Zionist Idea
“Liberal Israelis fear that these measures may import the Arab-Israeli conflict, which had been largely confined to the territories occupied by Israel beyond the 1948 partition line, into Israel proper. Adding to the psychological barriers, the Lod aut…
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad
California dreaming…
…high in the skies
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad
Agents of Innocence
I have mentioned this book before: it should be read by all interested in Middle East studies. It is written by Washington Post columnist, David Ignatius. The book is supposedly a work of fiction but I can tell you it is a true story of the…
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad
They really heart the state of Israel
“Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary for political military affairs at the State Department, said the administration had looked at the regional balance of power in the Middle East and “concluded it would not negatively impact Israel’s secu…
Posted on October 21, 2010 by As'ad