By Rami Khouri, Arab Media Watch adviser, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.

26 November 2008

Perhaps the most interesting case to watch in these days of American power transition is Iran.

Not the "threat" of Iran, or the "puzzle" of Iran - as some of the wild-headed in Washington and Israel refer to it; but, simply, the Iran that is developing a full uranium enrichment nuclear fuel cycle. The worst and best aspects of American political culture are on display here, as different domestic and foreign groups do battle to win the dominant position of influence on Washington's policy towards Iran in the Obama administration.

By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
24 November 2008
The Independent

Four cheers for the feisty Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of our special Middle East envoy, Tony Blair. But what exactly is he doing? Desperately searching for his legacy I suppose, like the weapons of mass destruction hidden in the sands somewhere, waiting to be unearthed.

Meanwhile Booth is emerging as one of the few voices in the wilderness bringing up the plight of Gaza as Israel efficiently chokes and suffocates the tiny strip of land, the hellish home to Palestinians, of which 60 per cent of its inhabitants are children.

By Atef Alshaer
24 November 2008
The Electronic Intifada

A Country of Words: from the Refugee Camps to the Front Page is a remarkable Palestinian memoir, exceptional because of its abundance of compassion, humor and humility. Its author is Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Arabic-language daily al-Quds al-Arabi who also wrote The Secret History of al-Qa'ida.

Reviewed by Guy Mannes-Abbott
21 November 2008
The Independent

Amin Maalouf is the celebrated author of novels such as Samarkand, Leo the African and The Rock of Tanios. They re-conjure Omar Khayyam in 11th-century Persia, the Christian Inquisition in North Africa, and the imperialist torsions of 19th-century Lebanon. Rather than sturdy historical narratives or perky metafictions, Maalouf's novels exemplify the elementary arts of invention.

Oddly, this memoir of his ancestral "nameland" requires a similar suspension of disbelief from readers. Maalouf lives in Paris, retreats to the French Atlantic, and wrote in Havana and Beirut during the four-year journey of this book. It's a memoir that explodes notions of origin across a wide canvas, ultimately embracing all that family history and legend brings.

By Rami Khouri, Arab Media Watch adviser, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.

17 November 2008

US President-elect Barack Obama has much on his foreign policy plate and he will have to make some hard decisions about prioritizing the issues his team will address. The Middle East is likely to emerge quickly as a high priority area, given that many of the key concerns of the United States and the world directly emanate from, or are closely linked to, the Middle East, i.e., energy, terrorism, religious radicalism, illegal immigration, drugs, and non-proliferation of nuclear fuels, and weapons of mass destruction.

By Mark Elf, Arab Media Watch member and contributor to the blog Jews Sans Frontieres

15 November 2008

Clunky headline I know but references to zionist censorship are so cliché because it happens so often. Regular readers on the subject of zionism may know that there has been a game on for some time over the fact that a very expensive Encyclopaedia of Race and Racism has been published including, as well it should, a section on zionism.

By Rami Khouri, Arab Media Watch adviser, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.

12 November 2008

What happens when you put on the table all the major crises facing the world, identify how they are linked to each other, and attempt to start charting a path towards their resolution? What happens when you do this by bringing together 700 experts and leaders in their fields from around the world who analyze and recommend action on 68 issues and regions of the world?

This is what took place in Dubai last weekend when the World Economic Forum (WEF) convened the inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda, in partnership with the Government of Dubai. WEF founder and chairman Klaus Schwab audaciously but accurately called it "the biggest brainstorming exercise ever held on a global agenda."